Re: Plants, Algae, CO2, and PH

To: Aquatic-Plants at actwin_com
Subject: Re: Plants, Algae, CO2, and PH
From: ac554 at freenet_carleton.ca (David Whittaker)
Date: Mon, 12 Jun 1995 04:22:55 -0400

Todd Ellerbee writes...

>I'm 99% sure it's the black brush algae
>Algae eating fish don't seem to be the solution either - the pl*co,
>Siamese algae eater, and five Otocinclus don't touch this stuff...

This algae seems to primarily affect plants that are not growing.
That may be why CO2 is recommended. I was given a sailfin pleco
(p. 496, Baensch) last week. To my amazement, by the sixth day he
had scraped clean most of the brush algae that had covered several
large anubias for many months in the 180. Maybe he was hungry.
Normally, and if I hadn't been so lazy, the affected leaves would
have had to have been removed.

I use an Internal Hagen Fluval as a means of injecting CO2 into a
15 gallon aquarium. First I drill a 5/16" diameter hole through the
clear cover about 2" below its top edge. Then a minitubing connector
is fitted into the hole. Connect the airline from the DIY CO2 generator
to this fitting and use a sponge insert as your filter media. Very
neat, and it seems to work with the Fluval on its side or in an
upright position. In the former case the CO2 just dissolves; in the
latter, the impeller breaks the gas into very fine bubbles. You can
also insert the CO2 into the intake of a Aquaclear 500 with the same
effect.

Dave

--