In article ,
David Kershaw wrote:
Thanks Richard, if only life was that easy ;o) Controlling the CO2 levels,
the phosphates and nitrate levels seems to take up a lot of my time.
As for Siphoning out waste, what waste? Unless you mean the stained water
from the bog wood. The whole idea is to achieve a biological balance.
Regular water changes (never more than 10 gallons at a time) every 3 days,
help to replace some of the trace elements, but I live in England and our
water supply is rich in nitrate, aluminium and various other oxides. So a
water change can be a two edged sward. Still, it's easier than maintaining
sea water (I've only kept marines for the last 30 years), this fresh water
tank is a new departure for me.
Sounds like too much work to me. CHange half the water once a week and
fertilize a couple of times a week. Done. Goog "estimative index".
I'm a little unsure about the nutrient demands of the various kinds of
plant, obviously some of the softer stemmed species only produce roots as a
'holdfast' and so their nutrient needs to be drawn from the water. Stiffer
stemmed species and broad leaf species have a more substantial root network
(some even have rhizomes) and these should benefit from fertilizer direct to
the root. I'm still struggling to understand the levels of erithrin (that's
probably misspelled, red pigment) in some plant leaf and stem structures, it
seems to vary with the amount of light. It is possible that I need to look
at the colour temperature of the lights, rather than concentrating on the
wattage and photoperiod, but I'm still a beginner that's why I'm asking for
help.
You worry too much. With adequate light and fertilizer the plants just
grow like weeds.
Algae's are another interesting area, these are very easy to control, but
less easy to identify. Can anyone put a name to the very dark, branching,
thread like structures that are growing on one or two leaves? I can't decide
if I find the attractive or not ;o)
When you have alot it's not attractive. It's staghorn algae and is
easily killed by adding nitrate and is killed faster by using flourish excel.
My guess is thiuhg with your co2 if you just elevate the nitrate it will turn
pink, then white, then dissolve.
forgive the excessive length of this ramble, I'm still a beginner and
probably failing to see the obvious, that's why I asked about planted tank
tutorials. After all, if you are going to do anything, you need to give of
your best. This newsgroup I hope will prove a readily available resource in
providing answers.
Once you have a thousand answers you'll realize you only need 3.
Stability
light
food
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