Skip wrote:

Nikki Casali wrote:

swint144 wrote:


According to "Ecology of the Planted Aquarium," the this is a

protein

film on the water, the same thing that's responsible for the foam

in

rapidly flowing creeks. This and suspended carbon-compounds are

very

good for getting metals out of the water column. Excellent book

filled

with experimental data, not pretty pictures.


Funny, I just read a review of this book at Amazn.co.uk:

"This is not a coffee-table book full of pretty pictures of a few
plants. Nor is it an encyclopaedia of plants with just a few notes on


keeping plants. This is about the ecology of the planted aquarium, or


how to keep plants in an aquarium. This is the best book on low-light


non-CO2 books ever written. Just swap soil for Flourite if you want

to

avoid mess, and away you go...
If a book by a Tom Barr is ever written, buy that as well "

Nikki


Black mollies are a good way to get rid of the surface protein. They
just slurp it off the surface and do a great job.

Skip...

Which is interesting because the mollies in my larger planted tank are
continuously slurping the surface and there is no surface scum. But my
other tank with the scum doesn't have a single fish with an upwardly
facing mouth, like mollies have. No fish in there has any interest in
the surface. In fact, I'd say they're all terrified of the surface.

Nikki