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Thread: BlueGreenAlgae

  1. #21
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    Hey, DEA - look at my original reply ! By the way, I didn't know you were a subscriber to the APD mailing list. You lurker, you...

    Yes, I was surprised that *anything* ate BGA. But I think when you leave the lights off for a few days, it's no longer carrying the toxicity that it normally would, and the ramshorn snails can gorge on it to their hearts' content. They eat BBA, too, but it seems only off of the plants. If it's growing on the glass or substrate, they don't seem to bother. I had A. barteri var. nana that had a few bits of BBA adhered to it, and eventually, when the snails got around to it, they polished away every bit of the horrid stuff. Months and many new leaves later, the plant's still clean as a whistle. They appear to be slowing down green spot, and I just discovered a few weeks ago that the same ramshorns will also eat diatoms, so I don't have to spend, like, lots of money on a bunch of otos that are going to die on me, anyway.

    The only thing these ramshorns don't seem to touch are hair or staghorn-type alga. Or hydra, to my dismay.

    -gnome

  2. #22
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    Hi Gnome
    Which brand of filter is popular in the US ?

    Thank you

  3. #23
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    Hey, MECH. It's hard to say, because different filters are good for different situations. I only keep small tanks (10 gallons and smaller), and right now, I swear by Hagen's AquaClear MINI. It's a simple but complete design, and very easy to modify its flow and the contents you want to include in the media basket. The smallest tank I use it for is a 2.5-gallon (~10L?). I think that even up to 30 or 40 gallons, AquaClear brand filters are popular. When you get to 55 gallons and such, people start talking about "canister" filters that I'm not familiar with; there's always the debate of "Eheim" vs. "Fluval". Seems that the Eheims are better in quality, but Fluvals are considerably cheaper. I'm only regurgitating what I often read.

    I've personally used the Penguin Bio-wheel MINI for my 10-gallon tank, but I recently broke the whole tank down and plan to put an AC MINI on it when I set it back up. There's no flow adjustment on the Penguin filter, and bio-wheels are not really recommended for plant tanks, anyway. Besides, my bio-wheel stopped turning a long time ago so it's really a pointless feature. Finally, the one other filter I've used for my 5.5-gallon plant tank is the Duetto Multi-Filter 50 (made by Aquarium Systems, I think). It was too much of a hassle to remove the filter to clean it out, so I never did, and this resulted in my BGA outbreak. After this, I switched to the AC MINI.

    I've seen some interesting designs, one of them being the Tetratec Power Filter; it has a chamber in which you can insert a "Capsule Heater", purchased separately. But I've read some poor reviews on this filter. Whispers are "acceptable" in their performance, but if you want to be able to choose which media to put in your filter, I'd have to say that nothing beats AquaClears, especially for the smaller aquariums.

    Finally, your basic sponge filters and UGF's: sponges are fine for fry/quarantine tanks. UGF's are considered junk, with the exception of a small number of expert fishkeepers who swear by them for their own interesting reasons.

    Sorry so long (and so off-topic).

    -gnome

  4. #24
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    hi gnome

    looks like penguin bio wheel filters? are very popular in the US huh? Cos it seems like most of my friends from the US are using this particular brand...

    DEA....you are a lurker...hahahahaha[]
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    The title below my name does not make me a guru...listen at your own risk!...

  5. #25
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    Hey, David.

    Again, it depends on the circumstance. If your main focus is on the fish and not so much on plants, the bio-wheels are fine. But among aquatic gardeners, they are not so popular because of the agitation that the wheels produce, thereby making it more difficult to keep CO2 *in* the water and available to the plants. And the bio-filtration that the bio-wheels are supposed to be fostering is also not so important in a plant tank, since the plants use whatever waste is produced by the fauna.

    One more reason I prefer the AquaClear is that you can see into the filter box. It's translucent so that you don't have to take it all apart simply to decide if cleaning is necessary or not. You can even see through the intake tube, provided that there's not a film of algae covering the inside.

    I guess Penguin Bio-wheel filters are great if you want maximum biofiltration and good oxygenation. These are features you'd want in a fish-only tank with a large bio-load, but probably not in a plant tank.

    -gnome

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