The otocinclus (dwarf suckermouth catfish, nine of them) and the plecostomus (a solitary albino) went into the tank on Saturday. By Monday morning most of the algae had been eaten. Wow, you guys. Nice work.
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When you set up a heavily planted aquarium with everything that life loves — oxygen, carbon dioxide, nutrients, etc. — you should not be surprised that the very first thing that comes to call is algae. Here’s the algae in my new 40-gallon planted tank a mere two weeks after set up. I held off adding fish that would munch the algae because the specialty soil I selected is off-gassing ammonia that will kill fish and my filter system doesn’t yet have the beneficial bacteria established that will break down the ammonia. Patience is a virtue. Technical detail: yes, it is true, that lower PH with temps in the 75-77 degree Farhenheit range render the ammonia mostly harmless, but I don’t have a trustworthy thermometer yet and don’t want to needlessly risk fish. -
My good and wise friend Liz Engstrom has got me thinking about where I stand when I look at my world. Perhaps because I’m myopic and can’t see much at all beyond about one foot from my nose, I’m very into what’s in the room with me, what I can understand based on what I see within a narrow radius. Liz takes the broader view. She has an eye for pattern across the broad terrain. I suspect that for change to happen, somebody must be operating from that broader perspective. She is a change agent. I am an observer. I can’t help but feel that together we are something important.
Susan Palmer's Exquisite Now 