Hello To All :)

[Homer_Simpson]

Hi. This looks like an interesting forum. I am always looking to join new planted tank forums in my quest to expand my knowledge and assimilate(Lol, I am more like an Aquatic Borg) new knowledge.

Regards

[tsunderl]

Welcome! Interesting articles. There's a wide assortment of subjects here that will feed your quest for knowledge. I'm sure you'll feel right at home in no time.

[bra8ndy8]

Welcome to the Box!! Glad to have you here!

[supersmirky]

Welcome! :welcome:

When you get a chance, post some pics of your tanks

[EAST_TX_RN]

Welcome to our new northern friend(speaking of northern, wow!). We are a fun, crazy group here, that really loves helping each other out. I would love to see some photos too, and include your own photo of yourself if you want!

[Homer_Simpson]

Thanks for the welcome everyone :). O.k. here are some photos, but please remember "I am a Tester and Not An Aquascaper" if these photos don't meet your Aquascaping expectations. I had two goals when I first got into this hobby. (1) Discover which plants perform the best for me, which fert dosing works best, and under what conditions plants grow best. That goal has nearly been met. I just have a couple of more experimental tanks left to setup, then it off to phase II: (2) Work on my Aquascaping skills using the knowledge gained from (1) with respect conditions and selection of plants that prove most favourable.

These are pictures of my Anti-Alage Repulsion tank. You can read more about the details at edit as the first serious tank I set up and I learned and continue to learn a lot from this setup.
http://i131.photobucket.com/albums/p312/aadhanani/Picture015.jpg

Lol, plant growth really took off after making some changes as detailed on my webpage.
http://i131.photobucket.com/albums/p312/aadhanani/Picture068-1.jpg


The one below is my Tom Barr Type Low Tech 5 Gallon Tank. It is my baby and the one that I am most impressed with. More details about the tank are on my webpage at edit bluish/purplish tinge is cause by the coralife colar max bulb and seachem onyxsand.
http://i131.photobucket.com/albums/p312/aadhanani/DSCN1621.jpg

The one below is A Natural Planted 5 Gallon Diana Walstead Type Natural Planted Tank. Again the purple/bluish tinge is due to the use of the corallife colarmax compact fluorescent bulb. More details of the setup are on my webpage at edit
http://i131.photobucket.com/albums/p312/aadhanani/DSCN1618.jpg

The 3 gallon nano below is the new home that I set up for my 9 year old peppered cory catfish named George at work. Yeah, he really has survived 9 years.
http://i131.photobucket.com/albums/p312/aadhanani/DSCN1593.jpg


Finally, the one below is an experimental high tech 15 gallon tank to test ADA Aquasoil Amazonian II substrate. I wanted to see what all the hype was about. You guys get first viewing of the tank. I have not gone public via web page as I want to see how the tank does for the first month, since I started off with some pretty pathetic plants that may or may not rebound and recover.
http://i131.photobucket.com/albums/p312/aadhanani/Picture122-1.jpg

[bra8ndy8]

WOW looks great!! Thanks for sharing!

[Homer_Simpson]

WOW looks great!! Thanks for sharing!

Thanks :) I just wish I had more room in my home to set up more tanks. Just a couple more......so much to learn.http://img115.exs.cx/img115/8895/signquestion3xd.gifhttp://www.unixboard.de/vb3/images/smilies/sm-nachdenk.gif

[supersmirky]

Wow...impressive. Have you ever tried the kitty litter approach for substrate?

Which substrate have you found to be the best (and least expensive)?

[fishyjoe24]

wow, nice tanks. good job,and welcome to the forum.

[EAST_TX_RN]

I am green with envy over those tanks! Nice work and beautiful tanks!

[Homer_Simpson]

Thanks again folks :) I thought of experimenting with Special Brand Kitty Litter From Wal-Mart but the stuff my Wal-Mart sells has Diatomaceous earth in it. Apparently DE might be fine when contained as a filter media but it is used in its free state as a insecticide, so if used in a substrate and shrimp come into contact with it, it could shred its exoskeleton. I did not want to take the risk.

I figured Schultz Aquatic Soil would give me the same results or better than kitty litter. While the Schultz Aquatic Soil did not mess with water parameters, it did not give me the best performance growing substrate rooting stem plants. I found the same thing with fluorite but other factors could account for this. Perhaps, if I placed fert gravel tabs underneath the rooting plants and used top of the line AH Supply lighting, things would have been different.

I had the best luck with Seachem Onyx Sand, overaid on some mulm, dusting of peat moss, and leonardite. That is the Tom Barr Type 5 gallon setup. In the Diana Walstead 5 gallon with top soil capped with traction sand, the plant growth is really and I mean really........slow. The plants are not dieing but they are barely growing.

Soil Master Select is on my list to test.

I cannot give you a verdict on the ADA Aquasoil Amazonian II as I only set up the tank about 5 days ago. But sadly, I saw some white cotton like tuft on some HC. I don't know if this is the beginning of algae or if it is fungal growth on dieing HC plants. Luckily, it has not spread to other plants. I treated the growth with hydrogen peroxide and with tonight's water change I will remove the plants with it rather than risk it spreading if the hydrogen peroxide does not kill it. I am already doing almost daily partial water changes as this is recommended for the first week because the ADA Aquasoil Amazoinian II is supposed to release huge amounts of ammonia and I am already dosing with Excel daily. Photoperiod is 7.5 hours(as low as I can go without harming plants) and I just switched the lights in the canopy from 2 20 watts corallife colarmax to 2 10 watts corallife colorax for 20 watts or 2 watts/per gallon to reduce intensity. The canopy is padded with some mylar sheeting to reflect useable light into the tank so hopefully reducing the bulb wattage will not reduce light intensity too much. I can always increase lighting again. c02 is 30 PPM as measured with a c02 drop checker. The plants rather than the substrate may be to blame for the cotton tuft growth. The plants were already very weak plants. I just tore a heavily snail infested tank down to make room for this one. There was no way I was going to throw out $60 in plants can getting replacements would not ensure they were snail or snail egg free, so I treated the plants in a solution of Alum and water for 3 days to kill snails and snail eggs and I think this really weakened some of the plants. All the crypt leaves melted within a day of replanting but those may come back. Many plants had leaves that began falling off after the transfer. Lol, that is why I have not officially taken the tank into full test mode. I may have to tear it down in a month if I cannot get things to turn around.

Based on my experience so far, I would highly recommend a Tom Barr type low maintenance, low tech setup.
http://www.barrreport.com/articles/433-non-co2-methods.html

[lellison]

Welcome! Looks like I can learn a lot from you! Nice tanks, glad you are here

[Homer_Simpson]

Welcome! Looks like I can learn a lot from you! Nice tanks, glad you are here

Thanks :) for the welcome and the compliment. I am sure I will learn more from you and others as they learn from me. Putting pieces of a puzzle together goes a lot smoother and faster when many minds work together towards the same goals. If members are willing to take risks to move forward and collectively put their minds together and test different aspects of the hobby(planted aquariums), we can all compare notes and jointly benefit and learn from one another. It becomes a win...win situation for everyone, and who knows if the collective will exists to do this, we may even discover something that no one in the hobby has yet discovered. Many of the greatest discoveries of our time were made by chance when people freely experimented and discovered things that they never expected or were even seeking.

Regards

[ElijahTurtle]

OK so I'm a little late in posting, but welcome!