Well it depends on the tank and the owner's goals......
For all the hoopla folks claim about wanting a natural balanced tank etc, folks sure seem to enjoy putting a lot of stuff in the gravel. Sort of like the lighting.....more=better many seem to assume.
No, no no.
If you have a plain old sand gravel, adding Flourish tabs is a good move(CO2 or non CO2 methods).
If you have flourite, this works well without any tabs/jobes etc.
If you have a non CO2 tank, why worry? Growth is slow in these tanks, which is what many claim to want anyway. Slow growth= slow uptake. The fish waste and decomposition should be able to supply enough for the plants in these tanks. At least the general approach many claim they really want and IME does work as I have non CO2 tanks for many years.
Folks might want to work on their fish load/feeding routines, food types etc and get that right.
About all that's needed to be supplied to the substrate is a small amount of iron and some surface area for aerobic bacteria to breakdown waste/plant materials etc(the whole of this-bacteria, organic detritus etc is what I call mulm).
Sure, you can try and supply the substrate with all the nutrients, but this runs out relatively quickly, especially the Nitrogen. If you have enough fish etc, but not TOO much, then you can balance this well.
There is no book etc, and DW book cannot address what is a balanced fish load, or food routine to achieve a certain level of NO3/NH4 in your tank etc. This just takes trial/error/experience with non CO2 tanks.
If you use CO2, then it's much easier to control the environment and optimize the levels for the plant's health.
But you can do an Amano level tank, every one of his for that matter, using the flourite/mulm/peat rouitne. The rest is plain work/water changes and dosing of the water column. And nice photography.....
But ianjoe,
If you are using CO2/bright light, be careful when you uproot etc, do a large water change afterwards each time using jobes. Folks often get Green water as a result from using jobes.
This is extactly how I culture green water, I toss a jobes into the water column. I can add everything EXCEPT NH4 and urea and never get green water. I add a little NH4, and I get green water.
The PO4 is not going to do anything, I know folks that have 2-10ppm of PO4, no algae.
Regards,
Tom Barr
