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try seachem fluorite.
Hi, I think of setting up a 4/5 feet tank. But the thought of having to change the substrate after a few years is holding me back. Is laying underground heating cable useful?
try seachem fluorite.
Don't be afraid of my duck!
I don't really see a need for that. What some people do is to insert rootmonsters or other supplementary fert products occasionally. But once a tank has matured, and if you are following a regular fert regime (see the threads in the next subforum), your plants can do well for years. (Read also the threads on Diana Walstad's tanks).
Of course, there are lots of people who have itchy hands and redo their tanks every few years or even months..... but that's another matter altogether.
Some folks here like the heating cable. i feel it's not necessary. But if you want to spend $$ on it, it's up to you.
heating cable is unnecessary. the science behind it is not validated.
Budak - how soon can we start embedding the rootmonsters or supplements into the gravel?
For example, my tank started last August and I would say it's heavily planted with stem plants all the while.
So, when is the ideal time for me to embed those fert supplements? Shall I wait till August (a year after I started the tank)??
when you see that the plants al of a sudden don't grow as fast as before.
Never heard of anyone using heating cable for planted tank.
I think what Budak means is that if you have a regular dosing regime.
You do not need to add those rootmonsters or other supplementary fert products unless yor have major rescape.
I mean I dun want to change the sand. I heard that the sand will get clot up after years and when it starts to stink, I will have to change everything, including the sand.
Don't be afraid of my duck!
rugrat, the clogging will happen if the sand is of too small a grain size. With planted tanks, plant roots will penetrate the substrate and keep it from "clogging". in any case, a somewhat anaerobic substrate is thought to be good for many plants.
I have done a number of tank redos, and if you plan the project properly, one day (and a few pails) is enough for a 3-4 ft tank (changing gravel and all).
Resistance is futile, you will be administrated!
If you have the substrate is well planted with healthy plants, then you should not worry about the substrate going bad. It might get depleted, but you can always insert root fertilisers.
Some ppl get Malaysian Trumpet Snails. MTS will burrow into your substrate and their activity keeps the substrate from compacting as well as helping to keep it from going bad.
Vincent - AQ is for everyone, but not for 'u' and 'mi'.
Why use punctuation? See what a difference it makes:A woman, without her man, is nothing.
A woman: without her, man is nothing.
Many of us in the USA are switching a few things around and recomplicating our substrates once again.
Virtually no one is considering Cables. Adding Cables in SG is plain silly anyway, you folks want to cool things, not heat them
I have not been able to tell any difference using them.
Generally what many are doing is taking a main substrate, like Onyx sand/florabase/EcoComplete/ cheap Turface/Profile Schultz's aquatic plant soil etc, anything porous rich in iron,other traces and good CEC.
A few of us are adding lignite/leonardite to the bottom, along with some peat, mulm absd capping this with the Main substrate to about 7-10cm depth.
I've added some processed barley straw nuggets to this base and am seeing what rate NO3/PO4 in the leonarite will absord and desorb over time.
While traces and some peat like material will help, having something like PO4/NO3 should provide more growth differences than traces and allow folks to have more reserve when they let things go in the water column.
It's not bad to have nutrients in both places, the leonardite will absorb nutrients and hangs on to them better.
Leonardite is somewhat in between coal and peat.
I would add something with good iron, porous like the above substrates, and then the base of peat/lignite and mulm, cap with the iron rich porous material.
Substrates should never "wear" out.
You can infuse tablets etc into the substrate.
If you use soil and want to add this to an exisating tank, pre wet it and put in the freeze in ice cube trays. Add beneath the substrate, by the time they melt, they will be in place and not make a mess.
Some Kitty litter, zeolite, activated carbon etc also will have some benefit.
But a mix of some peat like material, something that will also absorb and reduce with out being completely broken down fast etc will start a tank off very well along with mulm.
Onyx sand with a little peat and a mulm really have done well.
Will adding the leonardite really improve things? Maybe a little, soaking it in NO3/PO4? More likely, but it depends on your method.
I'd opt for richer(2-4X) if the tank was non CO2.
Regards,
Tom Barr
Why didn't I think of that??Substrates should never "wear" out.
You can infuse tablets etc into the substrate.
If you use soil and want to add this to an exisating tank, pre wet it and put in the freeze in ice cube trays. Add beneath the substrate, by the time they melt, they will be in place and not make a mess.
I'm back!
I'm using a vaguely 40%/60% gravel/flourite mix in my tank over some 18kg of ADA amazonia..
originally, my intention was for the amazonia soil to reduce the pH naturally, but being so deep under (under 10cm of fluorite), it has no discernable effect on my ph at all.. so its acting just like insulation preventing heat gain from the bottom of the tank..(where my chiller is.)
prior to my current tank setup, I was using a 50% gravel/fluorite mix.. again, no fuss with base fert... ie: all fertilization is from the water column..
I have no problems growing crypts and aponogetons.
I did have problems growing echinodorus. (oriental), it just stayed small. but I wasn't really trying and wanted it small..(could have been light placement rather..it was pretty much in the shade)
Some folk's methods rely more on substrates than others.
So you might see growth stunting with a sword vs a Crypt, one grows much faster.
If you supply enough nutrients to the water column, less reliance is placed on the substrate. Less light allows less reliance on the water column as a source, but ultimately the plants will get it's nutrients from both sources but running the water column lean will force the plants to remove the nutrients from the substrate, at higher lighting this becomes increasingly difficult to rely on as the sole source.
You can rely exclusively on the water column as the sole source if you chose, but it's tough to separate the substrate's effects on the water column and leeching etc.
How much of each, what ratio comes from each source, depends on the light/what you add to the water column.
Optimizing the substrate will allow you to focus more on the water column parameters to tweak the plant health.
Regards,
Tom Barr
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