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Aquatic Plants Digest V3 #1386

<< Greetings fellow aquatic gardeners, I need your help.  I am working on a
 captive breeding project for the critically endangered Panamanian golden
 frog.  A number of zoos are working to bring some animals into captivity
 for breeding before they are made extinct by the wave of pathogenic
 fungus that is sweeping through Central America.  What does this have to
 do with aquatic plants?  It appears that the tadpoles of this species
 are quite fond of brown algae.  I was hoping someone on this list,
 having battled brown algae and won, might be able to tell us what
 conditions are ideal for intentionally growing brown algae.  Thanks for
 your help, Kevin
 - --
 ***********************
 Kevin Zippel
 Department of Herpetology
 WCS/Bronx Zoo
 Bronx, NY 10460
 (718) 220 8683 or 5042 >>


When I started my 55 gallon tank I used natural river rock. They recommended 
not inhaling the dust from the rock while handling, and this warning usually 
pertains to dust from sand, etc. with silicates, which will cause lung cancer 
if inhaled. After setting up this tank, it was extremely cloudly with dust, 
even though we rinsed well, plenty of residue remained in the water.  I had a 
terrible problem with brown algae for several water changes (about 2 months). 
During that time, I regularly had to take out the 2 plants I had in there and 
clean the leaves off, as they were heavily coated, and completely wipe the 
walls down. It was slowly diminishing with the water changes, but was 
eliminated completely upon full planting of the tank. I know everyone says 
that it's due to low light, and it may be, but it was definitely a problem 
when there were no competing plants in the tank, and upon the initial setup 
when their was much residual silicate (I think) in the water. I also brought 
over a few rocks, etc. from an old tank that already had algae growing on 
them (appeared green). For some odd reason (lighting condition unchanged) I 
now have green algae growing in there, but no brown. Hope this helps.