Rescaping my tank

**szesteve** · 17th Nov 2002, 00:10

Hi guys,I'm gonna rescape my tank tomorrow and need some advice.

I have JBL AquaBasis Plus 5kg and gravel 20kg. Will be doing a major overhaul and washing my gravel and stuff.

1)When I redo my gravel, I had 2 ideas in mind. One is to put a thin layer(1/2") of gravel followed by the base fertilizer then top off with the rest of the gravel.

Another is to just put the base fert at the bottom and top of with the gravel.

2)I can't seem to decide between Java & Mini Moss, which should I use? Both have grown successfully in my tank.

Please advice.

I'll take pics of it when it's done up tomorrow!

**szesteve** · 17th Nov 2002, 00:10

Hi guys,I'm gonna rescape my tank tomorrow and need some advice.

I have JBL AquaBasis Plus 5kg and gravel 20kg. Will be doing a major overhaul and washing my gravel and stuff.

1)When I redo my gravel, I had 2 ideas in mind. One is to put a thin layer(1/2") of gravel followed by the base fertilizer then top off with the rest of the gravel.

Another is to just put the base fert at the bottom and top of with the gravel.

2)I can't seem to decide between Java & Mini Moss, which should I use? Both have grown successfully in my tank.

Please advice.

I'll take pics of it when it's done up tomorrow!

**szesteve** · 17th Nov 2002, 00:10

Hi guys,I'm gonna rescape my tank tomorrow and need some advice.

I have JBL AquaBasis Plus 5kg and gravel 20kg. Will be doing a major overhaul and washing my gravel and stuff.

1)When I redo my gravel, I had 2 ideas in mind. One is to put a thin layer(1/2") of gravel followed by the base fertilizer then top off with the rest of the gravel.

Another is to just put the base fert at the bottom and top of with the gravel.

2)I can't seem to decide between Java & Mini Moss, which should I use? Both have grown successfully in my tank.

Please advice.

I'll take pics of it when it's done up tomorrow!

**szesteve** · 17th Nov 2002, 00:10

Hi guys,I'm gonna rescape my tank tomorrow and need some advice.

I have JBL AquaBasis Plus 5kg and gravel 20kg. Will be doing a major overhaul and washing my gravel and stuff.

1)When I redo my gravel, I had 2 ideas in mind. One is to put a thin layer(1/2") of gravel followed by the base fertilizer then top off with the rest of the gravel.

Another is to just put the base fert at the bottom and top of with the gravel.

2)I can't seem to decide between Java & Mini Moss, which should I use? Both have grown successfully in my tank.

Please advice.

I'll take pics of it when it's done up tomorrow!

**hwchoy** · 17th Nov 2002, 00:24

either way will do, a lot of us just do the two layer thing, base fert at the bottome with gravel over top.

However, you should have enough base fert to keep plants healthy for some time to come, especially if you have mostly rosette or tuber plants. I think glosso, hairgrass, Echinodorus, etc also do well with good base fert. You should have at least an inch if not two of base fert, which means your 5kg (actually 5 litres) bag of aquabasis will probably not be enough. You can easily calculate the volume you need by multiplying the length and width of the tank (in cm) with 3 or 5 cm (of base fert depth).

Now don't throw all your gravel in. You should only have around 3-4 cm of gravel, enough to keep the base fert from leaching into the water column while allowing plants to get to the fert easily. Maths is the same as base fert, except that 1 litre gravel is around 1.2kg.

**szesteve** · 17th Nov 2002, 00:38

hmmm...cos I asked teo and he said it was enuff...

**lorba** · 17th Nov 2002, 07:27

i've talked to 1 or 2 of the guys working there, they don't really seem to encourage in dosing fert. The one with tatoo (forgot his name, sorry), keep telling me that there is no need to add fert regularly unless the plant turning yellowish or have other symptons.

**hwchoy** · 17th Nov 2002, 13:42

you have to realise they use water from a POND which is already loaded with chicken sh!t

**hwchoy** · 17th Nov 2002, 13:44

BTW what do you mean by &quot;dosing&quot; fert? If you're referring to the liquid additives then yes, I also hardly use any. But to have base fert laid from day 1 is important as you can add them later!

**szesteve** · 17th Nov 2002, 23:13

Okie, I'm dead beat...Done up my whole tank....whew....

hwchoy, I decided to take your advise on the base fert so I layed down the 1 packet I had first, and it measure about 1 1/2 inches so I didn't get a second packet. Then I topped it up with about an inch of gravel. Will take pics after I feed my aro...

**vinz** · 18th Nov 2002, 03:30

Steve,

Village photos isn't very good at sharing pictures. There is a transfer limit per day and once you exceed that limit, no one can see the pictures till the next day. I did a calculation once and only a handful of ppl can open this page before the limit is exceeded.

You might want to consider linking us to your album in VillagePhotos (if they have such a feature) or uploading the pics to Yahoo's photo album... though they don't allow large photos.

**szesteve** · 18th Nov 2002, 14:24

My Tank Pics

**jacian** · 18th Nov 2002, 14:33

Your tank seems a bit empty. Try to plant densely to prevent an algae outbreak.

**vinz** · 18th Nov 2002, 15:03

LOL... wah liau, villagePhotos direct access also got bandwidth limit. Can only see the thumbnails, cannot click to see the full image.

I'm deleting the posts above where you linked the images so that your bandwidth isn't used up when ppl open this thread.

**szesteve** · 18th Nov 2002, 15:55

----------------
On 11/18/2002 2:33:17 PM

Your tank seems a bit empty. Try to plant densely to prevent an algae outbreak.
----------------

Actually, I planted it not that dense cos I'm sure it's gonna turn out quite dense. Will add in more plants if it's still sparse in 2 weeks.

**Allen_1971** · 18th Nov 2002, 16:18

Hmmm mebbe instead of waiting you could get some cheap fast growers like hygro.difformis? Really its much better to prevent algae outbreak at the start... waiting 2 weeks could be 2 weeks too late.

**szesteve** · 18th Nov 2002, 16:36

Actually what's the reason for algae outbreak? Too much nutrients and too little plants to absorb the nutrients?

**Allen_1971** · 18th Nov 2002, 17:33

yep... thats typically the case. Especially for new startups, or tanks where we have done lots of rescaping, lots of nutrients may have been released into the water, and if your plants are not sufficient to ensure they are taken up, the algae will be more than happy to make up the difference.

Which is way many people load their tanks with fast growers initially, and then slowly change to their prefered plants.

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