Fish to eat my algae

[Darkness]

Ok so I have an algae problem. First, my tank was is set up by a sliding glass door, on the north side of my apartment, and even though the blinds are always closed, I assume thats the cause of the algea. But its just now started growing after being set up for months. My plants were growing extremely well, my eco complete was completely covered in grass half way up the tank(55 gallon by the way) so I decided to remove 75 % of it because it was getting out of hand, shortly after the algae took over. I dont know for sure if removing most of the plants caused the algae, but anyway I cant find my test tube or my converter to post pictures, so i cant get water test to you...

To the algae, i think its called hair algae, its growing on the walls, and covers the ground and my plants, easily pulls of the plants in blobs.

I also have green dots on the glass that are hard and can barely be scratched off.

Anyway I have about 10 ottos who don't seem to be doing anything to the algae, is there any other fish that will eat it? Do ottos even eat it?

So anyways fish suggestions? Anything that can tame the algae without having to move the tank?

Tank also contains 6 tiger barbs, about 14 neons, and a few black skirts and glow light tetras.

[doug z]

I dont know for sure if removing most of the plants caused the algae

Can't have helped.. :)

I would try to solve the problem, rather than deal with the symptoms with fish..

For one, ottos don't touch hair algae, and the fish that do, SAE.. TRUE SAE, are near impossible to find (trust me!!)..

Same for the green dots (just have to suck it up and scrape those off)..

What's the light wattage on the tank? How long do you have them on?

Are you adding ferts? CO2?

[Darkness]

im using 4 28 watt T8's for 8 hours, no co2 or anything added.

[doug z]

Might want to try some Seachem Flourish Excel (liquid carbon) for a few weeks, see if that helps..

Also, remove as much as you can by hand daily, do plenty of WC's (at least 20% weekly), and add some ferts (Seachem Flourish, Seachem Iron) according to directions..

Try that..

If you're still having problems after a month or so after starting a fert regime, adding the Excel, letting the plants grow in a bit again, etc. then you might have to consider either reducing the lighting, reducing the lighting period, or adding pressurized CO2..

I had the same problem with thread algae, and I am adding pressurized CO2, but when I started adding ferts, it went away..

Let us know how you make out..

[toddnbecka]

My tanks that house BN pleco's are all algae-free, so much so that I only have to clean the outside of the glass. Not sure how effective they'd be for cleaning plants, though small ones would probably be good until they grew too large for the plant leaf to support their weight.

[NickFish]

Amano Shrimp, Flourish Excel, and CO2.

Good, regular CO2 levels will prevent many algaes from growing, but you need Flourish excel and amano shrimp to really hurt the algae.

If its only on the walls you can just scrape it off.

[smaug]

Amano Shrimp, Flourish Excel, and CO2.

Good, regular CO2 levels will prevent many algaes from growing, but you need Flourish excel and amano shrimp to really hurt the algae.

If its only on the walls you can just scrape it off.
Shrimp would be very beneficial,I dont know if they could live with tiger barbs though,tbs are very inquisitive [and hungry].As for the solutions to the algae ,I agree with everything posted so far.Especially the excel,I cant say enough about its usefulness.