tank suggestions

[20gallonman]

Ok, so i have a 20g tank. It has a fluval 404, and 65 watts of 10,000k power compact lighting. I currently have 15 neon tetras, 1 blue dwarf gourami, 3 pearl danios, 2 small angels, and 2 little water frogs. I am having a problem with brown algae forming on the substrate and glass, as well as everything else in the tank! I cut the lights from 9 hrs to 4 in hopes that this would help, but it hasn't seemed to do much. Is there any type of algae eating fish that I could get? Maybe a pleco or something? Anyone have any suggestions? Thanks!

[mousey]

I have the same problem. have varied the lights, the ferts-- still grows back. Just wipe it off when you do tank maintenance. i have Sae's and they don't bother with it. neither do the platys or guppies, although they like the green algae.
yucky i know, but i just have learned to live with it.
Mouse

[BobC]

You have 65w of light in a 20 gallon tank, but yet you don't mention any plants. What is the reasoning for the intense light in an unplanted tank? You don't need anything more than the common strip light with a normal flouresant bulb for viewing your fish. The 65 watts is overkill unless you have a planted tank with good co2 and healthy plants.

[Vivid-Dawn]

My husband has a 2.5 gallon tank he keeps a Betta in (no live plants), and it had horrible algea in it. You couldn't even see through the front panel! I don't think it was all brown, more like a 'dingy' green. Anyway, I had bought a 3" Pleco, and my tank wasn't quite cycled yet, and still perfectly clean...so I let my pleco go into the Betta tank. He had the whole front panel, most of a side panel, and a rather large decoration totally free of algae within 3 days!
My husband also has a large pleco (I haven't measured it yet, but it's probably a foot at most, maybe 6" at least), who also cleans up algae really good in the 50gal. My husband will leave one side of the tank lit for about a week, and the other side is dark. If algae builds up, he switches, and the pleco will go eat/clean the side that was lit (it seems pleco's like darkness, too).
Maybe that'll help you, 20man.

[20gallonman]

quite simply, I had the lights on the tank when it was a salt water set-up. It's actually a 130watt pc with 65 actinic, and 65 10000k. I only turn the 10000k side on, i don't want to fry the little fishies! I guess it is a little overkill. If i got a regular strip light, what kind of bulb would i use? All of the bulbs at the fish store are expensive. Can i use just a regular white bulb that comes in a strip light from home depot? Could I get a pleco also? thanks!!

[nosilver4u]

I would recommend a pleco. I have 2 ten gallon tanks, and a pleco in each. I had the worst problem with algae growing on stuff, until i got them, and now I have no algae problems at all.
I think 10 gallon is about the smallest you ever wnat a pleco in, so since you have a 20g, you should be fine. Just don't freak out when he hits 20".

[soccermouth]

Some people willl tell you that you shouldn't put a pleco in a tank that small. I have done it before and it seemed fine to me. You can get a bulb from a greenhouse or home depot or whatever. if you don't have live plants any light will do. if you do have live plants (for those that do) you still don't need that much lighting in a tank that small unless it is a heavily planted tank. In which case you're going to want a co2 setup and plenty of fertilizer.

[fishfreaks]

you might want to try a bushynose pleco they love algae and stay fairly small

[joe kool]

there are several places online to get a good "full spectrum" light for a 20 gal for 9 to 15 bucks. It's not really over kill if you get you some plants and have some hiding places for the fishes to hide when they need a break from the light. I have a 65 watt 10K/antic (50/50) on my 20 long for my fry tank and it's chock full of live plants. Java fern, anubis (in a shady spot ), java moss (loads of it), a mother sword thats' put off about 15 baby swords so far in 5 or 6 months, some weird fern looking thing I found at petco one day that grows like mad (attaches kinda like the java fern too) and 20 or so of the cork screw val and another val plant type ... in a 20 gal with no co2 supplementation only a very old whisper 1 and a hydro 5 sponge with power head running it. My fry absolutly love that tank. they pout for weeks when they get moved to the grow out tank


Also you could look into some of the "fancy" plecos. many of them stay around 6" more or less when fully grown and grow fairly slowly. as mentioned above the bushy nose is a hardy good choice. If you can't get past the "trees" as my wife calls them growing out its' nose then the L-200 "green phantom" is another hardy variaty that I've heard just mows down the algae.

Peace

[shev]

A common pleco shouldnt be housed in less than a 55 gallon, maybe a bushy nosed or a clown pleco could be in a 10 gallon, but plecos produce a lot of waste, which in a small tank can disturb the water quality very fast.

[osteoporoosi]

Your tank sounds a bit overstocked.About your set of fish:

-Frogs and fish shouldn't be kept together, because frogwaste is toxic to them. It irritates the fishes gills and the protective layer in their skin.
-your tank is too small for angels
-No pleco in a 20 g tank. Too much waste and they really do grow too big for you. (smallest common pleco grows about 15cm long).

I recommend that you get rid off your frogs and angels. It will help you to keep your tank cleaner.

[Fishfirst]

frogs are fine with fish, the frog waste as osteoporoosi talks about is normal for any creature, and it irritates the fishes gills because it produces ammonia when it breaks down... a well established system will not let this become a problem... The Angels get too big for your tank so an upgrade or taking them back to the lfs is the options you have for those. Also I recommend Oto Catfish instead of Plecos for smaller tanks... they don't get big and they eat algae, and are really fun fish actually!

[Jess]

I have a friend who had the same problem with her 30g tank. She removed the fish and cleaned out the tank with lots & lots of salt. Then soaked all gravel & decorations in salt water (again, lots of salt). When she filled the tank again with fresh water, she added a little extra salt to the water (usually 1 tblsp to 5 gallons of water--she added a few teaspoons extra). That was about a year ago and the algae hasn't come back yet!

[BlueAmbist]

I wonder if that would be true, why is there still like hundreds of fish and frogs together in swamps etc? and we won't mention the rivers and lakes of Africa where these frogs come from huh?

[osteoporoosi]

Rivers and lakes contain thousands of gallons of water, 20gallonmans tank only 20...
If the water isn't changed really often, it a possibility that the fish get intoxicated.
So fish and frogs aren't the best possible mix up.

[Damon]

I'd have to agree. Even though its done in the wild, it doesn't mean it can be done at home. Especially with a tank that small.
As for algae, salt will not kill it. ALge is in every tank. No exceptions. There are ways to rid your tank of it or at least keep it under control........
UV sterilizer. This will kill the algae. Point blank. Expensive and not recommended for planted tanks.
Balanced nutirents, lighting, and CO2. The peferred way. Overfeeding leads to algae. Increased light leads to algae. (Tanks with light that sit by a window are big algae problems)
Proper stocking. Overstocking leads to increased nutrients. WHen your friend cleaned their tank, they removed all the excess nutrients. Using the salt was a waste.

[Fish n chips]

U can buy these special lasers that et rid of algae

[MB75]

In a tank sized like this, the frog's pee and poop (which is really strong) will irritate the fish and may at some point lead to fish dying. Either you should have a really big pond for them or you should not keep fish and frogs together. In nature they live together, but the water is moving all the time a little, in rivers even strongly. And in nature all those fish and the frog are not forced in such a small area with non-moving water so you cannot compare these situations.