What's So Hard?
- Thread starter hcgirl80
- Start date
Seaman
Shrimp gumbo, shrimp salad etc...
Lighting can get expensive...and difficult to know whats best, the water quality and hardness has to be right, you might have to fertilize the plants....if you want a NICE planted tank you need to inject C02 wich can change your ph...theres a lot to growing plants in an aquarium...its almost if not more difficult to get them growing good than it is with fish...atleast money wise for me!!!
I think the hard part is the part of having to test and fertilize 2 or 3 times weekly. Once you have a good idea on how much of what will do to your tank and the water quality it’s not that bad. Just the first 3 or 4 weeks of testing every day and adding a bit of stuff to find the fine line of a nicely planted tank or the green tank.
The best part is when you have it all figured out and something changes and everything changes.
The best part is when you have it all figured out and something changes and everything changes.
And it's hard to keep things balanced. A low light tank with no co2 and no fertilizer isn't a big deal. But the plants don't grow very fast and you can't grow many variities. So you decide that a little more light would be nice, and then you need to add co2 for the plants. And when the plants start to grow like crazy with the co2 they deplete the other nutrients in the tank and you have to replace them...and then you find yourself pondering the stump removers and enemas at the store!
Yes, you're missing something......experience.
No, this is not rocket science, but it's a balancing act and how thin the balance beam is, depends on how much light you put over the tank, as mentioned above.
Once you learn your individual tank and it's needs, it's a piece of cake.............sort of.
Start with moderate light and learn the ins and outs.
The fun(though it may not sound like fun at times) of the hobby is the challenge that we face to find the balance.
Len
No, this is not rocket science, but it's a balancing act and how thin the balance beam is, depends on how much light you put over the tank, as mentioned above.
Once you learn your individual tank and it's needs, it's a piece of cake.............sort of.
Start with moderate light and learn the ins and outs.
The fun(though it may not sound like fun at times) of the hobby is the challenge that we face to find the balance.
Len
The whole thing of keeping plants isn't hard its deciding what you want to do and seeing whats involved in that to decide whats hard or easy. My java fern and java moss are starting to look better now that I have them and they are in a well lit tank of one watt per gallon and recieve 10 hours of light a day 5 gallon a week water change plus top off. I am researching fertilizers in this forum and substrate changes but nothing too seriously as money is hard for me to come by. But what I have does nicely now and is looking more green now than green yellow when I got it.
Oh.....Experience.....Duh. I Have A Flourescent light (cant remember how many watts) plus A Two-gallon water change each week(the gravel vacuum is SO cool
) and, I'm Of Course A newbie
) and, I'm Of Course A newbie
When you have questions, someone on this forum will be happy to help so ask away.
You will come to realize that it is a good idea to post your information, such as tank size, wattage, filtration, and water parameters at the bottom of your post. This helps us know a lot more about what you are dealing with and be more able to advise.
Len
You will come to realize that it is a good idea to post your information, such as tank size, wattage, filtration, and water parameters at the bottom of your post. This helps us know a lot more about what you are dealing with and be more able to advise.
Len
Wait, you'll get algae and then we'll see what you think.
If you do this hobby long enough, you will find out. Everyone does.
The newbie freaks out, the experienced person puts it off till they manage to fanagle enough motivation to fix the issue."How far can I go till it looks really bad?"
You'll see. Look up the "stages of the aquatic gardener" and also my version of the "stages of the aquatic aquascaper" off the Krib and the APD.
Regards,
Tom Barr
If you do this hobby long enough, you will find out. Everyone does.
The newbie freaks out, the experienced person puts it off till they manage to fanagle enough motivation to fix the issue."How far can I go till it looks really bad?"
You'll see. Look up the "stages of the aquatic gardener" and also my version of the "stages of the aquatic aquascaper" off the Krib and the APD.
Regards,
Tom Barr
being a newbie to plants as well, I might add that there are many different levels, of planted tanks. When I first started researching I was under the belief that without 2-3 wpg co2 and a perfect fert balance I just couldn't have healthy plants. Further research has led to the knowledge that there are limitations to low tech planted aquariums, but that they can be pretty easy, providing you match your light to your plants and fertilizer etc. It can be whatever you want it too be. For me low tech in the big tank and a little higher tech in the little tank. Keeps me plenty busy and looks good. Algea is another story, but there are ways to deal with that as well. One of the things I've noticed, is that all of the really knowledgeable plant Geeks on this forum can tell you from multiple experiences how to fight just about every type of algae in existance. Therefore I don't feel like I failed when the algea outgrows my java fern. I am enjoying the plants without a lot of ferts, no co2, fairly inexpensive lighting etc. I don't see a lot of rapid growth, and I don't see pearling etc. but I really like the way my tanks are looking, and the fun of having an underwater garden.