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Substrate, CO2!
Hello all,
I have been subscribed to the list a few weeks now, and am ready to ask a
few questions about my future plant tank! It's a 55 Gallon, currently is
setup to hold a few of my tetras that were getting picked on. But I've seen
some of the beautiful pictures of peoples' plant tanks on the internet, read
a bunch of stuff, and decided that plants are the way to go. So here are a
few questions I have!:
Substrate: I would like to follow Jim Kelly's substrate method. Slight
problem -- the recipe calls for sand, vermiculite, and backyard soil. I
live in Florida, and thus the recipe would translate to sand, verm., and
sand! Is there an alternative to backyard soil? I was thinking about that
red-clay imitation laterite stuff (because of all the minerals...but what
about the CEC?), mail-order loam (HA! :-), bagged topsoil (organic...doesn't
it rot?), manure (also organic), or something else that y'all suggest. I'm
open-minded...maybe I should just skip mixing in something else with the
verm!?! Speaking of verm., the local stores sell three types of verm.:
Hoffman's 10 dry quarts for US$2.99, Hoffman's Horticultural 10 dry quarts
for US$2.67, and Hyponex 8 quarts for US$1.99. I really don't have much
money, so I am a miser. ;) Should I check at a nursery or garden store for
cheaper prices? I leaning towards the Hoffman's Horticultural because it is
cheapest. And a lady at the store recomended Hoffman's brand over Hyponex.
But I don't have any idea what the difference is between a dry quart and a
normal quart. Any ideas?
CO2: I'm going to put together a manual co2 system. I was thinking of
using a wooden air diffuser as the reactor. Would this work? Would the
bubbles be fine enough? How about an limewood airstone...any advatages or
disadvantages? And about the regulator and needle-valve...I would like to
use Jamil Zainasheff's heavy-duty needle-valve. I forgot the model
number...anyone remember? Any other updates on it?
Thanx!
-Andy
_______________________________________________________________________
Andy Dilbert
ixtapa at geocities_com
http://www.geocities.com/Baja/2820/ <---not done yet!!