mr d's
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things i've learned about aquascaping
Here I include any tips I've come across that are handy to know when setting up or maintaining fish tanks. Feel free to drop me a line if I need to update these or if I've got them wrong!
hang-on filters
Regular aquarium "hang-on" filters are nothing more than a pump pulling water through to a catchment area (ie a sump) and through a little padding (cleaning the dirty particles in the water) with some gravel inside (which attract bacteria that break down ammonia into nitrites and nitrites into nitrates) - you can make your own filter so easily and so much more effectively
algae and flow
feeding middle swimmers
Middle swimmers such as cardinal tetras often wont come to the surface to feed. You can take a little tank water in a cup, add the fish food such as pellets or flakes, and mix it together so the food sinks in the cup. Then, add it back to the tank and it will fall to the fish.
Any algae, particularly the more annoying and stubborn to remove algae like green spot or black beard, all have flow in common. If there's not enough flow then algae has the chance to stick. While high nitrates, oxygen and other causes encourage algae you can at least help keep it away from trouble spots with proper tank flow.