Now i can finally enjoy a nice relaxing tank. You helped me tremendously on another forum. Patiently dishing out help and an E.I schedule that worked after finally getting everything settled. Its been two years since i started tryin to figure things out and while i still have small algae issues its really great for me to see how far ive come. My plants now pearl like mad with the help of your gh booster and tips..Dan

sorry i cant resize the pic if its too big please remove it....

Well, if you think back, when you started..............

you had a goal I think, now you can implement it!
So now you can start gardening and stay on top of things.

Keep the light lower, add good CO2 and do those routine water changes, automate or semi automate the water changes also, that will make life easier over the coming years.

I will be setting up several larger tanks for myself this coming year.

I will detail them out as I make them.

I hate to test
I hate to clean filters
I hate to do water changes

I know if I am clever and set things up right to start off with(A good clear concept/goal set always helps when starting a new project), I can avoid the stuff I hate and focus on what and why I have a planted tank to begin with.

You have reached one level of happiness with plants, now you can set another goal for yourself.

Think about what your goal is.
Give this the most thought.

Then see what and how you can get that and what trade offs you may need to get there.

I will have a simple set of ball valves to drain and fill the tank for the water changes, no hoses, buckets etc.

As the water drains, it backflushed through the filter before exiting down the drain, thus I never clean the filter!

I do not test because of large 60-80% weekly water changes or, if I chose, I can do daily 20% using a solenoid for the drain and the float switch fo the refill.It's not hard to do the semi automated method with the valves, all I do is turn a few valves to drain and clean the filter and then refill.

So what parts of the hobby do you like?
I like to prune and garden, feed fish, feed plants, some autodose the ferts as well or auto feed the fish.

This way I do not have to do the parts of the hobby I hate and get ot enjoy the parts I do.

Regards,
Tom Barr

Wow..that sounds like a great set-up you exploring..i really like pruning and replanting,watching the fish,seeing them interact and swim around. i do hate water changes and gravel vaccing though..