Why?

[T1KARMANN]

okay am i invisible? hello T1KARMANN care to reply to my post?

i am actually quite enjoying this. although tikermann is rather untactful in his wording there are probably quite a few people sitting on the other parts of the forum who share his views. ie plants are for girls. by the way my flat does not have flowery wall paper and an ambient smell of roses. the floor is littered with ps2 games, dirty socks and the usual blokey stuff. i'm not what you'd call a feminine type of guy at all.

hey i even have a scab on my knee.

if you steer away from antagonising people this debate may actually prove interesting reading to others.

anyway tikermann care to reply to my post above?

ok yes i have looked at the vid it looks ok but for me its still flower aranging which is for girls
all planted tanks are is a pretty little flower arangment

you may not like my methods but i have just generated a thread which has lasted 3 pages and yet still i havent found out what draws all you big strong men to a sweet flowerery tank

 

[Lateral Line]

draws all you big strong men to a sweet flowerery tank

You are trolling.

<fx>Waves wand</fx>

Now you are not.

 

[leafs]

3 pages on this thread and the fool still doesn't get it.

 

[George Farmer]

3 pages on this thread and the fool still doesn't get it.

He does, or he's just not interested in real debate.

 

[Squid]

Sorry to deviate a little here.. but what gets me is the amount of attention and input threads like this get..

Its one of the problems with this forum that i find frustrating.

People seem to love to argue about things..

People pounce on you and slate you if your stocking levels are incorrect..

People flame you for mixing the wrong fish..

People assume your stats are rubbish and you wanted to have a tank that was not appropriate conditions..

But.. often when you post something about what you are GOING to do which may bare impact on the welfare of the fish, people are often less forthcoming with information (ie my stocking check thread in the beginners section). With drawing on just my own research and information i may make mistakes with my stocking, which people ignore now, but will be happy to flame me at a later date...

<rant over>
Squid

 

[jimbooo]

you may not like my methods but i have just generated a thread which has lasted 3 pages and yet still i havent found out what draws all you big strong men to a sweet flowerery tank

1 - i think a bare tank with monster fish is pleasing to the eye when you are sitting 4 inches in front of the glass but take a step back and look at it across the living room and you get a differnt picture. to the non fish lover (ie most of the visitors to my home) they look about as attractive as a rabbit hutch/hampster cage etc.. basically unless you appreciate the fish inside it, it just looks like a childhood hobby gone mad.

a planted tank however is a piece of living furniture and is greeted by WoW's and Gasps whenever anyone new sees it, fish lover or not.

i think i have pretty much covered that in the reply above. each to their own.

i have a friend who keeps ferrets. his garden is home to a huge 100x200 ft ferret pen, kind of like the ape cages you see in zoos. tunnels everywhere, through the trees, across the ground, funny swinging things for them to play with etc...

i'm not knocking him it's his pride and joy however can you imagine what everyone else thinks when they go round for a BBQ. "what the hell have you done to your garden."

your tank is exactly the same to me. very unattractive as a piece of furniture and probably detracts from the room it's in. i am sure you love it as after all you've spent a lot of time and hard earned money on it. my tanks are visually appealing. on top of that they offer me a chance to expand both my scientific and artistic flair without turning my home into a public aquarium.

get it yet?

squid: er may i shamefully admit something here. it takes no brain power at all to reply to a thread like this however when someone is planning a tank and asking for advice/confirmation that things are correct it takes a little work. if i am sitting here on a sunday with hours to kill i'll happily type out a huge reply and help as much as i can. if i'm at my desk (supposedly working) i really cant devote enough time to it to make a decent post hence i'll leave it for someone else to look at.

these threads pass the time while i'm having a fag quite nicely and i dont loose track of the work i'm getting paid to do while i'm on here.

 

[T1KARMANN]

my point being when i asked about nitrate reactors i was told get some plants which is not posable in a ray tank they rip them up

now im going out of my way to find out more on the planted tank thing

when i asked if your fish were eatting your plants would you remove the fish the reply was yes but its the reverse for me if the rays are ripping the plants up i will remove the plants

in most cases the plants are for decoration but in the hardcore planted tank its the fish that are their for decoration

and yes i do understand a bit about how a tank works i dont know as much about plants as i would like
but this is how i think it works the plants eat the nitrate but if you tank is understocked with fish then the tank is not getting enought nitrate to feed the fish which is why you need to add loads of other stuff to feed the plants so why not add more fish to the tank

but like i said i may be wrong on the nitrate thing

 

[Waterloo Kid]

what is the light at the end of the tunnel for a planted tank

Now THAT'S a decent question!

Personally I'd like to see my plants growing well with little or no algae present. Add into that a fish population which is healthy and possibly even breeding (say hello to three new dwarf cichlids who have grown up under a community aquarium situation primarily due to their mother's attentions and cover provided by the plants).

My turn to be invisible!

Throughout this entire thread people have stated their aims and what draws them to plantkeeping as well as fishkeeping.

I plant mine because I'm comfortable with my sexuality, find it pleasing and think the fishies will like it better.

Plants are another different fascinating subject as well as fish. They provide oxygen and food for fish and shelter for fry. They can be as aesthetically pleasing as bogwood or rocks or whatever and provide a natural environment.

Ten things that are positive about a planted tank, from the top of my head, in no particular order -

1) Purifying water, extracting all sorts of nasties, ranging from nitrogen compounds (NH3, NH4, NO2, NO3), phosphates, heavy metals etc.
2) Production of natural antibiotics to help fend of possible infections in fish.
3) Production of allelochemicals that help prevent algae.
4) Production of oxygen.
5) Providing security, shelter and terrorteries for fish.
6) Providing a more natural, aesthetically appealing looking focal point in one's living space.
7) A chance to become closer to nature and realise the delicate balance between various intrinsically linked ecosystems.
8 ) A chance to show off a piece of something that you have created, some take aquascaping to a higher artform so this becomes another part of the hobby altogether, becoming limited by imagination only.
9) Maintaining a planted tank, pruning, re-planting, choosing and buying new plants, re-aqauscaping, photographing the end result all are very therapuetic.
10) A planted tank is the perfect blend of technology, art, science and nature.

started a planted tank because I got bored with those plain borring tanks and I wanted a challange.

I enjoy looking after the plants in my tank as much (maybe a little more) than the fish, it so rewarding to be able to grow a natural environment for the fish.
Far more rewarding than a few bits of rock and wood, athough I have seen many amazing looking tanks using just rock and wood.

and so on....

Which thread were you reading then?
There are two sides to a decent debate, talking and listening. You seem overly adept at one of them and sorely incompetent in the other.

What did you want to here? I keep plants coz I'm a girly? Not going to happen.

WK

XXX

 

[leafs]

3 pages on this thread and the fool still doesn't get it.

He does, or he's just not interested in real debate.

I don't think he is interested in a debate. If he wanted to start a friendly debate he wouldn't have started this thread by insulting people who have planted tanks.

 

[Waterloo Kid]

Jimbooo,

You can type AND pretend to work!

DAMN you're good!

WK

edit for spelling

 

[T1KARMANN]

i keep a FISH tank not a water garden

all i wanted to find out is whats the big atraction with plants you cant hand feed them like you can with a big pred fish

and i dont think you talk to your plants or do you

 

[George Farmer]

all i wanted to find out is whats the big attraction with plants

I think you have your answers now.

Why you didn't ask in a more appropiate manner from the beginning is beyond me. All you have done in this thread made yourself appear troll-like, unwilling to listen and frankly offensive. Whether or not that was intentional I don't know or care.

I'm willing to answer any questions on planted tanks and will give as honest and full an answer as I possibly can, all I ask is I'm asked the questions with mutual respect - something that you clearly have not done so far.

Feel free to start a new thread with any furthur questions you may have on the planted subject - with tact.

Thread closed.