Rich Conley wrote in message ...

(2x150W MH)
wiht that sort of light, your gonna need a lot of plants...or your fish
are gonna be living in green algae soup.

Well, all my aquaria tend to be experiment tanks, and this is no
different.

I intend to keep this aquarium with the same methodology I've
previously kept salt water: strong light with high color temperature
(10000K); no filtration; porous rocks; maximum diversity of small
life; and a thick sediment layer.

If that doesn't cut it to keep algae & nitrate at bay, I'll
supercharge the nitrifying bacteria with fructose (alcohol would be
better, but I suspect the fish might have views on that). I may also
dose kalkwasser/limewater, but I need to work out the freshwater
chemistry a bit better first.

Also in keeping with the sal****er philosophy I'm sampling sediment
from old & neglected aquaria, greenhouses and nearby lakes to get as
much small life (bacteria, protozoans, microcrustaceans, annelids,
snails...) variety as possible. The immense diversity of small life in
marine aquaria keep any one life-form from dominating, and although I
wont be able to approach those levels of diversity, I'll do as best I
can and hopefully get the same effect. It is most unfortunate I can't
get hold of tropical freshwater sponges, though, or a greater variety
of detritus-eating snails.

Don't get me wrong, I'm sure there will be plenty of algae in this
tank, but my hope is that I'll be able to keep the water clear, the
algae from taking over, and that there'll be plenty of interesting
life besides the fish in there.