Two big problems: Hair Algae and huuuuge pleco

[crispface]

We have a large aquarium which has been in existence for almost 20 years.

It is in direct sunlight for part of the day and the hair algae is out of control.

We have a massive amount of plecos (they breed continually) but they do not even try and eat the hair algae (even in it's beginning stages).

We have plastic plants because we have "jumbo" the biggest pleco you ever did met. He uproots every single plant we put in.

Next weekend I am taking it upon myself to re-vamp our aquarium. I plan on having a slightly raised area with real plants in a corner (which might allow the smaller fish somewhere to play away from jumbo.

I would also like to put in some other real plants - which ones are a) hardy, b) deep rooted and c) need no additional care?

I ask about no aditional care as the tank produces vast amounts of rubbish and is attempted to be cleaned regularly, but a decent job is simply not possible with the amount of damn plecos!

help me eradicate the algae and make the tank fish friendly (and pretty) without upsetting jumbo too much.

[SpotSplatterSplash]

My sister had a massive tank. She has 3 plecos. Two of which are humongous. The rest are carnivorous fish of some sorts (chiclids?) and big hybrid orange fish that look like bubbles. They are pretty big too.

She has white sand as the floor of the tank and then various huge white rocks all made into a hidey hole arrangement for the fish. She has column ornaments at each end.

She has been through the plant stage but gave up, she couldn't stop the algae and it looked permanently dirty. Between the no plants and the industrial size filter it is beautiful and really clean looking.

[SpotSplatterSplash]

has sorry

[EauRouge]

I've heard that this stuff is magic for getting rid of hair algae, never tried it myself though.

What level of lighting have you got and what substrate is it? Vallis and hygrophila polysperma are both nice easy plants to grow, you don't have to do anything other than trim the dead bits off. They might be tricky with a large plec on the loose though... have you got any bogwood or rocks in the tank? Java fern and anubias grow along wood/rocks rather than in the substrate so might be a better option. You just tie it onto the wood with a bit of black cotton and it should root in a week or so. Both types of plant are fine in low lighting levels so you shouldn't need to get extra lighting or CO2 injection or any of that stuff.

Do you know what sort of plec he is? There are quite a few species that look pretty similar and are all sold as 'common plecs', some can get to 2 feet long.

[crispface]

thanks spotsplattersplash, i had thought we may need to go to plantless - which would be a shame, though if the hair algae goes it might be worth it!

Eaurouge, I am impressed with your knowledge! thank you so much for you tips, I had never heard of "flourish" so will def give it a go. I will also look at the plants that grow on logs, such an easy idea (providing hair algae goes!) thank you again :)

No idea what sort of plec he is,we've had him for about 10-12 years and he hasnt grown much, we got him when he was big (he outgrew a friends tank) - but 2 foot

[SamJones]

You might want to check the phosphate levels in your water. We used to have hideous problems with algae no matter how careful we were with general nitrate etc levels. The we discovered that our local water is very high in phosphates - which the dipstick testers we were using didn't check for. So first we tried adding a phosphate filter which helped so long as the filter was fresh, but the biggest breakthrough was using RO water (reverse osmosis) for the changes. We ended up getting a filter ourselves but our local aquatics shop sells it by the barrel too.

We had a Sailfin plec too which got mahoosive - and we ended up having to rehome him because he outgrew the tank. Was about 3 ins long when we got him (came with the tank). I believe that there are variants now that do stay small though.

[crispface]

oh thanks SamJones, we have tested the water, but have no phosphate tester - we are in the SouthWest and i think we might have hig phosphate in the water due to high levels of agricultural fertilisers around. I shall check though thank you.