Hi, interested in thoughts on this one please.
I set up a hillstream loach tank in my wife's school (secondary). It's 180ltr, has a about 25x turnover. Unheated. Large external canister with sponges and floss. 2 Amazon LED floodlights on 8hrs a day. 20 White Cloud Mountain Minnows, 6 Loaches.
For the first six weeks, crystal clear water and luxuriant algal growth (desired) on wood and rock. Then algae dies back and tank has now had persistent green water for weeks (not desired). There's a 40% water change being done each week.
The amount of light is the obvious culprit, but dropping the light level would presumably decrease the amount of desirable algae that grows for the loaches to browse on (i'm keen on there being 'in tank' food).
Adding floating plants to try and get some balance will be tricky because i think they'll just be blown away by the high flow.
I'm considering adding some emergent plants, Peace Lilies, in shower caddies at the back.
I dont want to use a flocculant as that's just treating the symptoms.
Any bright ideas from anyone? (They need to be very very low cost).
Thanks
K
I set up a hillstream loach tank in my wife's school (secondary). It's 180ltr, has a about 25x turnover. Unheated. Large external canister with sponges and floss. 2 Amazon LED floodlights on 8hrs a day. 20 White Cloud Mountain Minnows, 6 Loaches.
For the first six weeks, crystal clear water and luxuriant algal growth (desired) on wood and rock. Then algae dies back and tank has now had persistent green water for weeks (not desired). There's a 40% water change being done each week.
The amount of light is the obvious culprit, but dropping the light level would presumably decrease the amount of desirable algae that grows for the loaches to browse on (i'm keen on there being 'in tank' food).
Adding floating plants to try and get some balance will be tricky because i think they'll just be blown away by the high flow.
I'm considering adding some emergent plants, Peace Lilies, in shower caddies at the back.
I dont want to use a flocculant as that's just treating the symptoms.
Any bright ideas from anyone? (They need to be very very low cost).
Thanks
K