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Re: Red Tiger Lotus Bulbs

Richard J. Sexton asked....

>Sorry to diver discussion away from checmistry class
>temporarily to talk about an actual plant, but...
>
>I have a couple of red tiger lotus bulbs sombody gave
>me that were sitting dormant in the bottom of an aquarium.
>
>They're quite hard so I assume they're not dead. 
>
>What do I do with them ? Do they need to be tucked
>away like killi eggs or do I just plant them ?

I half cover them with gravel with one of the growing tips
or nodes up under strong lighting and some dirt underneath.
They take a couple of weeks to get started.

Bill Hamlin asked....

>I recently tore down tank and "bleach the hell" out of it.
>Hell being a nasty filementeous algae problem (Clad.)
>
>I am happy to say that the hair algae has not reappeared but I am trying
>to reintroduce the ramshorn snails and I am running into problems.  The
>snails (and daphnia too) seem to die within a couple of days.
>
>The first thing that springs to mind would be a calcium deficiency.  I
>have not had this problem in any other tanks.  The only significant
>changes I have made is to add DIY CO2, and to use crushed granite gravel
>(maybe abrasive?) with potted plants.
>
>I added a few limestone rocks and a couple of human calcium pills for a
>day and then added a couple more snails last night.  The snails started
>eating the pills imeadiately.  There is getting to be a fair amount of
>algae so I really need to get those snails working.  
>
>Anyway, with relatively soft water, does adding CO2 nessesitate adding
>calcium? 

I have a similar problem keeping snails alive in several tanks. The
water parameters here are KH 1 to 2 and GH 1 to 2. It is either due to
the CO2, the low calcium levels, or both. In the 180 gallon, Malaysian,
ramshorn, and pond snails have all died. It can cause problems when
nothing small is left to eat the green algae and one cannot introduce
otocinclus into the tank because of larger omnivorous fish.

I think that it is the level of carbon dioxide in the water which
eventually kills them. In any case their shells dissolve. I'd like
to here from someone who adds CO2 to 20 ppm, and has a pH of 6.8 to
7.2. How well do your snails do?

--
Dave Whittaker
ac554 at FreeNet_Carleton.ca