I love the way you do the gravel. I think your little girl is tallented as well!
Is it best to use sand, fine gravel or larger gravel with this sort of set up?
What fish sre you planning to stock it with?
Thanks.
Plants can grow well in either sand or gravel, so choice is normally one to suit individual taste. I prefer to see a smaller grain size in smaller tank, as this provides a better sense of scale. Imagine how ugly larger grains would appear in a small tank. For most situations 1-3mm grain size is ideal.
In this case the sand is purely decoration, and won't be covered in plants.
The ADA Aqua Soil is very nutrient-rich as is excellent for plant growth. It also lowers and stabilised pH (eventually) so is ideal for softwater fish and most plants.
Plants can be grown in plain substrates i.e. pure sand or gravel, but the water column needs fertilising more carefully. This then provides more risk for algae, especially with tanks with just a few plants.
A nutrient-rich substrate gives one more "room for error" where fertilising the water is concerned, so is ideal for beginners to the planted tank hobby.
I'm not sure on my stocking of fish/inverts yet. This will be decided once the tank is mature, and the aquascape has developed. I like to choose the fish to suit the aquascape, for me the plants and fish go "hand in hand".
How long you going to have the lights on for then? Is the UG able to cope with a short photoperiod? Not used it yet.
Sam
As mentioned in the light spec, 6 hours.
I'm sure UG will "cope" just fine.
FYI I ran 4 hour photoperiods for the last week or so in my last layout - no CO2 either, just Excel. It was fine, as you can see from the most recent photos.
