So I'm trying to get rid of BGA (just did a chemiclean treatment) and have had brown algae in my tank for a long time and I've seen countless discussions about too much nutrients in the water or not enough CO2. I started liquid CO2 and I do see my plants responding but brown algae is still around. So I'm creating my version of an algae scrubber to see if lowering nutrients in my display tank might help.
I started with a dinky breeding box (I only have space for this size) and a CFL light. I was thinking of LED but ACE had this CFL on sale for 50 cents and so CFL it is! The box was on sale at Petsmart for $12.
Went looking for any kind of floating plants but 3 LFSs didn't have any. So I bought a good sized crypt plant at Aquarium Adventures for $6 and put it in the box. It's taller than the box, so some of the leaves sticks out of the water, and as some of you mentioned, the plant should be fine with that.
I also bought a basic light socket with cord from ACE for $7 and used a heavy wire, pole and duct tape to position the CFL over the box. As a temporary housing I used heavy duty foil to make a housing to concentrate/contain the light.
I'm hoping with 18 hours of light that algae, moss, and other nasty things will grow in here along with the crypt! Will my main tank be clear of algae? We shall see!
If it works, I'll probably switch CFL for LED to reduce the height of the light housing.
I started with a dinky breeding box (I only have space for this size) and a CFL light. I was thinking of LED but ACE had this CFL on sale for 50 cents and so CFL it is! The box was on sale at Petsmart for $12.
Went looking for any kind of floating plants but 3 LFSs didn't have any. So I bought a good sized crypt plant at Aquarium Adventures for $6 and put it in the box. It's taller than the box, so some of the leaves sticks out of the water, and as some of you mentioned, the plant should be fine with that.
I also bought a basic light socket with cord from ACE for $7 and used a heavy wire, pole and duct tape to position the CFL over the box. As a temporary housing I used heavy duty foil to make a housing to concentrate/contain the light.
I'm hoping with 18 hours of light that algae, moss, and other nasty things will grow in here along with the crypt! Will my main tank be clear of algae? We shall see!
If it works, I'll probably switch CFL for LED to reduce the height of the light housing.
