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Re: Water is the Root of All Evil -- or - Ariddance of Algae



JoAnn Van Dersarl has reported several pleasures, including
culinary ones, to be found through "waterless" aquatic
gardening.  The ease of "Waterless" aquatic gardening
reminds me of an earlier vogue, *Plantless Aquatic
Gardening*, which persists in some quarters to this day,
stemming from the cheap manufacturing costs of injection
molding.  But that's another story.

JoAnn corrected me that her latest endeavor is not truly
waterless, but merely drier than your average bare root
rose.  I mist the point the first time around.

As for those nematodes and what not, I'd like to suggest
ants.  Once settled in they can be very aggressive about
intruders and some varieties are worth toasting and
covering with chocolate -- mmhmmm good.  A more extensive
food chain can be developed by adding an armadillo, but you
need a very large tank or at least a large assortment of
them to support it -- food chains are rather unforgiving in
this way.  

And then there is the ancient Egyptian method of farming
along the Nile:  the fields flood once in a while but you
farm them when the waters recede.  So maybe water is not
the root of all evil but its persistence is.  YOu can flood
long enough to drown out pests but no so long that algae
can ge a foothold.  So instead of temporarily replacing
half the water in your aquaria with air every week or so,
try this for "waterless" aqautic gardening: replace about
50% of the air with water every week.  You might need to
skim off some arthropodal carcasses, etc. -- which brings
me back to ants -- with the right materials, then can build
homes that will endure flooding of the environ  ;-)

Scott H., who is wondering if the ants' formic acid will
throw off the KH/pH/CO2 calculations.

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