I have been doing a little research on fish/creatures to control algae in aquariums and have had no success finding something that is compatible with rays. I have a small Retic and my tank is having a bit of an algae problem. It is not severe like green water or anything, but it forms on some of my decorations and tries to form on my glass. I do water changer twice a week and my water quality is good, but my apartment is bright with sunlight. I have read that there is a risk of plecos and flag fish sucking the slime coat off of the ray, and the ray will eat snails, shrimp, or any other invertebrate that would help with the problem. Does anyone have any suggestions or do I have to keep scraping it? Also, is anybody keeping a pleco with their ray? I was wondering if it is an extremely rare case type of thing.
What can help with algae control in a stingray tank?
- Thread starter D Realist
- Start date
UV system to kill algae spores in water stream, good filtration, and regular tank maintenance will keep it under control. I run a drip system which keeps nitrates at 10 PPM. I can go a month and just barely have a film on my glass. I can wipe it all down in about 10 minutes. No fish will keep a tank clean. Even the best algae eater produce more waste then they are worth. Keep them if you like them but they will not keep your tank spotless.
The algae on the glass doesn't really bother me, I can wipe it off very easily with my scrapper. It is the algae that builds on my decorations that really bothers me and it grows very fast. My decor is almost white so that makes it even worse.
My water temp is at 80 should I drop it to 78? My water parameters are all good, but I know the sunlight is the problem. It isn't directly in front of a window, but I have a ton of sunlight throughout my apartment. I guess I could cut down the amount of hours my lights are on.
The amount of hours your lights are on will help. I had the same problem with my tank and reduced the lights to only 5 hours/day and I noticed the algae reduced dramatically. I don't have decorations in with my rays but I have them in my other tank with my discus. When algae does build up I take the decorations out and clean them with a brush.
I have kept bristle nose plecos in with my rays now for 8 solid years without ever a problem.....however they won't take care of the algae either all the time LOL. My tank is in the basement with no windows and I still get some algae I am looking into a uv for that tank as we speak. And I keep my tank at about 76....