Prior to setting the first of the planted OE-RFUGs, I had done away with all my Val, as requiring too much work and growing too fast. I missed its effect in my tanks, so I restarted with that plant in that 30XH, lining the back and one side. Since then, it has provided sufficient Val to line heavily the backs and one or both sides of 3 40-longs, 3 30-longs, one 55, and a 29. It has also proved material for a local group demo and plant exchange, plus now started suppling the LFS. It also blooms regularly now - of no real benefit, but a sign of heath to me. The Crypts have not provided as much plant mass to distribute to my other tanks, but I'm getting there. Also quite a few Sword Kleiner Bar offsets, but I doubt that as being much of an accomplishment -like the Val, it is prolific, second only to Compacta. The roots of all were beautiful, much cleaner and easier to move than my ususal substrates.
I am not an aquascaper - I do not slope gravel as it never last for me unless I terrace it. Terracing is no problem to date with the RFUG however - I set that in the second test tank just to see what it did. I have some bogwood tangles over RFUG without issues either. My old mbuna tank with several hundred pounds of rock was also RFUG w/o issues -it was up about 14-15 years, but was not heavily planted - no room and the wrong fish.
Water column only ferts seems to be the current style most commonly practiced. In part the influence of Tom Barr's guidance along with that of a number of other DIYers, in part the fantastic support of the Seachem company. I am a big fan of Seachem's line, even though it is more expensive than DIY, it is also much easier. I am first, last, and always, a very lazy man. I'll go to a fair bit of effort in planning and scheming a new setup, so long as I get a payback of ease of upkeep down the road. The time spent upfront, even the capital investment, are cheap when the tank upkeep is draining 50% weekly and topping off, then addding x mls of this that and the other the next day. Clean the front glass every few weeks, thin the Val back to its proper borders at the same time immediately before the weekly partial. 20-30 minutes per week? Maybe a bit over on pruning and glasss cleaning day. I can deal with that.
But I'm not yet suggesting this as general practice, it is still experimental for me. I don't have enough years of tank operation with this technique to know whether of not I'll hit problems down the road. After five years calendar years I'll make a preliminary judgement of whether to carry it on for longer. I want all setups to have a projected 10-year life span without requiring major resets.
