Glass cleaner

[sherlock]

My Bristlenose pleco's are starting to suck at keeping my glass free of algae, not sure if they are lazy or scared to come out. What do you guys prefer, a scraper or the mag-float. Right now I am using the scraper but I am not to impressed with the results. Lets hear some pros and cons of each method.

[Wingin' It]

scraper, like razor? They work well, but can and will scratch your glass. You can get plastic razors though that work just as well and they haven't scratched my glass.

Magfloats do work, but they're not as effective and I find you have to go over it and over it to get great results. Also, if you go too far down and accidentally grab some substrate with the magfloat and then proceed to use it all over the tank, the substrate will scratch your tank. But the plus is that you don't have to get your arms wet! lol (also less contaminants get into the tank if you don't have to put your arm in the tank)

[BettaFishMommy]

mag floats are great for anything that is 'softly' stuck on the the glass, but when you get the hard green algae spots (i've got a few) the mag doesn't do darn all on them.

[Vallisneria]

I use both razors and a mag float. On my planted tank I use a razor as it gets the hard green algae, which the mag float doesn't remove. But I use a mag float in my 90g which only gets a bit of brown algae on the glass each week.

So basically the mag float is great for softer algea. Its also nice that you dont' have to get wet. But if your glass gets really algae covered or has the green spot algea, it will be easier if you just use a razor.

I've also used a plastic scraper but the razor works best.

All my tanks have BN plecos but they dont' keep the glass clean enough and dont' eat the green spot algae.

[searay]

You could try zebra nerite snails.These guys are great little algae busters and do not breed in fresh water.Only draw back is they leave little white eggs around sometimes.

[Murminator]

I use the easyblade attachement on my magfloat the only way to clean glass will scrap off coraline algae like nothing and does no damage.Freshwater algae comes off unbelievable

http://www.easybladeusa.com/

Edited April 26, 2010 by Murminator

[jet_ran]

My Bristlenose pleco's are starting to suck at keeping my glass free of algae, not sure if they are lazy or scared to come out. What do you guys prefer, a scraper or the mag-float. Right now I am using the scraper but I am not to impressed with the results. Lets hear some pros and cons of each method.

[jet_ran]

hi. are you overfeeding? did u check phosphate level? too much sun light or leaving light on for longer than 8-10hrs per day? water changes? hope some of these questions helps? i know, it doesn't specifically answer your question with regards to which of those equipment is a better algae cleaning tool