<< Do you find it necessary to do water changes and use mechanical filtration
in this kind of setup? >>
Chuck, I don't need to change water or use mechanical filtration as long as I
follow a few simple rules:
1) Don't leave the tub in direct sunlight except for early morning and/or
late afternoon.
2) Remove nearly all leaves, twigs, etc that fall into the tubs.
3) Feed live foods such as daphnia, gammarus, cyclops, etc. that will
continue to live in the water even if the fish don't find them immediately.
4) Furnish with a moderate to heavy amount of plants, rooted & floating. I
try to leave at least 50% of the surface area open.
5) Maintain some rocks, floating wood and/or sunken wood as places for water
'bugs' to hide.
Recently, I've had some trouble with placing too much horse manure in with my
daphia and the decomposition has robbed the water of O2. I was feeding the
daphnia to encourage reproduction, instead I nearly lost everything in each
tub.
Bruce Scott
Meridian, Idaho
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