Re: [APD] Help

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

Generally, well planted tanks aren't nearly as fussy about
what kind of filter you use as other tanks.  The plants do
a lot of the filtering.

Currents are good for plants.  Lots of nutrients are
absorbed through the leaves, so the water around the leaves
must keep moving to keep bringing new nutrients.

If your tank is heavily planted and lightly stocked with
fish, you can proably get by with just some mechanical
filtration and, of course, regular water changes.

With moderate lighting and not too much fish food, you can
even get by with very few water changes, but that's a
harder row to hoe unless you're bit careful about how you
set up.  An excellent treatise on how to do this is Diana
Walstad's book, _Ecology of the Planted Aquarium_ (you can
find it here

http://www.bookmasters.com/marktplc/00388.htm

 and here

http://www.aquatic-gardeners.org/bookstore.html

 and at Amazon.  But that book might seem a bit too
technical for a beginner.

If you've got a back filter, go ahead and use that.  If
you've got a canister, go ahead and use that, if you've got
a sump/wet-dry, etc.

I wouldn't worry about movement -- often in nature, plants
move with the currents ;-)

Hope that helps you get started,
Scott H.
--- Roy Quek <royquek at yahoo_com> wrote:
> Hello, i'm new to this egroups and got some questions
> on planted tank.
> 
> I'm intersted in keeping a freshwater planted tank.
> But i don't know what kind of filter system to adopt.
> Was initially thinking of Under gravel filter (UGF)
> but seems like quite alot of people are against the
> idea of planted tanks and UGF. I don't know what kind
> of filtration systme to use. I was thinking of the
> cheap Hang On Back filters but the water currents they
> produce is too strong. The plants will sway alot to
> have an aesthetic look =). Any help?
> 
> Also what kind of maintainence is needed for plants?
> Like fertilisers, trimming etc. Will an overplanted
> tank cause hypoxia in the fishes at night when both
> plants and fish compete for oxygen?
> 
> Roy
> 
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