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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