algea eaters with discus? Plecos?

[vbncwrestler318]

Hey everyone,

I have a 72 gallon tank with 8 discus all around 4 inches. The substrate I used was just a regular bag of white sand from home depot. I washed it pretty thoroughly when I set up my tank a few months ago but apparently it has too many silicates leaching into the water as I have consistently had brown algae (diatoms) grow onto the glass and live plants. I clean it off regularely when I do water changes but it is getting annoying. I dont really like adding more fish to the tank that arent discus (I like having my tank discus only :D) but I really want this algae to go away. Can anyone help me with a choice?

I have read that ottos are bad for discus as they can eat their slime but I cannot find any reliable information on what plecos are safe with discus. What do you think?

[mathao]

your tank is overcrowded already, beside getting a cleaning crew you could turn on lights for shorter periods of time,but if you really want a cleaner i suggest a bristle nose pleco, i have 2 baby bn's in my tank with six discus and i have to do two water changes a day, my tank is a 30 grow out tank only, it crowded in there too.

[jimg]

without a doubt the bushy nose plecos are the best. If the tank is fairly new, the diatoms will go away as the tank gets established. keep eye on the nitrate.

[fishorama]

I don't know...my tank grows diatoms & algae with all the discus slime & feeding but took my sand out after the first couple weeks.

[Jhhnn]

My BB tanks grow brown algae almost exclusively. Probably has something to do with the 50% daily water changes, maybe my tapwater, dunno.

I considered adding bushynoses, even had some in quarantine for months, but ultimately chickened out, gave 'em to blkrob, where they're doing fine with his discus... I continue to scrub periodically...

[philip69285]

I got some siamese algae eaters and they are doing a pretty good job and havent noticed anything yet with the disus... also have tried otos no problem and have bushy noses in there too and no problem.

[mathao]

in the end it depends how much you love your discus and how much work you have to perform to keep them happy;)

[Foxfire]

My 75 gal community tank (which has very fine gain home depot sand) has often had such a problem - one way I have reduced this was using a phosphate pad; it helps (does not fully prevent.) I gave up on Plecos since they need algae waffers and that was introducing far worse algae problems (at least after I started feeding such waffers and the Pleco ignored that type of algae completely.)

[jimg]

My 75 gal community tank (which has very fine gain home depot sand) has often had such a problem - one way I have reduced this was using a phosphate pad; it helps (does not fully prevent.) I gave up on Plecos since they need algae waffers and that was introducing far worse algae problems (at least after I started feeding such waffers and the Pleco ignored that type of algae completely.)

I have 14 tanks with bn plecos in each tank. I never feed them algae waffers. They eat almost anything the discus will eat. I do give them occasionally blanched zucchini.
They spotlessly clean all algae without ever harming the discus, fry or eggs.
I have 2 90 gallon tanks heavily planted with t5 tek lights fixtures, co2 etc. and very minimal green algae.
I have sae's,(many species look like sae but are not). I have ottos. The sae eventually barely touch algae and compete with the discus for food. Some of the ottos do attack the discus.
May people I hear about ,including myself, when they first set up aquariums spent a lot of $ on anti algae pads,chems,etc. it's a waste. a balanced tank will have minimal algae after awhile. But some have very high amounts of phosphate/silicates in their water then it may be different. but test for them first.

[vbncwrestler318]

Thanks for all the replies. I think I might try my luck with a BN pleco for now. If/when the tank balances out more and the brown algae goes away, then I will just move the BN pleco to one of my other community tanks.
I love having a discus only tank:)
Hopefully I will not have to feed the pleco algae wafers because my lighting (4-54W T5HO) creates a steady amount of algae. I will eventually start adding some CO2 and more plants when my discus get a bit bigger and after I move to a bigger house and that will help with algae controll as well. However, that is in the future, so the BN pleco will have to do for now.
Thanks guys!

[jimg]

Thanks for all the replies. I think I might try my luck with a BN pleco for now. If/when the tank balances out more and the brown algae goes away, then I will just move the BN pleco to one of my other community tanks.
I love having a discus only tank:)
Hopefully I will not have to feed the pleco algae wafers because my lighting (4-54W T5HO) creates a steady amount of algae. I will eventually start adding some CO2 and more plants when my discus get a bit bigger and after I move to a bigger house and that will help with algae controll as well. However, that is in the future, so the BN pleco will have to do for now.
Thanks guys!

I also have the 4 - 54 w t5 I ended up only turning on 2 of the bulbs and plants growth slowed slightly, but hardly noticeable. IMO do not need all that light for most warm water plants.