LJ 100L Riparium
- Thread starter Lalo J.
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The so called "plant substrates" aren't worth the money as they will not last for very long. Flourish tabs will be worth it, they really are good. I don't really know about seachem flourish red you mentioned, but it sounds to me to be a "plant substrate".
I'm personally a fan of nutritious substrates, rather than inert. But I know your reasoning behind the choice too... I would likely go the same way also.
I would suggest looking into something more of a DIY nature ratehr than flourish root tabs, they aren't really fully inclusing of nutrients, and are light on Macros... especially Nitrogen.
without the need to rely on fish waste to create the nitrogen, I would look into something like Osmocote+, or Jobe's plant spikes or something similar. unless you are choosing plants that will feed from the water column, in which case you can likely ignore the substrate or fertilizing the roots.
I assume you have documentation, or at least your reasoning behind, that viewpoint?
I have heard lots of things about the "plant substrates", my fishy friends were using these and were running out of the "nutrients" in 1-2 weeks time!
Lalo J.
I would not recommend you getting one, I don't want you disappointed..
The problem with Flourite, (and exo complete, and the other calcined clay substrates) is that the only Macro nutrient for the plants is Potassium... there's no Nirogen or Phosphorus.
there's a lot of trace elements.
if you look at a lot of root tabs, you will see the same sort of thing.
So you either need to switch substrates, or find a way to get the nutrients you need into there.
Luckily the clay substrates do have a high cation exchange capabilty (CEC) so will hold onto nutrients from otehr sources.
you can use another5 source under the surface of the needed elements (or everything) like Osmocote or Jobes sticks as I noted earlier... or you can buy the needed powdered salts, make yourself a solution and soak the substrate in it before using it.
without doing something, especially the lack of nitrogen, you are likely to have plants that are deficient and do not go correctly.
you can stock and feed heavily if you want, but you are going to rely on the plants handling the ammonia/nitrite/nitrate the is produced by the fish or you will have other issues.
there's a lot of trace elements.
if you look at a lot of root tabs, you will see the same sort of thing.
So you either need to switch substrates, or find a way to get the nutrients you need into there.
Luckily the clay substrates do have a high cation exchange capabilty (CEC) so will hold onto nutrients from otehr sources.
you can use another5 source under the surface of the needed elements (or everything) like Osmocote or Jobes sticks as I noted earlier... or you can buy the needed powdered salts, make yourself a solution and soak the substrate in it before using it.
without doing something, especially the lack of nitrogen, you are likely to have plants that are deficient and do not go correctly.
you can stock and feed heavily if you want, but you are going to rely on the plants handling the ammonia/nitrite/nitrate the is produced by the fish or you will have other issues.
This afternoon I was with a friend to accommodate the hardscape, and after a couple of hours this was the final result, I must say that I loved it when we finished, but after watching it for a couple of hours I just think I'm not so convinced, I think mountains of rocks are not so necessary, I feel that they take up a lot of space, this is a tank that does not fit many fish, and with those huge rocks the amount of fish that can be here is further reduced; what's your opinion about it? any suggestion is welcome:
My focus is normally on hardscape and plants with fish coming as a secondary thing... And I also tend to understock my aquariums because of lower maintenance.
If using rocks, or wood, I want to see them, I don't want them to become hidden by plants, as a general rule I want them to reach to the top third of the aquarium.
But it's a design thing.. whatever works for you, you have to look at it in the end. So if you want more room for fish, I would go with less rocks,maybe as a corner highlight, and maybe move the wood over so it isn't so central. Maybe have all the rocks with the wood coming from them like roots..
I dunno, I'm hardly an artist; just give it a go and see how you like it, it da always be changed.
If using rocks, or wood, I want to see them, I don't want them to become hidden by plants, as a general rule I want them to reach to the top third of the aquarium.
But it's a design thing.. whatever works for you, you have to look at it in the end. So if you want more room for fish, I would go with less rocks,maybe as a corner highlight, and maybe move the wood over so it isn't so central. Maybe have all the rocks with the wood coming from them like roots..
I dunno, I'm hardly an artist; just give it a go and see how you like it, it da always be changed.
Hello dougall, thanks for your opinion, I agree with you that adding rocks or wood to the tank are for visualization and not to cover them with plants. For my taste, the right side of the tank looks terrible, a really big stone that takes up a lot of space, I'm going to rearrange everything as soon as I can, I hope I have a little time this weekend to start preparing the lighting stands, and I started to prepare the substrate, I finally decided on a homemade substrate, but I have to dry the black soil in the open air and I have had problems with the rain here, but fortunately it's already dry and ready to sift and remove organic residues that may affect it.
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