Algae / Cleaner Fish?

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T

tanglovers

Plecostomus
MFK Member
Dec 28, 2007
528
56
61
Michigan
Well it has been 4-5 months since my main tank has been setup.

It is a 520 gallon tank (96x42x30). I am lighting it with LED lights that are very bright, I would compare these to lower watt (175-250w) metal halides.

I decorated the tank with a few very large peices of manzanita driftwood, some larger (smooth) rocks.

The only complaint I have with the tank is I am getting algae on the acrylic and a slight fuzz / growth on the driftwood and rocks.

I have my two adult female marbled motoros in there (16-18+"), a 11" FRT, 20" black arowana, pair of Uara (8-9") and a school of 15 clown loaches (7-9" each).

With the rays and the turtle in there most algae eaters are out and snails would be food for the loaches.

Anything come to mind? I am keeping the tank at 80 degrees, water parameters are perfect (gets around 100 gallon per day drip), uses 50 lbs or so of ceramic rings and 25ish gallons of bioreactors.

I am wondering if my lighting is too bright or on for too long (12 hours). Cleaning the algae is not hard just would rather not do it :) My saltwater reef tanks do not have these issues due to the fish and snails kept in there.

Thanks!
 
In my opinion that's a really strong light for a FW tank. I came over from reefs as well and had a similar problem when I set up. Do you ever do "cloudy days" in your reef? (its when you turn your lights off for a day.) I did this for 2 days in my FW ray tank and shortened the "day time" to 8 hours from 12 and its worked really well so far.

Good luck!
 
Thanks guys. I was leaning towards the lights being on for too long. Will run a few days in the dark then reduce the cycle.
 
I only turn mines on when I want to see the fishes in the evening for a few hours. I don't have any algae problem. I do have at least one sucker fish in each tank. They do make a difference. For plexi tanks, you will have to stay away from the wood chewing plecos and the larger commons such as the Royals. Their teeth is too sharp and will scratch the plexi.
 
Get your nitrates down lower and a uv will help also

I have found its pretty hard to keep algae growth down in a ray tank
 
Thanks guys!

Any idea if the sailfin plecos would also be safe with my fly river turtle in the same tank? The tank is acrylic, is this a wood chewing species?
 
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