Nature is all well and good, but we've created an unnatural environment by having a glass box, filling it with water, and controlling what goes into it. In nature, there is a balance. In our box, there is not. That's why we sometimes have to add nutrients, to compensate for what is lacking. Just today I tested my planted tank for iron content and in my tank that is about 9 months old, with plenty of poop, there wasn't enough iron content to even register on the test. I will have to add an iron supplement. It's great if you can let your tank go a la' naturale, as some people can do successfully, but not everyone can. The little tank we've created for our fish is not an exact replica of nature...nature is vastly differently than the little ecosystem we've created.
Z
?Plant Supplements?
13 posts • Page 2 of 2
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natalie265 - Site Admin
- Posts: 746
- Joined: Sat Nov 01, 2008 9:48 pm
I hate to be the one to bring this up, but yash, your photos from last year show a pretty nicely planted tank. Your more recent photos show only a couple little plants struggling there in the corner. I'm forced to the obvious conclusion that your plants have all died.
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yasherkoach - Posts: 1306
- Joined: Sat Jul 26, 2008 1:24 pm
natalie, recently I moved from one house to another, actually on May 8, 2009, and during the move, the plants took a beating, dried out a bit, after I filled the tank up, sad but true, within a week, I lost several petals (only due to the drying out...I tried to keep them moist during the move, but it didn't help). This is the difference you are seeing between pics.
It's been about 3 weeks now, and the plants are bouncing back. I did lose all my ghost shrimp during the move and I lost a catfish and a red platy. BUt this is all.
The tank is doing much better now.
Zambize, I agree with you, some aquarists cannot go all natural because the way they set their tanks up i the first place, and if they did go all or nearly all natural, it could do more harm than good to reverse the process all of a sudden.
If you look at all 4 set ups, I went from a ceramic large bridge, to a partial natural rock plus goofy porcelain figurarines then to the set up natalie is refferring to, that is, live plants, wood and stone (but still with the hood on, plenty airstones and live plants before the move), and now after the move, only filters and a heater are the 2 hold outs as far as "unnatural" things in the tank.
So it was a journey I took. I spent over $1300 in May 2008 to begin the hobby, and if I had the set up then that I have now, it would have cost about $300 total and the fish would be just as content as with all the ornaments and stuff a pet store sells us (offline and online).
Again, like you said zambize, it works for some not for others. It is working for me, and I truly believe, that the closer we can mimick the natural world the better the living species can be, and that goes for as natural a way as possible.
But I can understand the hesitation, absolutely, no doubt...my entire point is, it can work for it is working and the living species are content (no fighting, no killing of one another, even the Dwarf Chain Loaches come more now into the open as before they usually hid - actually, I tought I lost one, and during the move I realized he was fine).
Whatever works best works, is my coined phrase. I prefer to take the natural way or as close to nature as I possibly can...others, well, we understand or else we wouldn't be having this debate without such reasons.
Thanks just the same
It's been about 3 weeks now, and the plants are bouncing back. I did lose all my ghost shrimp during the move and I lost a catfish and a red platy. BUt this is all.
The tank is doing much better now.
Zambize, I agree with you, some aquarists cannot go all natural because the way they set their tanks up i the first place, and if they did go all or nearly all natural, it could do more harm than good to reverse the process all of a sudden.
If you look at all 4 set ups, I went from a ceramic large bridge, to a partial natural rock plus goofy porcelain figurarines then to the set up natalie is refferring to, that is, live plants, wood and stone (but still with the hood on, plenty airstones and live plants before the move), and now after the move, only filters and a heater are the 2 hold outs as far as "unnatural" things in the tank.
So it was a journey I took. I spent over $1300 in May 2008 to begin the hobby, and if I had the set up then that I have now, it would have cost about $300 total and the fish would be just as content as with all the ornaments and stuff a pet store sells us (offline and online).
Again, like you said zambize, it works for some not for others. It is working for me, and I truly believe, that the closer we can mimick the natural world the better the living species can be, and that goes for as natural a way as possible.
But I can understand the hesitation, absolutely, no doubt...my entire point is, it can work for it is working and the living species are content (no fighting, no killing of one another, even the Dwarf Chain Loaches come more now into the open as before they usually hid - actually, I tought I lost one, and during the move I realized he was fine).
Whatever works best works, is my coined phrase. I prefer to take the natural way or as close to nature as I possibly can...others, well, we understand or else we wouldn't be having this debate without such reasons.
Thanks just the same
