Brown Algae & Mollies

Last year, I decided to use river sand as my aquarium's substrate, and now, I am regretting that decision. Because sand has silicates in it, I've had brown algae blooms in my aquarium. It looks unsightly, and it's covering up my anubias. I need to control it somehow before I get a new substrate. I did my research, and I found out that there are several types of fish that could help mitigate the problem.

Most of my readings say that otocinclus catfish would do the job of eating brown algae. They are my best bet because they don’t grow too big, which is perfect for my 15 gallon aquarium. They are also safe for planted tanks like the one I have. I just can't find any right now.

Plecostomus would also do the trick, but they are not the best choice for my tank since they can outgrow my tank and eat through some of my cryptocorynes. The smaller bristle nose pleco is a better option, but I can't find any at the moment, too.

I've found some black mollies at a local pet store, and they seem to enjoy eating the brown algae, so I guess they will do it for now with the help of my snails. Here are some pictures of them munching on the algae.

Despite their apparent enthusiasm in eating the brown algae in my tank, I’ll have to do something about the silicates that are leeching into the water since there’s only 3 of them in the tank.

Cleaning Aquarium Glass

Do you have an old aquarium? If you have one, I think that you’re not bothering with it because of the white marks on the glass that’s left from water that dried out. These are hard water stains. The white stuff is called lime, and they’re dissolved in hard water supplies much like what I have here at home. When the water dries out, they get left on the glass like the way salt gets left behind if you let sea water evaporate. I had such a hard time taking them out before, but not anymore. If you have the same problem, all you need is just vinegar and perseverance.

So here are the steps to cleaning hard water stains off of aquarium glass:

1. Get some vinegar.
2. Wet a sponge with vinegar.
3. Scrub the glass.
4. Let the vinegar soak in.
5. Repeat the process if there’s any left.

I hope that it’s clear; the fish should not be in the aquarium if you are to do the steps, ok? Also, the stronger the concentration of the vinegar is, the better. I used a local brand, Datu Puti, for the test, but I’ll try to get some pure hydrochloric acid from my aunt. Also, the results might vary depending on how think the lime deposits are. It really will take patience. If possible, you could soak the aquarium with vinegar by laying it down on the side that you want to clean. The longer you soak it, the better. Don’t forget to scrub so that you can also expose more of the lime to the acid.

It worked on a small patch of my old aquarium – which sounds like the solution that I was looking for in setting up a new tank – and I hope that it would work for you, too!