View Full Version : do ottos suck the green out of plants?
taht is what i ve heard, i have brown algea growing like a dust on my ferns and anubius i was wondering what is the best for that type algea thanks!
djlen
01-29-2004, 11:46 AM
I've had them for years and never had that problem.
Anubia is an algae magnet. They are beautiful and easy to grow, but they(especially the Barteri and other broad leaf varieties) are just prone to collecting algae.
I have tanks with a minimum of algae anywhere and the Anubia leaves are loaded with it. Every now and then I pull them out, driftwood and all, and give them a 19:1 bleach bath. They then look great for 2-3 months and start collecting again.
"Brown" algae sounds like too little light. How much are you supplying?
Len
its a 110 watt power compact on a 30 gallon long
would removing phosphates help?
Limiting P will not help unless it's way out of balance with the others.
People have this mis-conception about phosphates. They are like any other nutrient and if supplied with the other two macros and traces, they will encourage plant growth and limit algae...not encourage it.
Low lighting is definitely not the problem. You just may need to keep cleaning up the leaves as best you can or use the bleach bath on the anubia. As previously stated, they are prone to algae......big time.
Otos will help some, but you are experiencing a problem that everyone that I know has with anubia. Especially at close to 4 watts/gal. I shade my anubia and in those tanks it helps a lot.
Len