danielt

Sorry for not keeping up with the forum. The fermentation was a bust. I wouldn't recommend it to anyone. Just soak the beans for a day, they will not spoil that quickly. Then just extract the shell by squeezing the bean with your fingers and let it sink in the tank. Don't put more than 3-4 shells.

Thread or other hair algae as you call it can be nuked with irregular lighting and hydrogen peroxide. Irregular lighting means you introduce a pause of 2-4 hours in your program. I had "hairballs" of this stuff in a moss tank. The moss survived, the algae didn't Daily hydrogen peroxide dosing and a light pause dealt with it in a week. It grows by excessive light + lots of food. I won't approach this via bio control like Amanos or other shrimp. I find Amanos aggressive, mainly when starved. If they don't starve they will not touch algae.

Oblong do you have pics? How is this setup?

Don't forget to change the prefilters regularly ! They're cheaper than the TFC/TFM membrane. Depending on your tap water you might need to change them sooner but a 6 month period is recommended regardless of their wear.

The main reason I hate sponge filters is noise. I sleep with my shrimp An air pump would drive me nuts as opposed to the HOBs I use which despite their numbers are whisper quiet. The HOBs I use come with sponges in them. I took them out and replaced them with Eheim Substrat Pro. One of the sponges sit on the intake. It's the same as with sponge filters only better and quieter. You can't do any better bio filtration short of using a canister filter.