Best Glass algae eater

i wish i could just drop in my freshwater plecostomus. drop him in a dirty tank, next morning . . . SPOTLESS. Any marine equivalents? My 2 turbos in my 55 do a crappy job.

 

dude a tank of that size should have at least 20 turbos to even get a little algae off

 

i like nerite snails. they can rite theirselves when they get turned over. and yes, in a 55 tank i would get about 30. i ordered mine from saltwaterfish.com
check them out, they have good sales alot of times. like buy 15 get 15 free

 

Astrea snails work pretty hard, but not hard enough to clean my front glass... my urchin will sometimes get to the algae there, but not consistently...


I'm afraid the only reliable method for front glass cleaning may be one of these:



;D

 

+1 you can never really count on snails to make your tank look "tidy" they just make the algae on the glass look like a maze

 

Another vote for the Atrea's. They can make a powerhead spotless in a day or two.

 

I wouldnt use turbo's- they are like buldosers. Most urchins wont touch green algae- they prefer coraline algae- mine does and he keeps the purple off my tank (for the most part) so I dont have to.

Nerites, and a good size cleaner gobbie should solve your porblem, but remember- lighting plays a huge role in green algae growth, ask yourself why this is, then combat that issue (nitrates and phospates)- clean water will help to starve them out of your system- but this takes time.

Basically, take from the bad green algae what they need to survive and game over for the green algae.

Macro algea is another method, but it gets a lil' more complicated, and you'll need a sump of decent size to allow for competition twix the two.

 

Its worth mentioning as well that depending on the extent of your algae problem, it could be indicative of a different problem... If you've got heavy green algae growth (or any other for that matter), chances are you need more flow for starters. Poor lighting and water quality also can greatly add to this.... But I have to +1 with everyone else,i haven't found a true replacement for the good ole mag floa either...

 

Be careful sand gets under it and scatches the crap out of ur tank! Now i just use a gloved hand lol

 

good observation i have had this happen