Thanks in advance for help on this problem...
Information:
My two silver dollars eat everything I plant in my 29g. of course, and I have a nitrates/algae problem, of course. Letting the little rascals go to another home is, of course, out of the question: they've been with me so long I couldn't even guess how old they are.
Though it has seen better days, the tank is currently only lightly loaded with the s.d.s, a pair of clown loaches and a couple of hatchets, and heavily filtered with a Fluval canister filter (a.k.a. nitrate accumulator!) running full time as the only continuous circulation/treatment (the stack has two levels of bio and one of carbon). The tank has an old Marineland hood with a pair of fluorescent tubes for lighting, and I run the hood's filter/biowheel periodically by means of a timer, but my wife doesn't like the noise, so when she's watching telly in the evenings it runs only for a few minutes every hour to keep the wheel wet. The tank has a shallow gravel substrate, no ugf.
I don't have a lot of time for maintenance, but don't want to give up and tear the tank down, and instead would really like it to see some glory, so before I restock it I need to be able to plant something (and/or take other measures) to keep nitrates & algae under control and improve water quality.
SO... I have just begun to try and beat back the green and brown algae by setting up a cheap 5.5g with LED lights as a refugium with some plant cuttings in it. The refugium is on a convenient shelf beside the main tank, connected via a siphon link, such that the water surface in the main tank is half way up the refug. The water levels are therefore equal and safe under no-flow/power-out conditions. I put an old Penguin 550 powerhead in the main tank (improving flow, which can't hurt), and water is drawn from the refug. into the main tank using what would normally be the aerator input on the output of the powerhead. Flow back into the refug. is via the 1/2" i.d. siphon pipe. The nice thing about this setup is that if the siphon breaks the draw from the powerhead is nowhere near powerful enough to evacuate the refug. The flow isn't great, but I believe it's enough to feed the plants.
I'd like to put a real planted refugium under the main tank, but there is precious little room, and as stated/ implied, I can't add more noise to the system. I plan to add some more plants - some emergent and some floaters - and a cutting of Pothos.
Question:
What else could I do, either with or to this makeshift refugium, or to my setup in general, to help keep the nitrates & algae under control and improve my water quality?
Thanks again, in advance, for your creative input!
Information:
My two silver dollars eat everything I plant in my 29g. of course, and I have a nitrates/algae problem, of course. Letting the little rascals go to another home is, of course, out of the question: they've been with me so long I couldn't even guess how old they are.
Though it has seen better days, the tank is currently only lightly loaded with the s.d.s, a pair of clown loaches and a couple of hatchets, and heavily filtered with a Fluval canister filter (a.k.a. nitrate accumulator!) running full time as the only continuous circulation/treatment (the stack has two levels of bio and one of carbon). The tank has an old Marineland hood with a pair of fluorescent tubes for lighting, and I run the hood's filter/biowheel periodically by means of a timer, but my wife doesn't like the noise, so when she's watching telly in the evenings it runs only for a few minutes every hour to keep the wheel wet. The tank has a shallow gravel substrate, no ugf.
I don't have a lot of time for maintenance, but don't want to give up and tear the tank down, and instead would really like it to see some glory, so before I restock it I need to be able to plant something (and/or take other measures) to keep nitrates & algae under control and improve water quality.
SO... I have just begun to try and beat back the green and brown algae by setting up a cheap 5.5g with LED lights as a refugium with some plant cuttings in it. The refugium is on a convenient shelf beside the main tank, connected via a siphon link, such that the water surface in the main tank is half way up the refug. The water levels are therefore equal and safe under no-flow/power-out conditions. I put an old Penguin 550 powerhead in the main tank (improving flow, which can't hurt), and water is drawn from the refug. into the main tank using what would normally be the aerator input on the output of the powerhead. Flow back into the refug. is via the 1/2" i.d. siphon pipe. The nice thing about this setup is that if the siphon breaks the draw from the powerhead is nowhere near powerful enough to evacuate the refug. The flow isn't great, but I believe it's enough to feed the plants.
I'd like to put a real planted refugium under the main tank, but there is precious little room, and as stated/ implied, I can't add more noise to the system. I plan to add some more plants - some emergent and some floaters - and a cutting of Pothos.
Question:
What else could I do, either with or to this makeshift refugium, or to my setup in general, to help keep the nitrates & algae under control and improve my water quality?
Thanks again, in advance, for your creative input!
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