Day 49:
Just took them out for the photos. I did nothing else to them. Well, I found a small snail in one so I took him out of the box!
For the past week I've noticed algae in the sponge prefilter and its cover. I presume that is algae breaking off and flowing out of the boxes into the water tank. Is that usual/normal? Thanks.
I was going to describe a procedure I came up with to determine accurate ppm values with API test kits when you have readings that are 'off the card'. But I'll hold off on it until I've done some more testing.
I have little pieces of algae break off and end up in my tank all the time from my scrubbers. They aren't a drop filters, but I bet the algae is the same.
The algae in the filter could be from that. Time for a good toothbrush cleaning.
Day 56:
Just saw this. I did NOT clean last week and do not intend to clean today either. The amount of algae on my prefilter sponge/sock is manageable so I can live with it for another week. I have to clean it every other day. I want to see how much more algae grows; it does not look like much more than what was in there last week. I found another small snail!SM: Time for a good toothbrush cleaning.
Yes the freshwater growth will only get so thick. After a while it may get more solid and thick, but not bushy.
If one snail is visible, there may be other smaller ones too.
Day 62. I've got a major plumbing project planned for tomorrow, so I checked/cleaned my scrubbers today instead.
You'll notice that the door of the scrubber in the left photo is practically clear of algae and overall growth in this scrubber is noticeably less than in the other scrubber. Snails in the box appear to be eating the algae! I found two fairly large ones and three smaller, plus some clear blobs that I'd guess are eggs or clusters of eggs. I dumped all the snails I found into the aquarium. I think the gold barbs will enjoy eating them. I don't know how only one scrubber got colonized and not the other as well. Fluke, I guess. I'm pretty sure these little black snails originated from some water plants I bought a few months ago. At that time I found one black snail on a plant leaf. I put him in my apple snail tank, but found him dead later. So I'd guess there are more still living in the main fish tank and they just haven't yet discovered the second scrubber. Interesting, anyway.SM: If one snail is visible, there may be other smaller ones too.
I cleaned both scrubbers thoroughly with my toothbrush. I want to see how much growth there is after a week.
It's still a little thin but will develop a base over the next months. Freshwater is interesting on how it builds a foothold.
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