BN not eating algae

[treetrunk]

I know it seems that I only come on when I have a problem, but I'm so new to this that I feel I don't have anything to offer. I do read alot on here, though. Thanks for all your great advice.

I really have two questions. As I noted in my introduction, my son and I quickly went from a 10 g to a 29g tank. We'd love a 55g, but cant' fit it in his room.

Anyway, with the new tank, came new lighting and it's much brighter than the small tank. I have algae everywhere! I can't keep up with it.

We have 6 neons, 3 cory catfish, 4 guppies, and two danios ( they were what was recommended for cycling, we are about to add to them so they can school.

I have only plastic plants and recently added a BN pleco, hoping to solve my algae problem. He's so cute and we can't get enough of him, wish he'd come out more.

Here's the problem, he's not eating the algae! We've had him two weeks now and I can't see where he's eaten any algae at all. Does it take longer than that to adjust? Am I being impatient? I think he's alright, the levels are all normal and he sure can move fast when we turn the light on!

Are my lights too bright? I have read a lot about lighting, but I don't understand much of what I'm reading. Is it good to have full spectrum or is this what is the problem?

I'd love to hear any advice you can offer.

Thanks!

[Wild Turkey]

In a lot of cases plecos will eat algae, but dont prefer it, if you feed wafers or pellets, he may just be opting to not eat the algae.

[treetrunk]

I actually haven't been feeding him much in hopes it would prompt him to eat the algae, but it would figure that after reading about how the best algae eater is a BN, mine wouldn't be much interested!

[MandyL]

What kind of algae is it? What does it look like, what colour?

[treetrunk]

It's green and now has little black spots on top of the green. Everything is coated except where the light is shadowed by a rock or a plant.

[treetrunk]

My son named his pleco Eureka because that's the kind of vacuum cleaner he has and he thought he'd be so good at sucking up the algae.

Any suggestions on what to do about the algae if if our pleco doesn't enjoy eating it?

[PhilliesFan202]

I also have had a pleco for about a week now and hes not eating any of the alge in the tank either I have brown Alge in my tank my magnet Broke so I figured I would buy one but hes not eating any

[skinni]

hrmm my pleco cleaned my tank in the first week... all i can comment on is your algea problem. Try reducing the amount of time the lights are left on, what type of schedule are the lights set on right now?

[PhilliesFan202]

around 11 in the after noon till 11 or 12 at night no direct sunlight I would vac and Clean it off but I dont want to starve him I was just thinking that Its a big Tank and he hasnt Found it yet

[skinni]

try reducing that by a few hours maybe leave the lights off for a few days and then go to a 6-8 hour schedule rather then 12-13 hour one. Invest in a new magnet and clean the glass with that, the reduced schedule should atleast slow the process some.

[PhilliesFan202]

So they dont eat The Alge Off the glass, because he did clean off the bottom of the tank the Caps of my UGF are very Clean but the glass he hasnt touched I guess I should go get him some Wafers

[skinni]

mine clean the algea from everything in my 55 gallon. The glass the decor the pumps everything.....

[PhilliesFan202]

So I gave into my Picky pleco and bought some Hatakari or whatever Alge Wafers it took him a while to see them but he ate some of one I crushed it up and put about 3 peices in what would you guys Recemend I only have one should I give him a whole wafer or no?

[skinni]

i normally just drop in a wafer every couple of days shortly after the big lights go off and the actinic bulb is going.

[PhilliesFan202]

actinic bulb ? ? what kind of bulb is that and how does it benifit?

[krisco]

I would try some otos or SAE. They are a much better algae eater, as the plecos may consume algae but are generally overrated in the fast algae eater category.

And it may also be that the pleco is eating the algae, but that more algae is being produced at too fast a rate for the one pleco. A school of 4 otos will be benificial.

Just remember that whatever algae eating fish you have, they are not gonna rid you of the algae alone. You need to be doing water changes, and determining the cause of your algae and fixing that, such as too much light. As skinni said, you may need to do a blackout.

[PhilliesFan202]

well the pleco I put in sunday When I came home from work Was laying on his side and cant really swim that well he rolls over alot and swims upside down refuses to eat and Swims in circles around the alge Wafer I dropped in this is the 2nd pleco Ive lost this month I think im going to try ottos instead im having no luck what-so ever with pleco's its not a horrble Alge overgrowth just some growing on the glass and on the gravel its not a crazy ammount just enough that I need to use the magnet every 4-5 days to clean the it off the glass I do water changes and Vaccume once a week its brown alge in the tank

[krisco]

It is said that brown algae like this will occur in newly setup tanks, and will occur if your water has high levels of silicate. Also, not enough light can be a cause for these diatoms.

Do you have test kits? What kind of filter do you use? What kind of substrate do you have in the tank? Is it sand?

Do you now how many watts your light is?

[PhilliesFan202]

my substrate is Larger store packaged Gravel I have a Eclipse hood with Eclipse filter Activated Carbon,and a Blue Spongy top to it then it goes Thur a Bio wheel chamber and into the Tank I also have an Under Gravel Filter I have all of the test 2 liquid Tests and no2 and no3 are both Dip Strips my label on my hood says T8 Flurecent Light up to 18watts

[krisco]

I would definitely get rid of the undergravel filter. The higher no2 seems to be an issue of a mini cycle, or the aquarium never totally cycled to start with, with the undergravel filter and the biowheel. seems like your beneficial bacteria is being depleted by too much cleaning, as was stated in your other post. All of this could lead to the diatoms, which seem to be a syndrome of new tanks, and to the lose of your plecos. I would definitely not vacuum, and loose the undergravel filter. Just shut it down.

I would not vacuum the gravel again until the no2 is 0 ppm. However, keep a daily watch of your ammonia, and be prepared to do 25% water changes if the ammonia gets to .5.

Are you treating your water each time you add water? If not, be sure to get a water treatment liquid such as seachem prime or amquel to eliminate chlorine and chloramine. Add it to the water before adding it to the tank Maybe get a five gallon bucket and add the recommended drops to the water and let it sit for a while before adding.

Also, as previously stated in another post, opt for a liquid test kit instead of the strips. Sometimes those strips are not acurate. Your LFS should sell a API Master test kit.

Your light should not really be playing a part in this, since you are not adding any plant nutrients due to no real plants.

[PhilliesFan202]

I do use water de-cholrinator I also let my water Sit for 2 days before I put it in the tank I also use Aguarium Water Conditioner white powder that looks like salt whenever I do water changes or add new fish

[stubbytheplecostomus]

your pleco is probably just eating left over food at the bottom of the tank, they are lazy... they get worse as they get bigger my one footer will just sit in his cave until i offer him a cucumber then he'll suck on that till its gone and return to his cave meanwhile leaving me with a heck of a grocery bill and lots of algae on the glass...