Time to fill some niches Jan! Woo hoo! I wish I could be there to play too
:)
Are you using floating plants only and what species? If you don't have
anything planted into the sand, I would definately look up Mr Kimber for
some of his wild and crazy val that he usually throws out and see if you
can't work something out.
The roots are going to provide all sorts of habitat, sand delimited nitrogen
removal, and pathways for the delimitation (I think that's the right word).
I need to look that back up.
My guess is that the sand, as it matures, is going to take over where the
phyto is currently utilizing a food source... However, adding some Gammarids
or Shrimps to the system after a mini-jungle has been established will
provide some more juvenile mouths to eat the phyto and turn it into protein
somewhere. I doubt the gar are going to hammer on that as a food source,
but once heavily established, they might be fixing some more of that
nitrogen back up the chain with a feeder's last gut loaded meal.
Bang for the buck... You already have this system.. Might be time to study
some mussels too. If you haven't before, go with a good generalist like a
heelsplitter or giant floater. This could turn into a larger project than
what was intended... That's why these tubs just plain rule.
Don't wanna fuss with mussels? Grab some Corbicula and see if you cant get
your green out and then discover a disease to kill the little bastids :)
At any rate, and I'm sure you've gotten this... The more mouths there are,
the less any less desireable species will be able to build a monopoly on
food, the more stable the system.
I view algae as a friend actually, because it's a nice, benign way to know I
haven't provided enough "mouths" to consume all the input I'm making.
----- Original Message -----
From: <HOOVERJ_at_wes.army.mil>
To: <nanfa_at_aquaria.net>
Sent: Thursday, November 06, 2003 8:04 PM
Subject: RE: NANFA-- sand bed and plant "filtration"
> Todd wrote:
> >>>Use sand substrate with vallisneria, Sajjad... There's no reason to
have
> to
> maintain a nutrient load that'll make algae grow...
> We're rolling on a year now with the sandbeds (6 systems now), and I'll
> _never_ use another substrate again.<<<
>
> Geoff wrote:
> >>>I have grown
> vallisneria in red flint gravel for as long as I have kept fish. I am
> just too dang lazy to measure water parameters, but I know that my fish
> do very well in this setup...I throw out handfuls
> of the stuff every few months.<<<
>
> Jan writes:
>
> We are using a similar setup for gar -- largely because of suggestions
Todd
> made when I requested advice on filtering large plastic circular tanks.
>
> Our tubs are 3/4 full 240 gallon tubs - aerated but not mechanically
> filtered. Bottom is covered with several inches of play sand, and surface
> is covered with aquatic plants (which I periodically harvest and destroy).
> The tanks were "seeded" a week prior to stocking with a few livebearers
> (feeder guppies, gambusia). Gar were added after that.
>
> Tanks and fish are doing well, although the water is a little green now.
> This may be due to intense sunlight (tanks are in a greenhouse). The gar
are
> definitely happier and are feeding more (which may be contributing to the
> green water).
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