Reddit mentions: The best aquarium algae scrappers

I had a big gap in fish keeping and dug up the ol ten from the basement myself at one point. There is a lot of info avail to you at the top of the Sub, in the Wiki. so, here's a few things I can share that you had questions about:

• So, your tank isn't cycled if it has any ammonia or NitrItes (there should be NitrAtes/always keep below about 30 ppm)
  
• A pleco needs a larger tank and way more filtration than you have unfortunately. Here's their profile I think it may be a 20 high (?) as the minimum, not sure several inches longer than a 10 in any case. And since they eat all day long, they poop all day long, so are high bioload fish/messy/big poopers... you might want to think about rehoming him (after he eats the fungus on the wood lol--completely normal and goes away btw). He makes your tank overstocked. You can punch everything in Aqadvisor.com and see what it gives you for stocking but make sure to look at the Filtration Capacity Percentage which is probably the most important thing. Keep as high as you can to help your tank parameters be as healthy as possible. I try to keep mine at 200% if I can depending on the tank.
  
• Don't be scared of real plants. I have sand too. No problem. Get a pair of the long aquascaping tongs. I wouldn't even bother with the other tools frankly, but if you want to, get a set like this (I did research they are great and don't rust). But, I did just order this because I broke one of my tongs after years of abuse lol. If your light is full spectrum, get whatever plants you like for the most part, but if it's not, get low light plants like Sagittaria subulata, Anubias, Java Fern. You can also add API root tabs to the sand if you ever need to or Seachem Flourish for water column feeders as a fertilizer.
  
  I totally just realized I read your post wrong. You don't already have the Betta and Neon Tetras. In that case, I would skip the neon tetras as they tend to have a lot of problems probably because they are sooo popular and in demand they get overbred/inbred, poor husbandry in breeding practices, etc. I don't know.
  
  
• The size of the tank has nothing to do with whether a Betta is laid back or not. Each Betta has a different temperament. And like the other person said, you do have to be prepared to rehome either the Betta or the fish you chose to home with him becuase it does not always work. IF you decide to do a Betta with ANYthing else in the tank add the Betta last so he doesn't see them as invading his space. But, the only fish that I would give it a try with in a 10 gallon would be Ember Tetras really. You could do 6 of them and after they've been acclimated and intro'd to the tank, then do the same with the Betta.
  
• Also until you move out the pleco, go grab a bottle of Seachem Stability and add it to the tank for a week since you have a fish in there already. If you skipped the other fish, you might be able to keep him and just have the Betta, but you'd have to double check on that first. Look up on the profile I gave you for SF as it's the most reliable site for that type of info.
  
  Welcome back and good luck!

Sorry for the absolutely awful panorama of my tank, but it's the only way I could get detail.

My recent fert changes and dwarf gourami have gotten my hair algae under control. I also picked up an algae mower vac that helped me eradicate it manually - there's still a good bit left, but at least it's not growing. At the very front you can see my attempt at growing dwarf baby tears. You can't get the hair algae out of it without ripping the whole plant apart. If you look to the top of the picture you'll see that I have some dwarf water lettuce floating as well as a pretty large quantity of floating dwarf baby tears. I've been leaving it there and using it to fill in holes. My planting job looks shitty, but they're growing pretty well.

My question is - what are the chances of the baby tears making it to a pretty green carpet stage? Should I give up , rip it up, and try something else (monte carlo or dwarf hairgrass are looking good right now) or should I keep on keeping on? If there's hope I'll keep going, but if not I'm going to excavate the entire front and get rid of the floating replacement tears as well so my tank will stop looking so dingy and yellow.

I have a kit similar to this, I think I got the 4 tools for $10 somehow.

Tweezers, both large and small, are critical for planting.

Curved scissors help tremendously.

Flexible pipe cleaner for cleaning out all fittings, pipes, filters. Also is great for shooing fish / shrimp out of corners without hurting them.

If you’re lucky enough to live on the west coast, I really recommend a visit to TAP Plastics- they have all the scrapers, tiny containers, large containers, needles, vials, boxes, and spray bottles that you could ever need. Also, every piece is like 37 cents.

Yes, I realize now that I should have refined my original post. As far as what I have going right now:

Lighting - Finnex Stingray; buying two clamp lights isn't going to be much cheaper than this at $44.

Filter - Sponge filter with the powerhead listed above. I'm not set on one for now because I'll see what's at my LFS and go from there, but I have one in mind.

Tank - standard 10g tank from LFS

Substrate - I plan on using either black sand or normal sand, whatever I can find, along with root tabs. I like the look of sand and from what I hear it's easy to use for rescaping, which I will probably be doing. I had dirt capped with sand in my last tank and it looked horrible after a while because it mixed too much.

Is Seachem Prime the typical dechlorinator? I saw it recommended somewhere and that's what I plan on getting. I'm also looking at getting these tools. I'm not sure how much quality differs but they're cheap and have some good reviews.

I plan on sticking with RCS and some snails for now, fish can come later. As for plants, I think I'm gonna go with some java fern and java moss. I'll see what else my LFS has and recommends.

I greatly appreciate the help by the way.

EDIT: I wanted to add that I'll only be using root tabs on plants that would need it, I know I'm not supposed to plant java fern in the sand. I was just reading about staurogyne repens and how it could work in sand and low tech as long as I use root tabs and fertilizer. Do you have any thoughts on this?

This is a simple but awesome multi tool. The gravel rack is awesome to use.

id order a set of proper "Aquascaping tools", type that in on amazon. I bought i think an $18 dollar kit, and trim in tank. That way you wont have to pull them out.


The way you are currently setup, no matter how gentle you are pulling your plants, some substrate is going to come up with every single plant. Particularly if they are well rooted.


There are much more expensive "Aquascaping tools" that will run you like $18 for each item i got in my kit, but are of a significantly higher quality. Trust me you are going to want some normal straight trimmers, and a set that have the curved blades.


Here is the set i bought https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00Y9JDM3A/ref=ppx_yo_dt_b_asin_title_o08_s00?ie=UTF8&psc=1


they arent the best, and you need to be quick when you make a cut, if you try to slowly cut, the blades will grab your plant, and it is easy to pull them out depending on the plant and how well rooted it is.

TOM Aquarium Maintenance Algae Scraper Multi Tool 34 Length https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0006JM0K8/ref=cm_sw_r_awd_PDcgvb0ZCY0YB

I use this. Gives a lot more freedom rather than a razor blade but honestly I wouldn't do all of it at the same time. When I scrape off algae and coralline it usually puts tons of debree for a little while. So I tend to do like 1 side a day or something. We have a 80 reef.

Check out the Marineland Portrait (5 gallon) on Amazon - full kit, only needs a heater. - $57.46 - https://www.amazon.com/Marineland-ML90609-Portrait-Aquarium-5-Gallon/dp/B00O8SZTKQ/ref=sr_1_1?crid=1X2LC9K1PR12Z&keywords=marineland+portrait&qid=1550531669&s=gateway&sprefix=marineland+po%2Caps%2C155&sr=8-1

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Add:

Indian Almond Leaves - $7.95 https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00HG1TMIW/ref=ppx_yo_dt_b_asin_title_o08__o00_s02?ie=UTF8&psc=1

Marino Moss Balls - find the cheapest with the best reviews - $7.95 - https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B01MT8YO3E/ref=ppx_yo_dt_b_asin_title_o02__o00_s00?ie=UTF8&psc=1

VitaChem - $9.12 - https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00BS96V78/ref=ppx_yo_dt_b_asin_title_o01__o00_s01?ie=UTF8&psc=1

Betta Hammock - $7.56 - https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B079ZM9H97/ref=ppx_yo_dt_b_asin_title_o05__o00_s03?ie=UTF8&psc=1

My betta's favorite hammock - $5.99 - https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B07BTMKNY2/ref=ppx_yo_dt_b_asin_title_o04__o00_s00?ie=UTF8&psc=1

Seachem Ammonia Alert - $6.99 - https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B000255R5G/ref=ppx_yo_dt_b_asin_title_o05__o00_s00?ie=UTF8&psc=1

Pipettes - $6.19 - https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B073WLCQWD/ref=ppx_yo_dt_b_asin_title_o02__o00_s00?ie=UTF8&psc=1

Thermometer - $6.99 - https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B01A0TMS6Y/ref=ppx_yo_dt_b_asin_title_o09__o00_s00?ie=UTF8&psc=1

Tweezers/Scissors for plants - $11.39 - https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00Y9ZGYMK/ref=ppx_yo_dt_b_asin_title_o09__o00_s01?ie=UTF8&psc=1

Algae Scraper - $7.50 - https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B01726KDKG/ref=ppx_yo_dt_b_asin_title_o09__o00_s01?ie=UTF8&psc=1

API Freshwater Testing Kit - $17.59 - https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B000255NCI/ref=ppx_yo_dt_b_asin_title_o09__o00_s03?ie=UTF8&psc=1

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Looks like he has plants. A nice set of aquascaping tools?

Maybe some high-end fish food, like NLS or Repashy?

The best way to clean glass is a razor blade. Glass is hard and the razor won't hurt it.

I use one of these: https://www.amazon.com/Stainless-Scraper-Cleaner-Blades-Aquarium/dp/B01N8PUHKA/ref=asc_df_B01N8PUHKA/?tag=hyprod-20&linkCode=df0&hvadid=198088359792&hvpos=1o2&hvnetw=g&hvrand=9974973108380134235&hvpone=&hvptwo=&hvqmt=&hvdev=m&hvdvcmdl=&hvlocint=&hvlocphy=9026850&hvtargid=pla-351099161421&psc=1

I use these. They're fairly cheap, good quality, and work well. They've made maintaining my planted shrimp tanks a lot easier.

https://www.amazon.com/dp/B07C31QVWT/ref=cm_sw_r_cp_api_i_EdlKDbFPGCZBD

Here you are! This is what I use, and the cheapest set like this I found. They work just as well as any other lol

I use stainless steel tools like these with my plants and the tweezers are good for grabbing things without getting my hands in the water.

Water hose connectors that attach to your siphon hose so you can drain the tank straight outside/into sink/etc.

Plunger with measurements on the side so you can extract exactly 5ml of water from the tank into your test tubs.

fill a spray bottle with hydrogen peroxide (brown bottle) and spray it and let it sit. then scrub with a good kitchen dish scratch pad.

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If you use a magnetic tank cleaner, you can clean the tank while the water and fish are still inside. https://www.amazon.com/KEDSUM-Magnetic-Aquarium-Cleaner-Floating/dp/B01J3RDTDU

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rinse and repeat as needed.

The obvious answer, but if you want to save a few bucks or dont have a sink close by this one works with a bucket...

In search of a good manicuring kit for trimming back plants, scissors and what not.

Can anyone point me in a good direction?

EDIT- Found this, thanks anyways :)

The 5 in 1 set, not the 8 in 1 set ...

Scraper stick or soap free magic eraser then net up the floaters.

The magnet scrubber takes too much time for multiple tanks and it can grab sand and scratch the glass.

Edit: if you use the magic eraser sponge make sure you buy the chemical free option. They sell some with soap embedded in the material that can harm the tank.

I don't know the exact model I have but it's the same concept as one of these. It's just a way to clean the glass.

By scrubbing I meant using this or a similar tool, sold in almost every aquarium and online shops, I got mine from Aliexpress. And about OTS, the guy from aquarium coop has a good video about it, check it out

Fill it with water and a little vinegar (tap water, no need for salt) and let it sit for a day or two. Use a scraper like this guy and scrape it while it's still full. Works great for me.

I highly recommend this scraper as opposed to magnetic ones

https://smile.amazon.com/gp/aw/d/B077BTWNWN/ref=sxts_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1519253247&sr=1

These are what I got, hopefully link works.. it's a 4 piece set, and it was $12.99.

The idea has been around for a long time. Its how people clean fish tank glass, same thing. https://www.amazon.com/Aqueon-06170-Algae-Cleaning-Magnet/dp/B004BFE4EI/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1480048635&sr=8-1&keywords=tank+cleaning+magnet

This is an absolute life saver in situations like this.

Also invest in an aquarium algae pad, they are super cheap http://www.amazon.com/Hand-Held-Algae-Pad-Glass/dp/B000255NHI/ref=sr_1_5?ie=UTF8&qid=1377535114&sr=8-5&keywords=algae+pad. You can get away with using this tank still as I said above, but it's going to take a lot of work. Do lots of water changes too until all of that film goes away.

With a razor blade, a toothbrush, and a magnet cleaner. I just can't stand algae growth on anything including the back glass, so I like to keep it clean.

Flipper Aquarium Algae Magnet Cleaner with Two Blades https://www.amazon.com/dp/B008ELIQ4Y/ref=cm_sw_r_other_apa_y16yzbFXXNT59

First, I'm upvoting because you're not the boss of me.
Second, get a Toms algae scraper. Long handle keeps your hands dry and it comes with a gravel rake, blade scraper and standard scrubber.
Amazon.
http://www.amazon.com/gp/aw/d/B002DVWNI6/ref=mp_s_a_1_2?qid=1414216483&sr=8-2&pi=SX200_QL40

Prices do vary. I got the 34" one for $11

They make them for cleaning [fish tanks] (https://www.amazon.com/Magnetic-Aquarium-Glass-Cleaner-Aquatic/dp/B00RYDY066), just need a smaller version in this case.

Sometimes you have to get your elbows wet. Or get a magnetic scrubber.

https://www.amazon.com/Stainless-Scraper-Cleaner-Blades-Aquarium/dp/B01N8PUHKA/ref=pd_lpo_sbs_199_t_1?_encoding=UTF8&psc=1&refRID=X969M1AX74NZPZXE0N80

I use the 5 in 1 set here:

https://www.amazon.com/Signstek-Stainless-Aquarium-Tweezers-Aquariums/dp/B00Y9JDM3A/

I assume this is a few floors up. You need one of those aquarium cleaners!