# Algae control help - Synodontis or Pleco?



## jnick (Aug 17, 2011)

I have a 55G Malawi tank that is starting to get a little crazy with Algae. Algae has been a battle of mine since August. At one point, I had a Synodontis multipunctatus (I believe) in the tank as well as two common pleco's. The tank rarely saw algae. However, now, my synodontis is gone. He was always nocturnal and therefore I never saw him unless I did a water change. This water change; there were no signs except for some fish remains. 

I then read that one common pleco is enough of a waste pollutant, so I removed one of the pleco's to another tank, thus leaving me with only one pleco to fend off he algae.

On top of that, I swapped my Fluorescents with Marineland's Double Bright LEDs for better lighting AND less algae.

Fast forward from Saturday and the algae is still going strong, nearly covering my Texas Holey Rock and back glass.

It's obvious that I need to bring a cleanup crew of some sort back in action. In this case, are BN pleco's the way to go, or should I opt for 2-3 synodontis cat fish?

Also, shouldn't the LED's nearly halt algae growth? The lights run on around 4pm and are off at midnight.

Thanks!


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## Nodalizer (Nov 7, 2011)

for sheer cleaning power i would go brisslenose.

they are also very tough fish and can put up with any cichlid you would house in a 55 gal setup.

Never lost one yet and had them in all my tanks for years. provide a flat rock or wood that the brisslenose can get under that the cichlids will not. This will be his home all day, he will work at night unless he feels safe int he tank like mine are in my mbuna tank and they go atit all hours.


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## GTZ (Apr 21, 2010)

Not positive but I'm pretty sure double brights are good for low-medium light plants, therefore they should be quite capable of growing algae.


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## Chubbs the Jellybean (Jun 16, 2009)

GTZ said:


> Not positive but I'm pretty sure double brights are good for low-medium light plants, therefore they should be quite capable of growing algae.


+1 - maybe add some low light plants to eat up the nutrients that the algae is currently consuming, or just cut down on your light hours


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## Sparrk (Oct 11, 2010)

get 5 nerite snails they are great algea eater, the only problem is they dont live really long 1-2years max, and they may lay white eggs sometimes but they will never hatch in freshwater.

When the pleco grow bigger he might not be happy with an other pleco. I've had bad pleco agression at one point in my tank, I had two of them in a 75gal they grew like weeds to 6 and 8 inches and they started fighting so bad they would make my water cloudy. Luckily at that point I was already considering getting an used 55gal, so I did and separated them. A year later my pleco died in the 75 so I got 5 syno... algea just kept growing so I got 6nerite snails cause they were doing an amazing job in my fry tanks. They cleared up all that algea in a week or two.

But the other experience I have is a planted tank, plants really help in keeping algea growth under control, I dont have snails in my planted tanks, no need for algea eathers. Most anubias will do very well at a ph of 8, over that it is getting tricky with the plant. Their large solid leaves wont get eaten by cichlids. Anubias do not need lots of light so that is also very good for algea growth.


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## mafishguy (Jan 10, 2012)

adding some plants to the aquarium will help alot with out competing the algae for light and food. Bristolnose plecos are great as well as hi-fin plecos because they don't get that large and are pretty docile toward everyone. I usually use moss for my plants because it grows on to other ornaments and will out compete algae big time and it doesn't take over the tank like some plants can.


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