[APD] Re: Back in the saddle again

["Robert H" <robertph3 at comcast_net>]

>>Reading the APD indicates that most folks have moved beyond Dupla and use
either Kent, SeaChem or their own homebrew fertilizers.  I've been trying to
piece together the right recipe.  Tom Barr seems to be the guru these days
but I can't find the location of his "complete instructions", just bits and
pieces of related info.  I am a voracious reader and would refrain from
asking this question if I could find the info elsewhere.<<

First came PMDD, (Poor mans Daily drops, or Poor mans Dupla drops) which was
based on a paper written by Paul Sears and Kevin Conlin. You can still read
it here: http://www.cam.org/~tomlins/algae.html

A couple years ago Tom Barr started a new revolution of sorts modifying PMDD
to get away from limiting PO4. His most complete writing is his "Estimated
Index" which you can read  here:
http://www.aquatic-plants.org/est_index1.html

In the early 90's or perhaps even earlier, Diana Walstad began her research
on using soil substrates and a few years ago wrote a book called Ecology of
the Planted Aquarium.  To many people this became the how to bible for low
tech with little to no fertilizers. She is a moderator of a low tech
discussion forum here http://aquabotanicwetthumb.infopop.cc/eve/ubb.x  She
will also be a speaker at the upcoming AGA convention.

Dupla lost it's North American distributor, and recently was bought by Red
Sea. The last I heard since the buy out the availability of the Dupla
product line in the USA is a big question mark, but that was a while ago and
perhaps things have changed. I don't know why anyone would still want to use
their product.  Laterite has seemed to lose in popularity to clay gravel
products. Even Dupla eventually abandoned their own golden rule system for a
modular tray system that I don't think caught on that well. Other things
happened while you were gone as well! The whole Amano scene and his
influence has been huge. Amano has had the biggest impact on this hobby in
the last ten years perhaps second only to the influence of the internet as a
whole.  Welcome back!

Robert Hudson
www.aquabotanic.com

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