Chrona
05-21-2007, 02:29 AM
So the background behind this idea:
When I first had a snail outbreak in my tank, I freaked and picked out as many as I could. I ended up putting them in a large goldfish bowl by a window, along with my excess clippings, and they've gotten real big (no water changes so far). Anyways, after redoing my tank a while back, I took a few whole plants out that that were covered in non-removable algae (green spot, black spot, brush, you name it) and decided to chuck them in the bowl for giggles. I forgot about them, and a week later, not only were they doing great (gets direct sunlight), but all the algae was gone! My anubias nana looked spotless. Now, as my snails have NEVER eaten GSA, even when starved, I am guessing that the combination of the cold water (about 60-65 degrees) and the short lighting period (about 3 hours of direct sunlight) killed off the algae, and the snails took care of the remains.
Anyways, I figured this was a good, natural way to clean live plants, as opposed to bleach or potassium permanganate dips, which may harm the plants. So far, ludwigia, wisteria, and the anubias are doing fine in the unheated pot with no filtration, no water changes, no nothing, while the wisteria in the 10g developed some holes over the weekend because of potassium deficiency. Go figure, lol.
This may not work for the more demanding plants though. 60-65 is pretty low.
When I first had a snail outbreak in my tank, I freaked and picked out as many as I could. I ended up putting them in a large goldfish bowl by a window, along with my excess clippings, and they've gotten real big (no water changes so far). Anyways, after redoing my tank a while back, I took a few whole plants out that that were covered in non-removable algae (green spot, black spot, brush, you name it) and decided to chuck them in the bowl for giggles. I forgot about them, and a week later, not only were they doing great (gets direct sunlight), but all the algae was gone! My anubias nana looked spotless. Now, as my snails have NEVER eaten GSA, even when starved, I am guessing that the combination of the cold water (about 60-65 degrees) and the short lighting period (about 3 hours of direct sunlight) killed off the algae, and the snails took care of the remains.
Anyways, I figured this was a good, natural way to clean live plants, as opposed to bleach or potassium permanganate dips, which may harm the plants. So far, ludwigia, wisteria, and the anubias are doing fine in the unheated pot with no filtration, no water changes, no nothing, while the wisteria in the 10g developed some holes over the weekend because of potassium deficiency. Go figure, lol.
This may not work for the more demanding plants though. 60-65 is pretty low.