FishProfiles.com Message Forums

Made a few changes to the layout. Tried to tidy up without looking "manicured".There are one or two problem plants which may or may not make it.
Picture not the best. Lost a lot of detail when I re-sized it.

[span class="edited"][Edited by bensaf 2004-08-12 08:45][/span]
bensaf attached this image:
[img]http://www.fishprofiles.net/attachments/413805.jpg"]

---

Some days you're the pigeon and some days you're the statue.

Remember that age and treachery will always triumph over youth and ability.

This one of the right side.
bensaf attached this image:
[img]http://www.fishprofiles.net/attachments/413808.jpg"]

---

Some days you're the pigeon and some days you're the statue.

Remember that age and treachery will always triumph over youth and ability.

Lastly one of the left side.
bensaf attached this image:
[img]http://www.fishprofiles.net/attachments/413810.jpg"]

---

Some days you're the pigeon and some days you're the statue.

Remember that age and treachery will always triumph over youth and ability.

Bernard

Fantastic tank & photos. It shows that work and patients pays off.

Keith

Near enough is not good enough, therefore good enough is not near enough, and only your best will do.
I VOTE DO YOU if not WHY NOT?
VOTE NOW VOTE NOW

Bensaf your tank makes me really want to start experimenting with real plants! I love it, it looks really good IMO.

-Formerly known as the Ferretfish

Keith,

Thank you very much, glad you like. Slowly getting the hang of the settings on the camera, which is not the best one in the world anyway.

Liana,
Go for it. There's no real secret to it, no magic green fingers required. Never tried grow anything except a beard until a few months ago.It's just a matter of homework, work, time and patience, if you are willing to invest those things it can be done by anyone. Mine is by no means a high tech tank, no CO2 (yet) and really the only investment for plants was the light fixture, hardly even use ferts.
Guaranteed you'll enjoy the personal satisfaction gained, your fish will thank you forever and you having a living growing piece of nature in your home will give you untold hours of pleasure, I spend more time watching it then the TV these days.

---

Some days you're the pigeon and some days you're the statue.

Remember that age and treachery will always triumph over youth and ability.

I'd def. need to invest in a good light fixture or else I wouldnt get anywhere. Do I need a special substrate? and what are some good beginner plants...I'm getting hooked!

-Formerly known as the Ferretfish

Liana,

A good substrate helps but not neccessary. To be honest not even sure what my substrate is ! It's a layer of tropical clay I bought locally topped with a layer of plain river gravel.Any small sized gravel 2-3mm would be fine.
Light fuxtures don't have to be expensive. Shoplight strips 2 0r 3 would do just fine with ordinary daylight flourescent bulbs. @-3 wpg and you can grow pretty much anything.
Java Fern
Crypts
Anubias
Wisteria
Hygro Polysperma
Dwarf Sag
Egeria Densa
If these plants came with instructions it would probably read "just add water"
With semi decent light these plants will do fine and need very little attention apart from pruning.

---

Some days you're the pigeon and some days you're the statue.

Remember that age and treachery will always triumph over youth and ability.

So does that mean that my regular tank gravel is okay? I always thought you had to have special substrate for real plants, and I always hear about CO2 injections and stuff...but if my gravel's okay, I'm going to go over to home depot and check out some new lights. Anything else I should know? Thanks a ton for your help so far!

EDIT: is this lighting okay for my 15 gallon? http://www.bigalsonline.com/catalog/product.xml?product_id=23829;category_id=1853;pcid1=1843;pcid2=
Would I be better off with the twin tube version? Or something else completely?

[span class="edited"][Edited by ferretfanatic 2004-08-15 15:41][/span]

-Formerly known as the Ferretfish

Hi Liana,

If I'm right an 18" bulb is about 15watts which would give you 1wpg , this is still low light and will restrict the number of plants you can grow. The double strip would give you 2 wpg and this would would be enough to grow a much larger selection of plants quite easily.If you also intend to use the light you currently have and the double strip then you have enough light for pretty much anything

Yes you will hear a lot about special substrate, CO2 injection, heating coils and all sorts of things when it comes to planted tanks. While all these things are certainly beneficial they are by no means necessary. A lot of people try to push for absolute optimum growth, pushing the plants to grow faster and fuller then they normally would.

My own advise would be to start slowly. Get the light right, try some plants you like (it always helps to do some research on whatever plants you choose so as you know how big they get what kind of growth you can expect etc) and concentrate on keeping those alive and growing first. Then if you get the bug seriuosly (almost guaranteed) gradually move into more hi tech aspects.

Start with easy plants first, with a lot of fast growers. This has 2 benefits, the fast growers suck up excess nutrients which give you a head start on algae and balance the tank quickly. Easy plants don't require much, if any, fertilization at first and wuill quickly give you a sense of confidence.

Don't worry too much about aquascaping at first. Put in the fast growers and later if you don't like the look you can take them out and replace with more difficult plants, by this stage the tank should be balanced.Also you can get a feel for how how the various plants grow and spread and then you can better plan out you aquascape. Patience is the key. It may take a couple of months to get it to look the way you want (if I showed you pics of my tank a few moths ago you would be horrified, yuk!)but it will be worth it in the long run and easier. Also every tank is different and sometimes plants don't behave the way you think they will. I've tried Java Moss in my tank many times, and this is supposed to be the easiest plant around, always dies within a week in mine,but yet some plants which would be considered difficult grow like weeds with very little attention from me.

You can try http://www.plantgeeks.com for information, they have a search engine that lets you look at plants based on light requirements, difficulty, tank placement etc, this would be a good way to choose some plants that suit your situation.

---

Some days you're the pigeon and some days you're the statue.

Remember that age and treachery will always triumph over youth and ability.

Thanks 1,000,000 Bensaf! I'm catching the plant bug already. I'm going to splurge for the twin tube so that I can grow more, and I'll probably start off with some java fern b/c I know its available at my favorite LPS.

-Formerly known as the Ferretfish