Algae in ACF tank

[Gemma]

Recently I've been having trouble with brown algae in my ACF tank. Are there any algae-eating creatures that I can keep in there? I know some people keep snails, but I don't really want snails in my tank. I think I read on this forum that someone keeps a Chinese algae eater with their ACFs. Can anyone offer any advice on that? I'd be worried about it attaching itself to a frog or a frog trying to eat it.

[Mentat]

Algae usually shows up when excess nutrients and light are available. Do you have plants in tank to outcompete it? Problem with algae eating fish is that ACF's will go for them and many have protective spines that could hurt and even kill your frog if it tried to eat them .

[Felis]

Hi,

Chinese algae eaters grow large and tend to become aggressive when adult. Also, they only eat algae when young, so they aren´t a good choice. Animals shouldn´t be bought just to fulfill a certain purpose, this hardly ever works. There isn´t a species that will systimatically clean your tank, so it´s better to find the source of the problem as Carlos mentioned. Your brown algae are likely to be diatoms (which aren´t eaten by most algea-eating fish anyway). Those often appear in younger systems when there aren´t enough fast growing plants to outcompete them, when CO2 is low and there is enough light. They mostly disappear when the tank gets more stable over time. Until then, you might want to remove them with a sponge or so during the water changes.

[Jenste]

Right now it is probably a combination of overfeeding (which leads to extra poo) + not enough filtration + too much light + water not changed frequently or enough water changed in possibly too small a tank or too over stocked a tank....


Can you give a run down to remind us about size in gallons/liters, how many and how large the ACF are, type of filtration, feeding, how often and how large the water changes, how many/types of live plants, lighting type and duration....

[rodsboys]

Brown "algae" is not really algae. It is a diatom. Usually common in newer tanks or tanks with silica sand. Regular maintenance will eventually get rid of it.
by the way Otis will eat diatoms but they are way too small to be with ACFs and have spikes like a regular catfish.

[Necromencer]

Brown "algae" is not really algae. It is a diatom. Usually common in newer tanks or tanks with silica sand. Regular maintenance will eventually get rid of it.
by the way Otis will eat diatoms but they are way too small to be with ACFs and have spikes like a regular catfish.

I myself have started to get a diatom boom in my tank. I haven't tried removing it personally, I've hoped that it would go away. But I've waited about 4 days now and it is still there (on decorations, glass and blotches on sand)

When I get home today, I'll remove them with a sponge or I'll syphon as much as I can up. I first started to get this boom when I went to London last week, I think my mother, who was looking after the tank, forgot to turn the lights of, or only turned them off a few hours a day. In addition, just before I left to London, I took out my Hornwort, so it could be a case of both things.

When I get home and clean it out, and it comes back again, how else could I get rid of it?

My tank is only 3 weeks old.


Addenda: I can't be the tap water, because my previous tank was filled with the same water and I never had a diatom boom.