hi sir vaughnh, thanks for the response sir, where's the link to your aquaria?

the soil-less potting mix is made up of coconut dust, plant leaves and well-decayed manure. Actually, i've read the works of Ms. Walstad and Mr. Barr and what they've done is feasible for my current situation. Due to financial limitation and for practical reasons, what i am just trying to do is improvise and use what is around me. I just hope that it will work.

Anyone out there with similar experience?


Godbless everyone.

Soil/Soilmaster, Low CO2 Tank is my current setup, but it is grown in a lot more now.

wow, you have a wondeful tank, how long have you been in the hobby?

Mr. Barr if its not much to ask, what can you say about my current set up?

thank you so much for any response in advance

Godbless

I set up my first tank in 1953, as I recall. It was a ten gallon tank of guppies and vallisneria. All inhabitants of the tank died during the hot summer. Then, I set up a 40 gallon tank in about 1966, first with salt water, which was a total failure, then as a planted tank. That tank was re-set up about every two months, as I kept buying more and different plants hoping one would grow. Later I had a 20 gallon tank, around 1980, again with no success at growing plants. In about 1998 I set up a 120 gallon tank, after reading about the use of fertilizers and CO2 on the internet. That tank succeeded until I had to tear it down and sell it when moving to a condo in 2005. Shortly after that I set up a 29 gallon planted tank, and switched to my present 45 gallon tank last year. Obviously I was a slow learner.

good afternoon

@vaughnh
for me, most of the time, it takes time before my brain processes the information that i put into it. It is also somewhat my handicap when it comes to computing things im just not good in math. Also, there's the aspect of financial constraints, when something goes wrong and i need to tear down the tank it would take years before i could set up another one. Actually, i loan from my company just to set up my current tank. but i guess its all worth it (keeping my fingers crossed)

wish me luck

Godbless

good day to all!

I've been thinking about these lately, if i could use the ferts for my orchids to fertilize my planted aquariums?

thank you in advance for any response.

Fertilizers for terrestrial plants, including orchids, almost always contains urea or even ammonium compounds. If you use those in an aquarium you are inviting algae to bloom. It might be possible to use such fertilizers under the substrate, without causing algae, but if used in the water column it will only cause problems.

I have read reports where people successfully use ammonia for fertiliziing, but they do that by dosing very, very small amounts, which means they have to dose at least every day, if not more often. It just isn't worth the risk to try it.

good day to all!!

@vaughnh
wassup? how are your tanks doing? thank you for being a light to my path. and thank you for always responding to my inquiries, i will be forever grateful.

before anything else, its been cloudy and raining for 5 days now so my aquarium which is situated outside the house and exposed to natures fury is somewhat lacking in light because the sun is on vacation but my plants are i guess still the same nothing much have changed though my annubias are sending out flower stalks, a noticealbe new leaf from my java fern, my cabomba is alive and kicking, my indian fern is growing crazy, my amazon swords have new leaves , my bacopa seems to be at a standstill, oh my fishes are i guess happy for now.

I would just like to ask by what do you mean ?"It might be possible to use such fertilizers under the substrate, without causing algae" can i still do it? i've read also in the past, i already lost the website, ferts sticks (things that you insert in the soil) that most people use to feed their indoor plants can be used for aquatic plants just by using a bit of it and inserting it in the substrate, is this what you mean by it?

And just like what i mentioned before, since i dont have the luxury to buy pressurized CO2 etc. would it be logical and possible to just use for the meantime a DIY-CO2 for my soon to have 75 gallon tank?


thank you so much in advance for any response

Godbless

Hello! just an update of my 25gallon tank. Its barely a month now and im quite lucky because my plants are starting really show signs of life. I hope you enjoy the pics.

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I am so happy to find out that most of my plants are beginning to really show signs of life. my indian fern is growing like crazy and its starting to come out of the water. My thai stricta seems to be also coming out of the water. My pennyworth has 3 new leaves at present. My stem plants are growing nicely and i guess i need to trim some and put it somewhere in the aquarium. My water lotus has already attached itself to the substrate.

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although this part is growing, there's some trimming and replacing to do. My angelfish is the boss even the new fighting fish is afraid of him/her.

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so here's the last of pics. Most of the inhabitants were ready for the photofinish.
I'll keep you updated folks. I am open for any suggestion/advises.

Current maintenance:
ferts-tetraflora pride
aquavital for fishes
water change-at the most 3x a week

i have a question, i bought this sera-C02 tabs but there was no instruction inside the bottle, i dont know how to use it. My instinct tells me to just drop in the aquarium and thats it......is that how it is?


thank you for any response in advance.

Godbless

mine i used sera floredepot which is a good substrate...a 60Watts light and DIY CO2 for my 35GAL see the bubbles they make...like my riccia