Re: [APD] Online driftwood sellers -- or - Gnawing concerns

["S. Hieber" <shieber at yahoo_com>]

It might but with enough plants, driftwood, etc., there can
still plenty to block the flow still. It's a try it and see
kind of thing.

sh
--- "Scott R.H." <irons_21 at yahoo_com> wrote:
> I wonder if a spary bar level with top of the
> substrate would help this at all.
> 
> Scott RH.
> 
> --- "S. Hieber" <shieber at yahoo_com> wrote:
> > 
> > --- Dan Resler <resler at liberty_egr.vcu.edu> wrote:
> > > S. Hieber wrote:
> > > > Gravel vacuuming is one way to stay ahead of the
> > game.
> > > It
> > > > helps to have the filter outflow currents tend
> > to sweep
> > > the
> > > > lighter material on the gravel surface towards
> > the
> > > filter
> > > > intake.
> > > 
> > > I agree this should work, but I have 2 things
> > going
> > > against me. One is a
> > > very dense planting making it tough to get at the
> > gravel
> > > (so everything
> > > settles on the plants). 
> > 
> > I know that problem. That's when I got more artful
> > in
> > aiming the filter outflow.
> > 
> > > And secondly I use a trickle
> > > filter with an overflow
> > > box - much of the driftwood detritus goes out of
> > > suspension before the
> > > currents can take it to the overflow (my plants in
> > effect
> > > are working as a
> > > mechanical filter or sieve taking alot of the
> > > particulants out of the water
> > > before they get to the overflow).
> > 
> > Let me guess: and at feeding time it's like a
> > snowstorm in
> > snowglobe, only not white, right?
> > 
> >  
> > > What I have been doing, which is getting to be a
> > real
> > > pain, is I set up my
> > > Vortex Diatom filter on the tank and then "stir
> > > everything up" every 20
> > > minutes or so which causes most everything to go
> > into
> > > suspension where it
> > > can be removed by the diatom filter before it
> > settles
> > > again. 
> > 
> > Regular mechanical filtration, as opposed to diatom
> > filtering, should be able to remove it as long as it
> > is
> > suspended. But the strong water flow from the diatom
> > filter
> > should help moves things around. It helped in my
> > tank to
> > turn the out flow downward, This doesn't get
> > everything
> > sucked into the overflfow but it tends to collect in
> > certain places "shaded" from the filter current,
> > which
> > makes it easier to vacuum up much of it. This hasn't
> > been a
> > solution, but it has been a help.
> > 
> > I resigned myself to this partly because I have
> > other
> > tanks, crystal clear -- so this one can be my
> > messier tank,
> > partly because driftwood can be used to such good
> > visual
> > effect--so it's worth it, and partly because it
> > makes the
> > fish (the ancistrus anyway) happy -- I figure I owe
> > them a
> > little something for keeping me so entertained ;-)
> > 
> > > This gets most
> > > of the wood detritus out of the tank but the
> > effect only
> > > lasts a few days.
> > 
> > Yep, definitely higher maintenance than using harder
> > woods
> > or no plecos.
> > 
> > If you yank all the wood, you wouldn't be the first
> > I've
> > heard to do that.
> > 
> > Scott H.
> > 
> > =====
> > -  -   -   -   -   -   -   -
> > She Wrote the book on low maintenance aquatic
> > gardening!
> > Diana Walstad, author of _Ecology of the Planted
> > Aquarium_
> > Meet her at  - The Fifth AGA Annual Convention
> > Details & Registration at www.aquatic-gardeners.org
> > & www.gwapa.org
> > 
> > 
> > 	
> > 		
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> 
> 
> 	
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=====
-  -   -   -   -   -   -   -
She Wrote the book on low maintenance aquatic gardening!
Diana Walstad, author of _Ecology of the Planted Aquarium_
Meet her at  - The Fifth AGA Annual Convention
Details & Registration at www.aquatic-gardeners.org & www.gwapa.org


	
		
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