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Can I throw a fish in?



Howdy,

I have a 10-gallon "Elodea Factory".  Seriously, the whole point of this
tank is to grow large amounts of Elodea.  There's about 2 inches of cat
litter on the bottom, and that is covered with about 1 inch of pea
gravel.  I have 2 24-watt flourescent lights on the tank.  Most of the
water is recycled from my 20-gallon fish-populated tank.  It is
unheated, and I have a 2-liter soda bottle DIY yourself CO2 injector.

The Elodea love it.  Great growth, "pearls" on the leaves, the whole
bit.  

As you might guess, I am having an algae bloom.  I checked it out under
a microscope today, and I'm almost positive it is a green algae.  (I
also saw a HUGE variety of other Protists- pretty cool, if you're into
that sort of thing!  See .sig:)

Anyhow, in my fish tank, I have a couple of Chinese algae eaters.  They
do a wonderful job of keeping that tank clean (and I have never had a
problem with them going after the other denizens of the tank).  

I would like to clean up MOST of that algae by tossing one or both of
the algae eaters in for a few days.  I would do a 50-75% water change
(since the water came from a fish tank in the first place), add a
heater, and turn off the CO2.

Would someone with more experience care to comment on this solution? 
I'd really like some advice on this- the plant tank was never cycled for
fish, and I don't know if it would have done so naturally.  All help
appreciated!  Thanks!
-- 
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Chris Thompson
Biologist for Hire
Smoke-free since 7 September 1999!