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Re: Tank Cover



>From: Robert Fuhrman <bob at cyberia_com>
>
>I have a 125gl tank with Discus, angels, Tetras and some Golden snails. =

>I have two pendent MH lights suspended about 8 inch over the tanks, 175 =
>Watt each.
>My tank is open on top.
>
>1.  Would I have better plant growth in general with a glass cover over =
>the tank?

A glass cover will reflect more light back up away from the tank, and it will
absorb a small amount of light.  The reflective losses are much greater than
the absorptive losses, from what I remember.  A glass cover might hold in more
CO2.

>2.  I recently added Angels and they seem to always be  on the surface.  =
>Could this be to much CO2 or do they usually hang on the surface?

If they are "sucking" at the surface, particularly in the morning, you could be
low on dissolved O2.

>3.  I have a small algae problem and recently added 6 Golden Snails.  =
>They seem to be doing a job, but I am worried that they may eat my =
>plants?

In my tanks, all of the phenotypes of apple snails will eat soft, decaying
leaves.  When these aren't available, they will eat algae.  I've had snails
starve in a heavily planted, algae-free tank.  If any of the apple snails die,
they can add a lot of nutrients to the water suddenly.

David W. Webb
Enterprise Computing Provisioning
Texas Instruments Inc. Dallas, TX USA
(214) 575-3443 (voice)  MSGID:       DAWB
(214) 575-4853 (fax)    Internet:    dwebb at ti_com
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