Edvet
Member
Although I do appreciate the 30ppm 1 PH drop and unlimited ferts technique and do appreciate it will work for experienced people I find that it does cause issues for a lot of people in the hobby usually within the first three months with an immature tank. I will be setting all my tanks up this way in the future and would advise anybody just starting off to try it. Go low tech and pick plants suited to it, you can always bring other plants in later on. Get a dimmable light and run it on its lowest setting and gradually bring everything up starting with co2, ferts then light in that order. Take your time and I'm talking here over a period of maybe six months rather than a couple of weeks like I see most people do in the algae section of the forum. 90% of us aren't aquascapers anyway so what's the rush. I find doing the unlimited ferts and 1ph drop technique is best done in a very mature mature tank as this technique has its pitfalls so best not to combine them with the setting up a new tank pitfalls. Very easy to get sickened this way especially when you've just forked out the neck end of £500 notes on equipment thinking it will buy one instant success. The hobby should be enjoyable after all otherwise it ceases to be a hobby and turns into a job.
Solid advice!