Dutch planted tanks vs. high tech. approach....

• To: aquatic-plants at actwin_com
• Subject: Dutch planted tanks vs. high tech. approach....
• From: mtate at laurel_ocs.mq.edu.au (Marcus C. Tate)
• Date: Thu, 7 Sep 1995 10:32:06 +1000

Hi folks,

        Maybe this question is a no-brainer, but I was wondering if there
are any intrinsic differences in approach
between dutch planted aquaria and the high-tech approach that is mostly (?)
adopted by members of this
list ? I know that both approaches use CO2 fertilisation, and that dutch
aquarists tolerate much higher levels
of some algae than North American aquarists, but what about:

1. substrate; 2. substrate additives; 3. lighting (watts, duration, F/MH
etc.); 4. type of plants kept; 5. abundance of
fish; 5. use of other animals (e.g. inverts.); 6. anything else such as
trace element supplements.

I know that my stem plants eg. Cabomba, Hygrophila polysperma etc. grow in
excess of 3 cm per day in a 20 gal
high with 40W Triton, CO2, and trace el. supplements. How come you never see
"leggy" plants in photos of
dutch tanks ? do the owners prune feverishly, avoid fast-growing plants, or
is there a European secret ?

Cheers,

Marcus.

========
Marcus C. Tate
School of Earth Sciences
Macquarie University
Sydney, N.S.W
2109, Australia

mtate at laurel_ocs.mq.edu.au

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