Let your weeds stand quietly in the
vase a day or two before you put in any live animals; and even
then, do not put any in if the water does not appear perfectly
clear: but lift out the weeds, and renew the water ere you replace
them.
This is Mr. Gosse's method. But Mr. Lloyd, in his "Handbook to the
Crystal Palace Aquarium," advises that no weed should be put into
the tank. "It is better," he says, "to depend only on those which
gradually and naturally appear on the rocks of the aquarium by the
action of light, and which answer every chemical purpose." I
should advise anyone intending to set up an aquarium, however
small, to study what Mr. Lloyd says on this matter in pp. 17-19,
and also in page 30, of his pamphlet; and also to go to the Crystal
Palace Aquarium, and there see for himself the many beautiful
species of sea-weeds which have appeared spontaneously in the tanks
from unsuspected spores floating in the sea-water. On the other
hand, Mr. Lloyd lays much stress on the necessity of a‰rating the
water, by keeping it in perpetual motion; a process not easy to be
carried out in small aquaria; at least to that perfection which has
been attained at the Crystal Palace, where the water is kept in
continual circulation by steam-power. For a jar-aquarium, it will
be enough to drive fresh air through the water every day, by means
of a syringe.
Pages:
131
132
133
134
135
136
137
138
139
140
141
142
143
144
145
146
147
148
149
150
151
152
153
154
155