[AGA Member] Crandall?

["Karen Randall" <krandall@rdrcpa.biz>]

Albert Karcher <ahkarcher@yahoo.co.uk> wrote:

> Subject: Re: [AGA Member] HELP W/ 180 GAL PLANT TANK/reply
>
> Think about this....  I also have had a 180 gal planted tank for 1.5 +
years.  I have mostly followed Crandall's advise from Sunken Gardens but
have started to stray lately.  <

"Crandall" is actually me, K(aren) Randall.<g>  Sunken Gardens is my column.

Why do you think of what you are doing as "straying"?  I don't think I've
ever recommended anything particularly at odds with what you are doing.
(except for possibly the aesthetics of dividing a tank in half ;-)  If you
are providing all the nutrients your plants need, they should do fine, even
in inert quartz gravel.  I have used yeast reactors on small tanks any
number of times.  I think it's great that you've switched to pressurized CO2
on a tank of this size.  I can't even imagine trying to supply an adequate
amount of CO2 to a 180G tank that way.  _I'm_ way too lazy for that!<g>  I'm
not a big fan of randomly mixing micronutrient sources,  because you could
end up with imbalances.  OTOH, evey water source is different, and if this
mix is working well for you, it has to be in the right ball park.

> I use local Corpus Christi Water,  ph 8.0 & hardness about 4 or 180 ppm.
I try to find fish that are compatible with the local water simply for
convenience(Tanganyikan's.  I have filter gravel on one side and Fluorite on
the other.  The tank is divided but water is passing through both sides.
196 watts on the Fluorite side and almost the same on the  other.  I
struggled about a year with the yeast CO2 systems but several months ago
purchased cylinder and two each (different types) diffusers  They have
helped tremendously.
> I have tried many types of fertilisers including making some of my own.
However I have had very good luck with the following blends.
> I looked at Flourish's ingredience and listed it on paper.  I then looked
at Tropica Master Grow and listed it's ingredients on the other side of the
paper and compared concentrations.  Where Flourish concentrations were low
Tropica Master Grow's were high.  Not very scientific, I realise but for my
tank perimeters this has been working very good.  I have been using the
follow doses with an Eheim dosing unit.
> Flourish  0.82 ml/day
> Tropica   4.1    "
> Seachem's Phos  0 to 1 ml/day
> Seachem's Nitrogen   1 ml/day
> Seachems's K       1 ml/day
> Fe (Carls or Seachem) 4 to 8 ml/day (I think)
>
> I monitor Iron, Phosphates and NO 3's once every 3 to 5 weeks and adjust
accordingly.  I have to harvest every 2 week.
> The only algae I have is on the plant leaves and that seems to be
controlled by reducing light.  I'm kinda lazy so bleach dipping is out of
the question.
>
> Good luck
> ck


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