ely

my 10 gallon glowfish tank has lots of brown algae on almost everything. it sounds like diatom from what i've read here.

i'm looking for advice - should i just try to ignore the ugly brown on everything? (tho it's getting harder to see thru the glass!) or get some kind of algae eater to add to the tank? are otos or plecos happy in a heated 10 gallon tank? do they need a specific setup? and do i need to find a specific species who wille eat brown algae?

thank you!

sirdarksol

A standard pleco would not be happy in anything under 50g. I think a bristlenose isn't happy in anything less than a 20g.
Otos can, theoretically, live in a 10g, but require very clean, very stable water parameters, something that's difficult to provide in a 10g.

The good news is that the diatoms should go away in a few weeks, as long as the tank isn't getting too much light and is being kept clean. In the mean time, get an algae scraper and use some elbow-grease to clear the tank walls.
I have the same issue in a relatively new tank of mine, and have one of the mag-floats that I use to clean the walls of the tank. They're pretty slick. I would suggest them to anyone with a glass tank (they can scratch acrylic tanks)