Re: [APD] Green water advice

[Tatjana Heuser <aqua at orbit_in-berlin.de>]

> the tanks has intense green water then and I would clear it
> periodically with daphinia.  (I had extra tanks I put outside) but I
> am wondering if I made some super strain of green water.  I cant clear
> it with daphnia (they seem to do a great job) since I cant net the
> fish out from the plants.

I'm much in favour of obtaining a balance using aquatic invertebrates, so I
think your idea of cleaning the water with daphnia is perfect, but as you
probably discovered, involves a lot of work with side tanks.
Happy hunters aside, I haven't been able to keep daphnia in a tank with
anything worth being called a current, as soon as anything even as minor
as a bubble-lift-and-sponge-mat started running, healthy populations
dwindled to the odd daphnia here-and-there. (At the same time, a half
forgotten jar with a handfull of rotting leaves and (in the beginning)
green water kept going with a constant population for more than a year.)

In an inhabited tank, I have been waaaay more successful with
hyalella azteca. They're really hard to kill off, and if given
someplace to breed where they're not hunted to extinction (either a
small side basin, or within a filter, behind a filter mat, etc.)
they're doing their share at cleaning the waters. Most fishes will
consider them food, but once they've established a population,
there'll never disappear entirely. (For re-stocking, a small 5-10l
side basin with "snail-and-hyalella-soup" is a useful resource, at
least until they've established their hideouts within tank and filter).

Links (both in German -you might try Babelfish for a translation):
http://www.wirbellose.de/arten.cgi?action=show&artNo=015
http://www.bernd.ubaqua.de/hyalella/hyalella.htm
(I got my starting population from Bernd).

PS: Once I tried out a densely planted "food-chain" tank, the base idea
being that by starting the tank with a wealth of microorganisms and a
refugee habitat for them, maybe feeding green water and fertilizer could
be enough to keep them thriving at a rate enough to support a small
amount of tinies. Things went pretty well for about half a year, until
I was in urgent need of a quarantine home for 15 dwarf cories
(corydoras pygmaeus).
All I can say is that they had a gorgeous house-warming party indeed.
(Photos at http://orbit.in-berlin.de/Aqua/Mini/30x20x20.html)

PPS: Hyallella azteca leave plants alone, but for one exception. They
love Java moss. They cling to it, live in it, breed in it, and while
it looks as if they're feeding on microorganisms there, even a healthy
amount of Java moss will be reduced to a bunch of black wire by them
after a while.

PPPS: Bunches of Java moss seemed like a rather successful way to
introduce new microorganisms to the tank. But it's worth examining
the load under a microscope to avoid importing any nasties.

/tatjana--
Virus aquaticus: http://orbit.in-berlin.de/Aqua/
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