# Fighting algae in a plantless river flow tank? Should I?



## mwarsell (Jun 23, 2013)

I have a 200 litre tank dedicated for sewellia lineaolata, hillstream loaches. They like the algae and are supposed to graze on it, but it's getting kind of messy right now and not very nice to look at anymore. 

What should I do? Just elbow grease? And some plants? (I don't even have a substrate, just pebbles and rocks)

I have a powerful powerhead running through the tank so it resembles a river.


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## jaysee (Dec 9, 2009)

If I recall correctly the do not eat the algae itself but the organisms living on the algae. Someone correct me if I am wrong.


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## Flear (Oct 5, 2012)

i don't recall what a hillstream loaches preferences on algae are, ... they never did anything for my tank either.

currently i have flagfish and they are amazing for algae control, ... don't quote me on this, but i don't think they are a fast-water fish

could look into other algae eaters (or omnivores with strong algae preferences)

otherwise, worst case scenario, ... algae is a plant at it's basics like any other, offering the same benefits.

could just keep it trimmed
or clear for the spots your loach seems to love 

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for many algae is an eye-sore, ...

some do some amazing things with algae, i'm not one of them, i'm not an artist and if i tried i'd die of starvation without a place to live very shortly afterwards - i am no artist.

but, ... could give it a try to keep it trimmed and get some amazing looks 

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i have seen a guy who played with it enough (and water parameters as well) ... his snail turned into a green fuzzy tribble, the shrimp kept it trimmed.

another guy grew and cultured his algae into shapes, tied them down and let it grow over the fishing line, ... trimming with water changes so it stayed only where he wanted it in his tank, ... looked like a very small tree if full summer bloom, a literal living miniature of a full sized real tree

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so if you want to get rid of it, that's an option

if you decide perhaps you could work with it in other ways, ... who knows what your creativity can come up with


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## mwarsell (Jun 23, 2013)

The algae looks fine on the rock surfaces, but on the panel it doesn't.


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## mwarsell (Jun 23, 2013)

Some Crypts would probably do well in high flow conditions. But I don't have a substrate, just roundish pebbles the size of a finger tip. Can Crypts take root in these conditions?


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## jaysee (Dec 9, 2009)

I'm not a plant person but you might be able to pot the plant


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## BWG (Oct 11, 2011)

Sewellia lineolata does eat aufwuchs which includes both algae and all the assorted microscopic critters that comes with it. Still jealous of you having a tank full.

Mind giving some context about the tank, filter, and powerhead. There's a huge difference in say an aquarium set up to resemble a river and with 6X turnover and one that is setup to be as close to a hillstream as possible with unidirectional flow that could possibly be in excess of 20X an hour. The former allows for an extremely wide range of plants while with the latter you are going to have to stick with types that grow attached to decor like Anubias, Java fern, and Bolbitis.

I can offer some thoughts even without that. Where do your loaches feed? If they don't even feed from the glass then there's no concern with scraping it. 
Plants like Crypts and the ones I mentioned grow slowly, so I'm not sure what good they would do towards eliminating algae, specifically in only certain areas.
Decreasing the duration the light is on is something you could consider. 

This is a fine balance since you're trying to grow algae. My advice (which I don't think will change later with more info) is scrape the glass if it bugs you. Just that. You can add plants, but only if it is because you want them. Just don't add them expecting them to help. The simplest approach is always the best one, IMO.


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## mwarsell (Jun 23, 2013)

BWG, thank you.

The 52.8 gallon tank has two external filters: Eheim Ecco Pro and another Eheim (22??). There are two powerheads: Koralia 2800 and a small Eheim Compact 600. They turn over 3400l/hour, so that makes it 17 x. I turn off the Eheim though during the night. The Koralia is near the bottom and the Eheim near the top to accelerate surface movement. The blow from left to right towards the filter intakes in the back left corner.

I moved the timer on the lightning to give 1 hour less per day. Let's see if that has any effect. 

The loaches (I have 8, 4 males and 4 females, plus around 100 juveniles now, the biggest ones are now about 1/2" long) feed mostly on the rocks. They are occasionally seen on the panels but they like hang out more than eat when they're on them.

FYI, I had a massive snail problem earlier. I removed like 100 of them during every water change and even bought 20 assassin snails to combat with me, but to no avail. Finally yesterday I decided to use my Eheim Sludge Extractor  and sucked all the crap and snails from and between the pebbles. A lot of gunk and live and dead snails were removed. The water smells much clearer now. I hope I've finally won that battle.

Regarding plants, I looked at at the Crypt balansae, it would be nice to have it growing in the back. Not sure what my loaches would think of that though. They wouldn't hang on it for sure.


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