PompeyBill
Seedling
- Joined
- 1 Jun 2010
- Messages
- 2
Hi Guys, I would like your opinion on something I am thinking about doing. I was hoping some of you plant people might be able to help me make up my mind.
After successfully keeping the Vals I recently purchased alive (not a big achievement I hear you say but the only previous success I had was keeping algae alive!) I want to go down the planted route.
My issue is that I have small sized gravel in the tank to a depth of only an inch or so. I am considering two options for the tank
1) Leave as is and use fertiliser tablets/balls in the substrate. My concern with this is the depth of my substrate. I know some of these balls like JBL The 7 Balls are quite large. Is my substrate deep enough to keep the balls/tablets and plants in or will they suffer over time? Most planted tanks I see have deeper substrates than this. I would worry that my corys may move some substrate to reveal the tablets/balls.
2) I was thinking of temporarily removing the water/fish/substrate and adding a fertilised substrate such as Dennerle DeponitMix Professional Substrate, TetraPlant Complete Substrate or JBL AquaBasis plus and then putting the existing substrate back over the top (the existing substrate is a dark colour and I think it looks great). My worry with these is will I be able to put the fish back in straight away or do these substrates release ammonia, nitrate or anything else into the water? The fish will be in a 60L bucket while I am changing the substrate so don't want to leave them there for too long. I think long term this is the best idea, but seeing as how the tank is up and running it may be risky.
The plants I am planning to use initially are plants like Echinodorus 'Ozelot', Cryptocoryne Wendtii 'brown', Ludwigia repens 'Rubin', Limnophila sessiliflora, and in the foreground I am looking at Marsilea Hirsuta. Like the look of a lotus as well maybe. (Open to suggestions on other plants to use, my knowledge is fairly scarce on aquatic plants)
I will be doing a DIY CO2 set up, and have a Tropica liquid fertiliser (can't remember which one off hand), as well as Ferrepol 24.
Could anyone advise what way they think would be the best way to go? Really want to give this a go, have an image in my head the way I want it to look, so want to give it the best chance to work out well.
The tank is a Fluval Osaka 155L.
Thanks
Bill
After successfully keeping the Vals I recently purchased alive (not a big achievement I hear you say but the only previous success I had was keeping algae alive!) I want to go down the planted route.
My issue is that I have small sized gravel in the tank to a depth of only an inch or so. I am considering two options for the tank
1) Leave as is and use fertiliser tablets/balls in the substrate. My concern with this is the depth of my substrate. I know some of these balls like JBL The 7 Balls are quite large. Is my substrate deep enough to keep the balls/tablets and plants in or will they suffer over time? Most planted tanks I see have deeper substrates than this. I would worry that my corys may move some substrate to reveal the tablets/balls.
2) I was thinking of temporarily removing the water/fish/substrate and adding a fertilised substrate such as Dennerle DeponitMix Professional Substrate, TetraPlant Complete Substrate or JBL AquaBasis plus and then putting the existing substrate back over the top (the existing substrate is a dark colour and I think it looks great). My worry with these is will I be able to put the fish back in straight away or do these substrates release ammonia, nitrate or anything else into the water? The fish will be in a 60L bucket while I am changing the substrate so don't want to leave them there for too long. I think long term this is the best idea, but seeing as how the tank is up and running it may be risky.
The plants I am planning to use initially are plants like Echinodorus 'Ozelot', Cryptocoryne Wendtii 'brown', Ludwigia repens 'Rubin', Limnophila sessiliflora, and in the foreground I am looking at Marsilea Hirsuta. Like the look of a lotus as well maybe. (Open to suggestions on other plants to use, my knowledge is fairly scarce on aquatic plants)
I will be doing a DIY CO2 set up, and have a Tropica liquid fertiliser (can't remember which one off hand), as well as Ferrepol 24.
Could anyone advise what way they think would be the best way to go? Really want to give this a go, have an image in my head the way I want it to look, so want to give it the best chance to work out well.
The tank is a Fluval Osaka 155L.
Thanks
Bill
