My First 'proper' Planted Aquarium...

[Truck]

sounds good, a they reputable?

 

[nosoup4you]

I did a quick search on them before I made my first purchase and found several forum posts praising them. Dunno if you'd call them reputable or not. They sell through Ebay as well and have really high feedback (98.9% with over 15k FB). Perhaps Aaron or SC has done business with them....

 

[Truck]

i might try aqua essentials

 

[JamieH]

I did a quick search on them before I made my first purchase and found several forum posts praising them. Dunno if you'd call them reputable or not. They sell through Ebay as well and have really high feedback (98.9% with over 15k FB). Perhaps Aaron or SC has done business with them....

i might try aqua essentials

lol.... he just gave plenty of valid reasons to use them. Aqua essentials are hugely overpriced on everything.

The chances are, if it takes 12 days that they place an order from their supplier and then ship to you - i.e. the plants are not in the UK postal system for 12 days.

Also, plantsalive are very good if you do want another supplier... their plants also take up to 2 weeks, but the quality is good.

 

[aaronnorth]

Aqua Essentials sell tropica plants - you get what you pay for.

Plants alive - microsorum pteropus x 5 (£2) = a small rhizome with 1 leaf
AE/ tropica - microsorum pteropus x 1 (£6.95) = a huge plant that is well developed. Can be split into 5 and still have a good 7 leaves on each part!

 

[SuperColey1]

Perhaps Aaron or SC has done business with them....

My tank below contains:
Philippine Java Fern (Aquatic Magic)
Anubias Barteri (UKAPS member)
Anubias Barteri v Nana (Aquatic Magic)
Anubias Barteri v Nana Petite (Aquatic Magic)
Cryptocoryne Undulata (Aquatic Magic)
Cryptocoryne Wendtii Brown (Aquatic Magic)
Cryptocoryne Wendtii Green (Aquatic Magic)
Cryptocoryne Wendtii Tropica (Tropica)
Cryptocoryne Parva (Tropica)
Cryptocoryne Wilisii (UKAPS member)
Cryptocoryne Becketti (UKAPS member)
Needle Leaf Java Fern (Aquatic Magic)

So are Aquatic Magic any good - Yes I would say so however if I was to buy all this lot again I would probably go straight from Tropica because although AM plants are very good, they are small quantities whereas Tropica are expensive for a reason quality AND quantity.

My previous journal (Under the forest canopy) was virtually 100% Aquatic Magic and all the AM plants in this scape came from that one. There was also Nymphea Rubra, Nymphea Zenkeri 'red', Nymphea Zenkeri 'Green', Cryptocoryne Spiralis, Cryptocoryne Balansae.

The order for the previous scape was £66 inc. shipping and looked like this:

That lot from Tropica would be close to £200!!!! but worth it

Just for the doubters out there. Take a look how small the plant in the bag in the bottom middle is. That is the needle fern that dominates the current scape in picture one and is pruned heavily every month!!!! Does anyone else want to question my growing skills or my persistent dismissal of 'low light' plants?

AC

 

[nosoup4you]

Yeah, the plants were a little smaller than I had anticipated. When they say 20-30 leaves they mean 20-30 small leaves from a small rhizome. They did offer to send me an extra portion of each of the types of java fern that I bought free of charge.

 

[SuperColey1]

I wouldn't worry too much. lol (see previous comment on the needle fern and its growth since. )

 

[nosoup4you]

Mine are really starting to take off (as much as can be expected with the slower growing plants) with the addition of the CO2. If mine grow only 1/3 as much as yours I will be satisfied.

 

[SuperColey1]

if your balance of CO2/ferts/light is good then you should easy have the growth I have. this is all 1 year old now but has been heavily pruned over that year so growth would be 4-5 times what you see here!!!

AC

 

[nosoup4you]

I started my second bottle of yeast/sugar 2 days ago and I noticed that the CO2 had dropped off considerably when I got up this morning. I used 2 cups to 1 tsp. so I knew that it wouldn't last for more than a week. Could it be that diffusing it through the venturi on my powerhead is diffusing it quicker than the pressure can be built up?

 

[SuperColey1]

maybe so. Part of the diffuser on the end of the line part means that there is pressure having the end of the hose open into the powerhead maybe like having a coke bottle left open where it goes flat quicker.

I always used a diffuser so can't really confirm this

AC

 

[nosoup4you]

Well the TPN+ that I ordered has been out of stock for the last two weeks so I have been looking around for more readily available alternatives here in the US. Does anyone have any experience with the Brightwell products? If I went with the Florinmulti, what else would I need to add? I like the idea of dosing with as few bottles as possible...

Florinmulti

Source of nutrients:
Potassium sulfate, calcium chloride, magnesium sulfate, potassium iodide, iron EDTA, zinc sulfate, manganese chloride, sodium tetraborate, copper sulfate, cobalt chloride, sodium molybdate.
Other ingredients:
Purified water, nickel chloride.

Guaranteed Analysis:
Potassium as soluble potash - (min) 0.48%
Boron - 0.00006%
Carbon - 0.005%
Calcium - 0.14%
Chlorine - 0.39%
Cobalt - 0.000009%
Copper - 0.00003%
Iron - 0.003%
Magnesium - 0.05%
Manganese - 0.0002%
Molybdenum - 0.000009%
Sulfur - 0.16%
Zinc - 0.0004%

What about P? I noticed there is no P in this stuff...

 

[Truck]

seachem flourish products (nitrogen, potasium and phosphorous) are meant to be good when used together.

 

[aaronnorth]

seachem flourish products (nitrogen, potasium and phosphorous) are meant to be good when used together.

They are also a good price too! Not much point in buying all of them, if anyone would like to buy seperate bottles, then go with the easylife range as they are cheaper.

Not many fertilisers contain nitogen and phosphorous because most still think that they cause algae


Your tank is low light (I can't remember!) so it should be ok without these additions, also if you notice that they are growing fine without it, then you could just buy the normal TPN (not the '+' version)