[APD] Re: RE: Navarro's tank and those funny tanks in Brazil

["Robert H" <robertph3 at comcast_net>]

>>I grew plants "like crazy" using water column fertilization, but I found
it
as a compromise. Keep
everything green or make everything nitrogen deficient/sickly. With a richer
substrate, I can
lower the macros in the water column, get excellent coloration, and keep my
green plants
from suffering. Now my Ludwigia arcuata isn't wispy and orange... it looks
much more robust
with blood red colors and a healthy sheen to the leaf. The tank, overall,
has much more "sparkle."
Now, I am beginning to understand and get closer to how those in East Asia
get bright greens
coupled with very deep reds in their fine leaved Ludwigia/Tonina tanks.<<

Thats amazing Carlos, your experience has been similar to mine! Maybe we
should call it the Carlos method, or we should all get together and call it
the Alternative to the Barr method! Tom, you really need a better name for
your method, something catchy with an easy acronym. :) Perhaps Pmmd, poor
mans mega dosing.

>>"Perhaps it's easier after all for a newbie to come in, adopt the Tom Barr
method and have a successful tank than it is trying to let go of older
beliefs and experiences that have led to now questionable conclusions from
the past."<<

I don't get what you mean here exactly. PMDD was considered too difficult
and hard to understand for many newbies, and as Tom as pointed out, his
method is simply an extension or different version of PMDD. He provides a
safety net with big water changes that would be attractive to those who are
test kit challenged, but thats about it. Commercially, in my opinion,
Flourite became so popular because of its simplicity. You rinse it, you put
it in your tank, and you are done. You then use their Flourish line to
provide the water column with macros and additional trace. Easy.  But now
there are other commercial substrates like Eco Complete and Florabase that
provide more than Flourite: all the trace minerals, not just iron as
Flourite does.  These remind me of Substrate Gold, which had a big following
here a few years ago. Heavily fortified with trace. Seachem says Flourirte
provides only iron, or I would suppose iron is the only thing in high enough
concentration thats worth them mentioning. Perhaps Greg can comment more on
it. Flourish tabs however provides a much wider spectrum.

Jeff Senske, a big AGA contest winner uses Florabase exclusively. He swears
by it. Eco Complete is very similar. It provides a wide range of traces with
good surface area. It gives off zero dust. No rinsing. Now it has other
properties and claims that some people find little value in, such as live
bacteria and black water, but regardless, it provides all the trace minerals
in significant concentration. Thats pretty easy for a newbie, and it
certainly can not hurt your tank even if you want to do mega water ferts and
big water changes. This is only one of many alternatives. There are lots of
ways to add minerals to any substrate. High light, low light, C02 or no C02.
Makes no difference.

>>I don't suggest that you do. I tell folks to add things like peat, mulm
both of which are very safe amendments.<<

I think you need to specify what kind of peat and how much. I wouldn't add
more that a few handfulls to the bottom of a substrate, and how can you add
peat and mulm to an existing tank that is up and running or established?  I
am much more interested in allowing my tanks to mature and develop their own
mulm the natural way, over time. Another reason I would not do large water
changes on a weekly basis.
Allow the tank to mature without disruption. Large water changes DO put
stress on fish. It can even trigger ICH, particularly if a newbie is not
carefull with the temp change It could also trigger Cryp melt. You would be
changing water chemistry, hardness, pH... frequent large water changes can
interfere with spawning.

Robert Paul Hudson
www.aquabotanic.com




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