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Barley Straw
Steve Dixon wrote:
> 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.
[snip]
> 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.
Steve, I have seen a reference at
http://www.execpc.com/~aqsys/barley.html of a synopsis report of
Dr. Jonathan Newman, Centre of Aquatic Plant Mangement, England
which seems to provide some of the technoids behind this method
of algae control.
I note that the article indicates that the effective life of the barley
straw begins after it begins rotting in an oxygenated environment and
gradually ends approximately 6mths later. This would suggest perhaps
half the straw should be rotated every 3 mths so at least half the
contents in the canister is still effective.
Good luck
Christopher Coleman
christopher.coleman at worldnet_att.net