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Re: [F] duck weed lowered nitrates
In article <1994Jan18.182245.9696@bme.ri.ccf.org> you write:
>I have gleaned several good bits of help from this group,
>so here is my contribution.
>
>I have a 29 gallon freshwater tank that has been going for about
>18 months with 1 large angel, 1 6" pl*co, 1 large gouramie,
>2 dwarf gouramies, 2 swordtails and 2 platies. UGF with 2 powerheads,
>plastic plants, some algae controlled by pl*co and occasional glass
>scraping. 20% water changes twice a month with gravel vacuuming.
>Lighting: one plain old PlenPlax fluorescent. (20-40 watts?)
>
>After loosing 2 dwarf gouramies, I checked the ammonia (0) and
>nitrates (> 150 ppm!) Started twice weekly 20% water changes and
>reduced feeding. This brought nitrates down to 40-50 ppm, where they
>stayed fairly constant after several weeks. Maintenance resumed at
>about 3 times a month.
>
>I wasn't very happy with this level of nitrates, so I decided I needed
>something to eat the fertilizer. I bought a couple of scoops of
>duckweed, performed daily rinses and complete water changes for a week
>in a quarantine bucket with shop light, then dumped it in the aquarium.
>
>Nitrates are now constant at less than 5 ppm (detection limit of
>Aquarium Pharmaceuticals dry tab tester.) I harvest about half
>the duckweed during each maintenance. It pretty much covers the
>surface by the next time.
>
>Simple, easy. Happy fish, happy aquarist.