"Dick" wrote in message
...
On Sun, 9 Oct 2005 23:51:49 -0400, "Bill Stock"
wrote:

snip

I think two things will cause maintenance time to vary:

First, what is acceptable varies from person to person.

I think my ambition is getting in the way of my sloth.

I like the wild look and let the plants grow as they will. I remove
dead leaves and move plants around no more than every 2 months if
then.

My original maintenance schedule wasn't too different from yours and all was
well. But then the Sword started dying off big time. This was about the time
the BGA struck. Although this was likely a symptom and not the cause.

Second, what steps taken to prevent maintenance.

For instance, the mineral buildup is unsightly. I use to battle it,
but then made a choice. I decided to stop putting air in my tank.
The bubbles at the surface are the source of the mineral deposits and
also the cause of another nuisance, a green growth on the bottom of
the top glass above the bubbler. The breaking bubbles were keeping
the bottom of the glass wet and nurturing the growth. No bubbles, no
growth.

Strangely I don't have a bubbler in the plant tank, although I do add CO2.
The GF tank does get the green slime you mentioned and it does have a bubble
wall. This stuff washes right off. As for unsightly, the canopy is
completely covered by a hood.


Having a variety of scavengers and controlling the hours of light help
to keep algae growth down.

I have a low light ratio and low light plants, no CO2 or fertilizers.

I do change 20% water twice weekly with a python for the 2 large tanks
and a 2 gallon bucket for the three 10 gallon tanks. It takes an hour
and 30 minutes to change the 5 tanks water, so 3 hours a week minimum
for all 5 tanks.

That sound about right Dick. I'm a little neglectful of water changes on the
planted tank, maybe 15% every two weeks. Clearly not enough, given the BGA.
The GF get a 40% change and gravel vac every week. The poor little Betta
gets a 50% change every two weeks.