hillstream community questions

[Prometheus]

snails eating algea; i have a bunch of malaysian trumpet snails. actually i have an overpopulation of them. do they eat algea? should i get rid of them?

also, is pH and water hardness and that sort of thing all that important or will "normal" (since it varies from city to city its hard to say exactly what normal is) tap water treated with an aquarium dechlorinator be ok? my tap water normally comes out at a pH of about 8-ish and i have no idea what the hardness is.

 

[Lupin]

Don't remove your MTS. IMO, there is nothing wrong with the MTS. They after all, help aerate the substrate preventing anaerobic pockets and eat leftover foods. They are far more beneficial than people give them credit for. They do eat algae but not as much as ramshorns do.

Tapwater is fine and should not be an issue.

 

[Prometheus]

1) ok, what about a lid. i have a glass top on my tank now, but do these fish jump? could i make it an open top tank by removing the lid and hanging the light fixture from the ceiling?

2) also, to help me save on money, could i wait a month or 2 before buying a powerhead and just turn the power up all the way on my filter? will that create enough current to keep them happy? the only thing im worried about with the filter outtake is it creating a whilrpool. right now iv got a piece of tubing attached to it that curves and directs the current into a large peice of bogwood to slow it down since one of my bettas is in there right now and fighters dont like current....

3) .... that being said, is it nessersary to build an under-sand tubing system to send the water back to the powerhead's side? cause im afraid that all that will happen otherwise is it will either just be turbulant in random directions smashed up againts the far side of the tank or it will create a very powerful whirlpool.