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Re: Aquatic Plants Digest V4 #396



Thanks Steve for the reply to my question an an aging substrate.  In the
past I have added Flourish tabs and noticed some improvement.  Also, I
have added some plant tabs (with too much phosphate) and noticed
improvement accompanied with some algae on the substrate where the tab
was inserted.  Lately, I have just been pushing my finger down through
the substrate to the bottom of the tank when I do my weekly water
changes and I've noticed some improvement.

I guess that it's time to try only one approach on a single tank and
compare the results after 4-6 weeks.  Since I maintain 30 planted tanks,
I have plenty to choose from.

About 5 or 6 years ago, I tried comparing a soil substrate without
supplemental CO2 with a gravel/laterite substrate without CO2 to see
which produced the best results.  The soil was better in both quantity
and quality of plant growth.  So now all of my tanks have soil as a
significant element in the substrate.  However, the growth and quality
of the plants does slow down after 12-18 months.  If others on this list
have noticed the same thing, I would appreciate hearing their
observations.

Joe Hildreth