|
|
|
|||||||
| Notices |
 |
|
|
Thread Tools |
|
#11
10-02-2010
|
||||
|
||||
|
Hi McClaw,
It is this "organic compost" which is the problem, and it is nothing short of a disaster. I have had numerous inquiries from persons that have had uncontrolled algal growth and neverending disease problems with this sort of substrate. Composts are different in every nursery and they often contain chicken manure, which is a sheer disaster in an aquarium. Chicken manure contains high levels of nitrates which you do not want excess levels of in an aquarium and if it is chicken manure it will contain Salmonella bacteria which will infect fishes and cause bloat and all sorts of other problems. My advice is therefore to completely steer away from composts, forget about them, use a defined commercial substrate or the palm fiber peat, but DO NOT USE COMPOSTS. It also does not last forever, composts do not contain a never ending source of nutrients, they have a very limited amount of nutrients which are also not usually the correct onEs and then they are expired. Diana Walstad recommends composts, but for the modern aquarium, compost belongs in the museum, and causes much more damage than good! Kind regards, Dirk 
|
|
#12
10-02-2010
|
|||
|
|||
|
Hi Prof
The points you make are VERY Valid. Any manure will cause serious issues in a tank, not just nitrates, but phosphates also. This is why I recommended earth to earth organic compost as it contain only plant material. It also takes longer to break down so it is a more controlled release of nutrients. Also the nitrients are absorbed by the plants before it goes ito the the water column because of the above and thus you have very little algea growth, the little algea growth I do have is easly controlled by a few apple snails and one or two bristle nose plecos (if it is a big tank). As every one knows you are DA-MAN when it comes to Plants so I do not want to argue, I'm mainly stating what has worked for me  Regards Maarten Last edited by McCLaw; 10-02-2010 at 19:02.
|
|
#13
10-02-2010
|
||||
|
||||
|
Quote:
Thanks a lot for the response, currently i think i can actually do the whole thing as i do not actually have many fish in my tank. I have one chinese algea eater (something the LFS sold me to keep my tank clean haha). 3 Harequins and some baby guppies. The only problem i do have here in pe is that we have very tight water restrictions at the moment so i will have to drain my 100liters of tank water into something that i can store it in while i do the peat. Maybe i shall do this, this weekend! Just dread the idea of having to take out about 25kgs of silica hehe Thanks for the advise though. I do have one last question if you dont mind responding, is it best to plant the tank while it has water in it or while it is empty? And if i want to add plants at a later stage once its full of water will the peat not float to the top or should i plant the plant in the silica and the roots will go down into the peat? Again one last thing, you didnt mention how deep the sustrate should be +-. Thanks Freaksta
|
|
#14
10-02-2010
|
||||
|
||||
|
Hi Freaksta,
Let is keep to this name then. My sympathies to you guys in PE, in the north of the country most people are totally G-vol of water, but you guys don't have enough, a typical South African story of the haves and the have nots....... I would use about 3 cms of palm fibre peat and would cap it with about 2 cm of silica sand, so you do not have to put everything back. Obviously one wants to have a higher gravel level at the back and less in the front, but you can use a bit more at the back in the relative I have indicated in the front. You must put in the Palm fiber peat and the silica sand without water as the PFP tends to float initially and is very light. It is also better to plant the tank when there is not water in it, but you can also do this when you have filled up the tank. If you want to do this you must leave the tank for a few days after setup before you put in the plants or else some of the PFP will float. If you are in PE, you should get into contact with Lauré le Roux, who is also on this forum. He grows many plants and I am sure that he could help you as well. You will need ferts and you can send me a PM so that we can perhaps arrange that. Lauré is in the process of organizing a shipment for guys in PE from me. Kind regards, Dirk
|
|
#15
10-02-2010
|
||||
|
||||
|
Hi again McClaw,
I am glad that we agree on the compost containing manure, but again the organic compost is a problem as this is different from one source to the next. It is for this reason that I recommend the palm fibre peat. It contains no manure or sand and therefore no bacteria. It contains coconut husk which is uniform and consists chemically of cellulose and lignin, both of which hardly decompose. If you then add Chemicult which contains a balanced mixture of nutrients, then you can control the substrate fed nutrients much better. It is not correct to think that organic compost releases nutrients slowly and on an ongoing basis, it depends entirely on what it consists of and this can be very variable. Organic compost certainly does not contain enough trace elements and even substances such as nitrates are low, so the value of organic composts is limited. I will agree that they are not as hazardous as chicken manure, but they do not contain enough foods. Although I am not saying that you should immediately change all of your setups, I would like to recommend that you consider the PFP when next you have to start from scratch. Kind regards, Dirk
|
|
#17
10-02-2010
|
|||
|
|||
|
Quote:
I'll give everyting a try at least once Once I have bought my farm and have set up some cement dams I'll give this a try. Regards McCLaw
|
