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What can I do to encourage more algae growth in my tank for my rubber lipped pleco? I see him sucking on the glass for hours on end so I assume that there is some trace amount of algae there although it is not visible to me. I never scrub the sides or the back walls of the tank and only scrub the front wall sparingly. I supplement his diet with algae wafers that I see him nibbling on after they have dissolved and drifted into a sheltered corner of the tank. The only massive bloom of algae I've ever had in this particular tank was of brown algae when the tank was almost new.

How many watts per gallon do you have? Is the tank planted?

Along with algae wafers you can supplement his diet with certain vegetables. I'm not sure what ones specifically though. You can also put rocks in buckets of water outside and then when they grow algae on them you can put them in the tank.

i wouldnt try to encourage the growth of algae.. sumtimes you can end up with ALOT more then u wanted..
the wafers are more then enough..

r0b3y

The tank has 2.5 watts per gallon of incandescant lighting. It is not planted. I figured real algae would probably be better for him than the wafers but I can certainly see how the algae could easily get out of control if I pushed it too much. Thanks.

i have a 'leech' problem in my tank at the moment and they seem to have polished off every last inch of algae so my poor bn has to scrounge! i supplement his diet with brine shrimp pellets algae wafers and zucchini slices and spinich. they seem to like these..
they are many other veges they love as well.. they can either be raw or parboiled

but if any one has any ideas of how to grow more algae i would definately love to know!

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Truth doesn't always win friends but it influences them

Add vegetables such as zuchini, squash, cucumber, mangos, even leafy foods like kale and lettuces. That's the most effective and healthy way to feed algae eating plecos. Even algae wafers have a bit too much meat and protein in them for algae eating fish so it's better to use the vegetables for the main part of their diet. For small algae eaters like otos it's usually suggested to place rocks in a jar or small tank and set it in sunlight but that probably wouldn't work for most plecos. You'd have to get a fairly large container and fairly large rocks and find a place where it could sit in full sun.