I decided to go with the Otos. They looked so small I got three of them. I
bought them on Sunday and they are really doing a number on the brown algae!
The plants have been cleaned off (they were *covered* in brown algae) as
well as most of the rocks and 2/3 of the gravel. These little guys are
amazing. My son enjoys watching them poop. (With all that eating and such
little bodies, I now have a littering of Oto poop on the Anubias leaves.)

I'm going to keep an eye on the algae and when it looks like it is all gone,
I'll add some pieces of algae wafer for the Otos. I haven't added any wood
for them to rasp on, as some have suggested. At least not yet--we'll see.

Now to see if I experience the short Oto lifespans that some have written
about...

Thanks for all the suggestions.

Dave


"David J. Braunegg" wrote in message
...
I think I finally figured out why I can't get rid of my brown algae after a
year and a half with this tank. My water department adds sodium silicate
at one of the town wells for "iron and manganese treatment and corrosion
control". They expect the SiO2 level at my house to be about 10 mg/l.

So, what should I do? (Now that I've got live plants and the leaves are
getting covered, I'm a bit more concerned about getting rid of the brown
algae than I was in the past.)
- Get an Otocinclus? (1 for a 10-gallon tank?)
- Get a silicate remover and try to figure out some way for my
Penguin mini-filter to flow water through it?
- Something else?

Thanks,
Dave