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Gases and Barley Staw
Speaking of gasses, I've been feeling a little sheepish since the
saturated gasses thread got going. I'm a big fan of water changes. On
the order of 40% weekly. I think I see good responses in my plants and
I've made it real easy to change water. I have on occasion noticed some
stress in my fish, corys in particular. I have, merely based on
speculation, assumed this was due to pH/KH/GH changes. Accordingly, I
have kind of learned how to keep everything on an even keel while I
change water. I can keep the pH delta to 0.2 degrees or less by timing
the addition of baking soda and making very minor changes to CO2 levels.
And I've been able to keep KH and GH changes quite modest (under 1
degree).
Nevertheless, I have continued to notice some stress in my fish. When
Karen mentioned bubbles on the glass, my heart sank, because I have
noticed this regularly. Above the low water line where I drained the
tank, I get tiny bubbles after the water change that do not disappear
for several hours.
The possible good news is that today I left the aerator in my kitchen
sink faucet as I filled the sink and drained it into the trickle filter.
To my surprise almost no bubbles formed on the glass above the low water
line. I am hopeful this will reduce the stress level on my fish. Since
I became modestly successful with plants my fish loss rate has dropped
to only the very rare occasional loss, which I would like to reduce to
old age only.
Now on to barley straw. Has anyone tried this in a canister filter? I
continue in my desire to reduce green spot algae so that I only need to
clean the glass on my tanks, say once a month or so. A year or so ago,
I wondered out loud on the APD if minute additions of copper might help
in that effort and you all convinced me not to even try fooling around
with that route. Now I'm wondering if a bit of barley straw in my (now
mostly empty) canister filters might lend a hand. I'm going to order
some of the stuff tomorrow. If any of you think this is a stupid or bad
idea, I would be interested in hearing your views.
Regards, Steve Dixon in San Francisco