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local garden centre does planted tank

danmil3s

Member
Joined
11 Jan 2010
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756
went to my local garden centre today. normally they only stock a few scabby looking plants, were as today they seem to have increased there range. still a bit scabby looking though, but a start. so whilst walking round i find they've set up a planted tank. im thinking wow a garden centre that's promoting planted tanks. its all a good start. but there doing it wrong, wrong ferts, wrong flow patters, wrong co2, wrong plants. even with my limited knowledge, i can see the faults. and i can see in 4 weeks time this tank being striped down, and another marine in its place. with the information available on this site it could be a nice tank and a good advert for the hobby. but how do you tell a guy in a shop "hang on mate the ferts your using (and selling) don't contain potassium and nitrate that's a bad thing" when the label on the product was written in the 80's, and now we know better.
anyway whilst i was ranting on i just remembered the flyer pdfs on the home page. maybe there's hope for them yet. think ill just leave them in the stand when no one is looking.
 
danmil3s said:
but how do you tell a guy in a shop "hang on mate the ferts your using (and selling) don't contain potassium and nitrate that's a bad thing" when the label on the product was written in the 80's,

you cant mate. I've tried and failed! even with a healthy tank in front of there eyes, it still doesn't get through.

They take it personal....like they say 'i've been in this hobby for over 20 years you know'...

they think about me...

'youve only been doing this for 5 years, who's he to tell me?

that said, you might fall lucky and speak to someone whos willing to learn. I went i set up a planted tank in my local MA, the fert regime i used, (EI) had to be kept a secret, because, yes you guessed it....alltogether now...NITRATES CAUSE.....fill in the dots yourself 8)
 
danmil3s said:
maybe there's hope for them yet.
There is always hope :)

I think you have to build up a relation with the staff so that you earn their trust. Do not expect Rome to be built in a day. Build on the positives, not reinforce how wrong they are.

Like Mark I have had lots of failed attempts and the only the odd breakthrough, but when you have a true passion you do not take no for an answer and keep trying.

One method I used was taking my weekly cuttings in every week and the shop was amazed that all this came from a single 3 foot tank. So they asked me how I did it. From that point it took another couple of months to really get them to believe what I was saying was the truth!
 
a1Matt said:
danmil3s said:
maybe there's hope for them yet.
I think you have to build up a relation with the staff so that you earn their trust. Do not expect Rome to be built in a day. Build on the positives, not reinforce how wrong they are.

Definately. I was able to set up two tanks for a local shop when they revamped their plant stocking system. Even then it was a struggle to get them to implement my suggested fert regime and both thanks ended up being stripped down because the plants failed as they weren't getting any P or N.

I have found offering to help them scape a tank is a good way of getting your foot in the door. Suggest a nano or something small, that way it's not a massive money outlay for them. Better yet offer to use some of your own plants if you've got some spare :)

Sam
 
Go and have a chat with them about it, no harm if you are pleasant etc.
 
i did talk to one of the guys in there ages ago about ukaps but hes not the manager so doubt he set up the planted tank and he told me co2 was going to kill my fish . i will go back in a week or two and see how the tanks getting on. and maybe take the ukaps flyer with me. i don't read pfk but i understand three was a plant feature in there last month did it talk abut ferts flow pattens and stuff or was it just a basic starers guide.
 
a1Matt said:
danmil3s said:
maybe there's hope for them yet.
There is always hope :)

I think you have to build up a relation with the staff so that you earn their trust. Do not expect Rome to be built in a day. Build on the positives, not reinforce how wrong they are.

Like Mark I have had lots of failed attempts and the only the odd breakthrough, but when you have a true passion you do not take no for an answer and keep trying.

One method I used was taking my weekly cuttings in every week and the shop was amazed that all this came from a single 3 foot tank. So they asked me how I did it. From that point it took another couple of months to really get them to believe what I was saying was the truth!
This is music to my ears, Matt! Brilliant. :thumbup:

I have a dream... that one day every aquatic retailer in the UK will have a decent planted display tank! :D
 
Hi all,
I agree about offering to plant up and maintain a small tank in a local LFS, if you can get the owner to agree it is a win, win situation.
he told me co2 was going to kill my fish"
Well I agree with him, that is a constant possibility. At home you have a better chance of keeping the CO2 at an appropriate level, although you only have to read through this forum to see that a lot of conscientious aquarium keeper have inadvertently gassed their fish.

If you are going to use CO2 in the display tank, I'd make sure it isn't stocked, then you don't need to worry about CO2. If you are in a situation where you are only going to visit the tank once a week or similar it is quite likely that you will have a CO2 accident eventually. If it is non-planted and you have enough flow and light you could use EI., but I would be tempted to go lower tech. rather than the full EI, as it just gives you a bit more latitude if you are not seeing the tank every day.

I'd go for a substrate with some CEC and use root tabs or Osmocote.

Have a look at Fandango's "low maintenance" tank in this thread <http://ukaps.org/forum/viewtopic.php?f=35&t=2538&start=60>, photo below is after 6 weeks with no maintenance.
DSC_0007.jpg
it is a bigger volume of water, which makes life easier, but I'm pretty sure most LFS's would be delighted with it as a planted display tank.

cheers Darrel
 
i agrrae co2 can kill fish but this guy was sounding like a was storing my toaster in my tank. the tank they have set up uses co2 i products there trying to sell. one of these
http://www.aquaessentials.co.uk/tetra-c ... p-484.html
to small for the tank really but that's probably a good thing as they don't have a d/c think it was a 200l tank. i think they would be better of with a low tec but that wont sell there stuff.
 
dw1305 said:
Have a look at Fandango's "low maintenance" tank in this thread <http://ukaps.org/forum/viewtopic.php?f=35&t=2538&start=60>, photo below is after 6 weeks with no maintenance.
DSC_0007.jpg
it is a bigger volume of water, which makes life easier, but I'm pretty sure most LFS's would be delighted with it as a planted display tank.

(On a lighthearted note ;) ) I think many of us would be delighted with this as a main display tank in our houses! :lol:
 
that is an amazing looking tank also interesting as its a high tec, that's left alone foe 1.5 months that does really well. interesting to see how the plants respond after the trim.
 
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