Re: [AGA Member] newbie here with some questions...

["S. Hieber" <shieber@yahoo.com>]

True enough but in terms of money, you can spend the least
here without getting into trouble or making a lot of work
for yourself.

Some peat and some decent sand or gravel will work well. 
You don't have to use anything expensive.

Similar savings can be had with lights and CO2 systems if
you're willing to buy used, be tactical about houw you use
Ebay and how you snipe bids, and do some work yourself. 
But for a lot less trouble you can usuall find some inert
gravel that you can amend suitably and cheaply.

Of course, each individual's opportunities vary. 

Scott H.


--- Dennis Sheridan <dilvish@pacbell.net> wrote:
> From: "J.B." <jbernardo@harbornet.com>
> To: <aga-member@thekrib.com>
> Sent: Saturday, May 10, 2003 3:16 PM
> Subject: [AGA Member] newbie here with some questions...
> 
> Hi, John!  I have to confess that I'm confused about how
> some experienced
> people approach substrate. In terms of priority, many
> people put substrate
> last.  That just doesn't compute for me.  <g> It seems
> like substrate is
> only there as some form of decoration, and, oh yeah, we
> need something to
> hold the plants in place. Then they spend a lot of time
> and money and
> fussing around constantly adding this nutrient and that
> fertilizer and these
> elements for the plants.
> 
> I'm new at this, too, so I'm sure there are sound reasons
> for this approach
> I'm just not getting. When I setup my tank my first
> priority was the
> substrate, thinking that that most important element in
> the tank was the
> medium in which the plants were placed. So I used a mix
> of flourite and
> florabase.  It was a more expensive approach, but I don't
> spend any money on
> any ferts or add-ins. And I certainly don't have to spend
> any time mixing or
> dosing or chasing down chemicals..  well, so far anyway.
> 
> I figured if the substrate, lights, and CO2 were right to
> begin with,
> everything else takes care of itself. I only have
> problems if I neglect the
> water changes for too long.  I tend to overfeed the fish
> and if I get lazy
> the nitrates creep up. When the nitrates get too high I
> start seeing algae
> developing on the plants. Usually a 50% water change gets
> things back to
> normal. If I regularly do a 20% change once a week I
> never see any problems.
> But the tank is only 6 months old and I'm still swapping
> plants in and out
> trying to get the 'look' we want..
> 
> d
> 
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