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Re: [APD] My goldfish are dying



Pardon my cynicism. The hobby seems to go thorugh a slow series of paradigm shifts in what's good to grow plants in, eventually coming back to the conclusion that just about any gravel will work once it accumulates some mulm. Then another marvel comes along and off we go again. I say, it's a lot jiggery pokery in a mare's nest.
 
Find something porous if you can, but it's not critical;, not so light it won't hold down plants; for grain size, you can exercise a lot of latitude  -- but try hit very roughly about 3 mm in avg, grain size.  Among those things, choose what looks nice. There's no secret substrate ingredients that will make your plants grow. It's just basic plant nutrition and plants happily get that from water if it's available. 
 
 
sh
 

 
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Convention registrants can sign up for the the Field Trip to the Monterrey Bay Aquarium. Over half the Field Trip slots are taken & we can't add any more once the 50 slots are taken. 
 
The 2006 Aquatic Gardeners Association Convention is open for registration now.
 
Details are posted at http://www.aquatic-gardeners.org/convention.html 


----- Original Message ----
From: Vaughn Hopkins <hoppycalif at yahoo_com>
To: aquatic plants digest <aquatic-plants at actwin_com>
Sent: Friday, June 2, 2006 12:42:57 PM
Subject: Re: [APD] My goldfish are dying


When you go to higher light intensity, and are trying to grow plants as 
well as keep goldfish happy and healthy, your methods of doing both 
will probably change.  Tom Barr is recommendig ADA aquasoil very highly 
lately.  His experiments have shown that plants do grow better in ADA 
than in other aquarium substrates, and the ADA stuff is softer, so it 
doesn't scratch the glass when you are cleaning the tank.  It is cheap 
compared to most aquarium substrates, and is light, so the volume you 
get in a bag is greater, reducing the cost even more.  I don't use it 
because I have my tank set up with Soilmaster Select Pro Charcoal.

The only disadvantage I know of for laterite is that it has to be used 
in a layered substrate, which is a PITA, plus, if you pull up a plant 
the roots tend to drag the laterite into the water, where it can cloud 
it up and leave a layer of laterite dust all over everything.  I have 
done a layered substrate, but not with laterite, and I did get those 
effects.  But, the primary reason not to use laterite is that it isn't 
necessary.  Adding any unnecessary thing to the tank just complicates 
things and adds more unforeseen problems.  And, that leads to 
undergravel heaters.  No one I have heard about has said they got 
improved plant growth with those heaters.  As far as I know they do no 
harm, but they are another unnecessary piece of equipment in the tank.  
You can adequately heat the aquarium water using regular heaters.

The reason for the pH meter is that once you go to higher light 
intensity you are almost forced to use CO2 to avoid algae issues.  
Adding CO2 reduces the pH of the water, so monitoring pH becomes a more 
important issue, and hobby pH test kits really aren't very easy to use 
at all.  You can save some headaches if you take your undergravel 
heater money and buy a ph meter instead.

Vaughn H.

On Friday, June 2, 2006, at 08:36 AM, Jamie Bright wrote:

> What is the advantage of ADA aquasoil?  Where can I get it?
>
> Disadvantages of laterite?  Seems to be the most common recommendation 
> I have come across, until your posts today. 

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