Cleaning live plants?

[Misty]

How can I remove brown algae from live plants? Is there a soak or do I just throw them in a sink of water and swirl them around a bit?

I hate the light in my tank, it's an Eclipse Natural Daylight bulb (plus I don't like the yellow glow). Most of the plants seemed to be doing better under the light in the 100g...don't know what it is but it's not a natural light. Anyway, I'm constantly fighting this brown algae crap and I'd like to know how to effectively clean the plants...at least until I change bulbs.

Thanks,
Misty

[FishGurl721]

I have the same problem! Hope someone can help us

[mrsbiggin]

Mollies and Bristle Nose pleco's keep our plants sparkling!

[Misty]

Yeah but this is my 20g Bolivian Ram tank with 4 BRs...I don't want to add anything else and would rather just take on an extra plant care job.

Thank you though.

[arnold]

Small bn are your best bet. Algaecide works but are chem in nature and may damage the plants, I don't care what the label says. bn wont eat the plants, I have a 45 gallon with geo pindares in it and lots of plants, plant light, 02 etc, algae was getting bad, I tossed in a small breeder pr and about 6 to 10 small bn and its all taken care of a week later. any other ideas would be interesting. bn wont eat the eggs or fry with mom n dad watching.

[Misty]

I have a bristlenose that I can add...the gimp one from Chris.
I was told that any pleco will get to the eggs despite what the parents do so I didn't want to go that route, I guess I can try it though.

I did a water change tonight and took the plants to the kitchen sink and got them as clean as I could with just my bare hands and water, they look much better. Despite how covered they were, they must be ok because I found tons of new leaves and even started new plants from some of them.

Anyway, thanks for the BN advice, to both of you, I'll see how it works.

[Rift2Reef]

Depending on the plant simply rubbing it with your fingers does a great job. I don't think taking them out and doing anything to them is a good job. Smaller algae eaters such as Ottocinclus are also an option.

[Misty]

Thanks!

That's what I did, I just did it in the kitchen sink because I needed both hands and I'm too short to be reaching both arms in the tank, lol. It was surprisingly effective, which is a good thing when your funds are too low to allow new tank tenants. Thankfully I have Dottie (the BN) to add if it should start to algae up again.:)

[xtc]

IMExperience, that syndrome seems to plague a newer tank- you'll deal with it for a spell- then it will break and your tank will be just fine. Stay on top of your regular water changes and pull off what you can.

I have bazillions of young BNs if that's the route you wanna go.

[FishGurl721]

will the bn's nibble on the plants as they get older like their LARGER cousin does?

[Misty]

Thanks Chris...I needed to hear that!
Now that I think about it, it did kind of happen suddenly in relation to how long the tank has been up. What I mean is, it hasn't been happening all along, it just sort of appeared over about two weeks time. I do stay on my water changes so I figured it was just the light doing it.:confuzeld:

I appreciate the offer too, I might have to take you up on that. If I move Dottie over to the 20g, I'll want another female for the 100g...one that Sticky will take since he and Dottie aren't as in love as they were in the beginning.