Journey To The Planted Side

[lljdma06]

No wonder you two have journals that are like million pages long...

Liz

 

[seffieuk]

No wonder you two have journals that are like million pages long...

Liz

EEEhhh, no, it's because they are full of interesting 'stuff'..........

 

[Trod]

Oh dear, someones in trouble for that Photo

Forgot about your twig, sorry, any photos of it in tank??

and just for the record, it blooming well hurt

Anyway, anyone with any info on the torpedos, anyone got/had them before

 

[seffieuk]

Going to be cheeky and hi-jack her thread

Is TPN+ the best fertilizer for a lowe tech highly planted tank? If not, what would you suggest please?

Seffie x

and please, someone answer her question on the barbs or she will be moaning for England

I have been having a little read and appears they are susceptible to temp and ph changes, so slow acclimatisation seems the order of the day

 

[StandbySetting]

For a low tech tank your fish should provide adequate nutrients for the plants, and any other trace elements will be found in your tap water, if you find that some of the plants are deficient however you could switch to an all in one, if the tank is under 30 Gallons in volume I'd use TPN+ any bigger and I'd want to use dry salts, they're so much cheaper and you can dose your tank daily for fractions of a pence.

I've never kept Torpedo Barbs but personally I wouldn't buy them, this species is vulnerable in the wild due to over fishing and as far as I'm aware it is only Chester zoo that has successfully bred them in captivity, though I have heard reports of fish farms breeding them. Always ask where they were sourced from and try and get captive bred specimens if you can.

 

[seffieuk]

For a low tech tank your fish should provide adequate nutrients for the plants, and any other trace elements will be found in your tap water, if you find that some of the plants are deficient however you could switch to an all in one, if the tank is under 30 Gallons in volume I'd use TPN+ any bigger and I'd want to use dry salts, they're so much cheaper and you can dose your tank daily for fractions of a pence.

I've never kept Torpedo Barbs but personally I wouldn't buy them, this species is vulnerable in the wild due to over fishing and as far as I'm aware it is only Chester zoo that has successfully bred them in captivity, though I have heard reports of fish farms breeding them. Always ask where they were sourced from and try and get captive bred specimens if you can.

Thanks J the tank is 46 gallons, can you point me in the direction of 'dry salts'?

Good point re: the barbs, I didnt know the species was vulnerable - going off to have a read

 

[StandbySetting]

Dry salts are available from a few places online, they're used a lot in hydrophonics but companies such as Fluid Sensor Online, The Green Machine, The Nutrient Company and Aqua Essentials sell the salts you'll require, generally the salts you'll require will be Potassium Nitrate, Potassium Phosphate and Trace Elements, if you live in a soft water are you may want to add Magnesium Sulphate and a Calcium salt also.

You can then make up your own solutions and dose accordingly, you can make them to your own concentrations, they need adding to RO water which I'm sure you have a plentiful supply of but really you shouldn't need to add any fertilisers on a low tech set up, this one below was never fertilised, all of the plants were slow growers and the fish provided the nutrients:

 

[seffieuk]

Ok, point taken - what is that lovely plant growing on the floor of your tank? You are right, the plants are fine, just growing slowly!

Trod, sorry for hi-jack, honest I am sorry

Re the barbs: this is an interesting read Trod: http/www.practicalfishkeeping.co.uk/content.php?sid=2477 ( phew, did I get away with that!)

ps
back again, just been reading that they are being commercially farmed in Indonesia and Singapore using hormones - so it will be interesting to see if the ones Trod has her eyes glued on are from farms or wild

 

[StandbySetting]

It's Java Moss, It was on some stainless steel mesh held in place by a hairnet, it took forever to grow though!

If you want to increase the rate at which plants grow then you'd need to add more light, but then that would also warrant an increase in CO2 and nutrients.

 

[seffieuk]

It's Java Moss, It was on some stainless steel mesh held in place by a hairnet, it took forever to grow though!

If you want to increase the rate at which plants grow then you'd need to add more light, but then that would also warrant an increase in CO2 and nutrients.

it looks lovely. Im happy with the slow growth, was just worried they needed more nutrients

Here you go Trod, water is tannin stained, so yep, it looks yellow

 

[Trod]

Looks very nice sis,
You can Hi Jack any time, I don't mind.
I had read about the barbs, I will ask when I get them.

 

[Trod]

Right more fish added, Seffie, Mini Seffie, Mr Trod and me went to Kesgrave Tropicals in Ipswich this morning (they also sell on E Bay) a very nice place, tucked away behind the owners lovely old house, they have lots of tanks with many species of fish.
Extremely nice people run it, very friendly and knowledgeable.

I purchased 7 Denison Barbs £7.50 each an absolute bargain 1 Green phantom pleco £30, he's about 3.5" and 5 red onion snails £2.00 each, really pleased with the prices.
Mini Seffie bouoght some lovely Pearl Gourami's 1 male, 2 female, this will be my next purchase too, hopefully you can get some photos of them Seffie

 

[ian]

nice barbs! How big will that plec get? He's very nice.

I spy some diatoms as well. Hopefully the snails will sort that out.

 

[Trod]

He will get to around 9" hopefully no bigger!! Lovely colour but an ugly looking brute

Yes got diatoms but the red onion snails are on the case already

The Denison Barbs look amazing they have coloured up nicely and are swimming as a shoal, with some of the cherries joining in

 

[mini_matt]

Very nice! I think some photography lessons would be good hahaha whats the plant at the front in the last picture? Matt