Newbie fact sheets - help please

[frosties]

All,

I am looking into producing a fact sheet for newbies into the planted tank arena. This is something that I will make available as a free download from this forum and also on my webstore. The items that I would want to cover are as follows below, but I was hoping that some of you may like to offer some input into the content. You will be listed as a contributing author on the final document.

keeping real plants in tanks for beginners
gravel or substrate - which one is best to use and why?
what lighting I need - clearly we all know 2wpg or higher - but why?
how to plant the plants (in pots, as bunches, or attached to hardscape),
what fertilizer to use - including Salts - which one does what?
CO2 - DIY, pressurised, tablets - which one, when and how much?
composition - how to make a standard tank look good
Emerse or submerse - what is the difference and when to use each one

I am asking everyone as this is a potential massive area and an easy way for people to learn from our mistakes. Every memeber of this forum has the ability to offer some input - and every persons comments will be included.

Many thanks in advance

[frosties]

Further to this - I am also looking to create a list of plants that would be ideal for newbie plantsmen or women. I would also need to break this down into high and low tech setups... Anyone make any recommendations for this?

[discusturkguy]

i think the watts per gallon is the most common issue among plant keeping that is the most complicated to understand reason being is no two tanks are the same and what works in one might not work in another.
typical example is my wife has four plants that i also have in mine but there is a 1.5w per gallon difference between the two but plants are showing same growth rate same colour and shame leaf shapes.
ok 1.5w per gallon isnt much you might say but the size of tanks are my wifes is only a 2ft tank mine is a 5ft tank and mine is the weaker lighting of the two.

[frosties]

yes allen = remember that light dissipates in water = therefore we say 1.5wpg at the water surface - we forget at the substrate - which in turn has a massive effect on the plants!

[discusturkguy]

very true tony theres so many things to take into account for lighting i guess its a case of trial and error like if plants are growing leggy then add another lamp untill finally you reach a balance of compact growth and good nutrient uptake.

[frosties]

Well said - that will need to go into the article!

[discusturkguy]

just looking at the second question gravel or substrate i think so long has the gravel is no bigger than 4mm then it will be ok but obviously will need some base fertiliser has the gravel wont contain enough or any nutrients that are required for a healthy start for the plants to get their foot hold. but also remember that you wont need to dose ferts for the first 6 months otherwise you will get a surge in algae. reason being is it takes 6 months before the base fertiliser starts to depleat and the plants will need dosing with ferts to feed and to top up the base fertiliser. if you dose prior to this then you will get a build up of ferts that are not being utilised either by plants or the substrate.

[pauld]

is that right about not doseing ferts in 1st 6 months if uv added ferts to your substrate ? i have been over dosing ferts to combat algae as advised by many on ukaps and my substrate is loaded with slow release ferts plants have gone mental but im still growing some lovely brown algae .

[frosties]

I have heard of it before as well but I think that the rule should be only to have a loaded substrate for root feeders such as crypts, Swords and valis types! The ferts do leach into the water column.  Otherwise the addition of water column salts will only really feed algae! This is my opinion though

[discusturkguy]

true tony im only going by what i have read over the past years and from books but like everything this could have been proven wrong now but i haven`t seen anything to suggest it has so even with my wifes tank im playing caution has i think its easier to add ferts if plants show any signs of lack of nutrients than trying to dilute the situation once the problem arises just my opinion has well  :).

[frosties]

Paul,
I think you hit it right there, I also think that we are in effect defining a combination of two theories.
If we said for the first six months only dose ferts that the plants are displaying as lacking or dose a very weak general fert. From then on dose normal ferts as required.
The problem is though that this relies on experience to identify which fert is lacking. Which is a bit of a cyclic discussion and this also means that the owner needs to know what is a loaded substrate! In my opinion, I doubt many newbies will know this, unless they purchased bog standard pea gravel!
Either way, some dosing is required! But then, if we use weak dosing for a period, how does the newbie account for growth? At that point that would be advised to increase dosing etc!
Hmmm difficult one!

[discusturkguy]

totally agree tony but i also find that when someone states add more ferts to combat algae they dont state if they have base fertiliser and have been dosing ferts from day 1. and i would imagine another thing to take into account is the amount of base fertiliser being used has i think if i had say a 1" base layer and was dosing salts has well the result is going to be different to someone using a 2" layer of base fertiliser in my opinion.

[pauld]

i think theres so many different theorys about on doseing ferts algae control etc and every tank is different so different conditions affect them this is why we discuss them on forums for a newbie fact sheet i reakon it should be the pros and cons of 4 or 5 different substrates with maybe even a added link to a forum discussion on each if the newbie wants to read up on it a bit more. if to much info is on a fact sheet it becomes a book and who reads them .

[discusturkguy]

thats sounds like a good idea pauld and true about the books has i for one only read the parts that of interest at a specific time to me  :).

[jym]

All,

I am looking into producing a fact sheet for newbies into the planted tank arena. This is something that I will make available as a free download from this forum and also on my webstore. The items that I would want to cover are as follows below, but I was hoping that some of you may like to offer some input into the content. You will be listed as a contributing author on the final document.

keeping real plants in tanks for beginners
gravel or substrate - which one is best to use and why?
what lighting I need - clearly we all know 2wpg or higher - but why?
how to plant the plants (in pots, as bunches, or attached to hardscape),
what fertilizer to use - including Salts - which one does what?
CO2 - DIY, pressurised, tablets - which one, when and how much?
composition - how to make a standard tank look good
Emerse or submerse - what is the difference and when to use each one

I think that this is a brilliant idea Tony.  After 5 years I am o.k with lighting, ferts and co2, but with composition I am pants.
Articles containing the above subjects would have helped me get it right a lot sooner.

One other suggestion: lph flow (to get co2 to plants)

Jan