Re: [AGA-Member] Possibilities of Sozo Haishoku

["Troy E Hendrickson" <t_hendrickson@qwest.net>]

Roger,

My oldest tank is a 75 gallon, it has 240 watts of lighting, CO2 injection,
and I dose daily according to Barr's EI. It has both a heavy plant and fish
load. The only thing I give the substrate is an iron supplement about every
3 months, never vaccum. I guess my biggest question, not being completely
familiar with the Amano substrates, is what are their physical properties,
i.e. particle size etc. I can assure you that not everyone would appreciate
the brick red color of the substance I use in that particular tank, but it's
covered with plants for the most part, so aesthetically I don't find it
distracting. Actually my attitude towards substrates in regards to
appearance is "who cares, it's the plants".


----- Original Message -----
From: <roger@spinn.net>
To: <aga-member@thekrib.com>
Sent: Wednesday, July 13, 2005 1:24 PM
Subject: Re: [AGA-Member] Possibilities of Sozo Haishoku


> I have tanks (and substrates) that are as much as 18 years old.  I guess
that
> those substrates should be just bursting at the seams with fertility.
Oddly,
> they don't seem to be.  I still have to fertilize to avoid nutrient
deficiency
> symptoms.  The only way to create or maintain fertility in a substrate
without
> adding chemical fertilizers is to make your food additions balance or
exceed
> the plant growth in the system.  Normally that means keeping a large
> population
> of adult fish or a low-production plant community or both.
>
> High-growth plant communities are pretty popular these days, and most of
us
> don't keep real large populations of adult fish in their planted tanks.
For
> the common case substrates *should* lose fertility over time, not gain it.
>
> Troy, I'm pleased to hear about your success with your aquariums.  It's an
> interesting approach to aquarium keeping, but it is only one approach.
Mr.
> Amano's recommendations and products are appropriate for high-growth
> tanks.  He
> probably did not have your tanks or your methods in mind when he
recommended
> changing the substrate.
>
>
> Roger Miller
>
> Quoting Troy E Hendrickson <t_hendrickson@qwest.net>:
>
> > The main source of nutrients in your substrate are the result of
bacteria,
> > both aerobic and anaerobic, breaking down waste, therefore they are
> > replenished if your substrate is capable of supporting the process, so I
> > would have to disagree with you in part. Some substrates may
deteriorate,
> > others get better.
> >
> > I'm neither a perfectionist nor an artist, but I know that science is as
> > much a part of this hobby as is technique, and I certainly haven't seen
> > anything I would call deterioration in my tanks that would make me want
to
> > destroy a balanced system that I have worked hard to achieve, and the
> > science supports my "technique" as it does anything Amano does.
> >
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> >
>
>
>
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