Re: Modular substrate design

["S. Hieber" <shieber at yahoo_com>]

Don Matakis said:
> Here is a great article on George Booths site on heating coils,
> laterite and
> plant growth needs.
> http://www.frii.com/~gbooth/AquaticConcepts/Articles/AFM_Laterite.htm
>  It
> would explain why I never had a nitrate spike. But even more
> interesting is
> this statement:
> Only under the special conditions including substrates relatively
> high in
> cation exchange capacity and oxygen content can the tremendous
> surface area
> and nutrient adsorbing power of root hairs be optimized in an
> aquarium.
> (Adsorption is the direct exchange of a nutrient cation such as NH4
> from an
> exchange site on a substrate for a H+ from H2(CO2) from a root hair)
> Plants
> in other systems have no cation rich substrate for roots to exploit,
> so
> don't mass root hairs. They are less efficient. Plants in these other
> systems can do quite well taking nutrients up from the water by
> absorption.
> (Absorption is the drawing in of nutrients as the plant draws in
> water.)
> Higher plants have developed vascular systems which prefer to adsorb
> through
> roots. Here is George's main address:
>  http://www.frii.com/~gbooth/AquaticConcepts/ (Knowledge through
> research
> and practical application always leads to more questions. Therein
> lies the
> joy.)

George's and Karla's site, throughout is a thing of knowledge,
experience, and beauty.  Reading George and Karla's site, and Erik
(TheKrib) Olson, is what inspired me to try aquatic gardening.  And I
even bought substrate cables.  They lie beneath the flourite in my 150
gallon tank.  While few seem to doubt that substrate heaters can be
beneficial, it seems that a good many proficient and artisitic
gardeners do very well without them.  They also bring their own set of
problems to the scene.  My own are now and hereafter unplugged.

Scott H.

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