Questioning the "science" behind FW planted tanks

[Anonymous]

So if one just wants a nice easy to maintain planted tank the low tech would produce excellent results.

what I find amazing is all these discussions may scare off newbies from planted tank. then they wind up doing massive water changes, messing with filters, dosing unnecessary chemicals, fighting algae, having fish problems. then get fustrated and quit.

When all they had to do was heavily plant the tank and build up the bioload slowly. Which even works better with less feeding. and let the tank take care of itself.

The whole high tech vrs low tech and even planted vrs non planted reminds me of the various advices given to new saltwater owners. Even though they just want a simple FO system, the advice is to add all the expensive stuff which is only needed for SPS tank. So they are scared off by all that. When all that is necessary is to balance out the tank with plant life like macros and other algaes.

my .02

 

[gpodio]

I agree, just like in every hobby there are different levels and extremes. There are methods for the novice, the more experienced and the extremists. A high light, fast growing tank of any kind on any fert regime should not be one's first tank by any means. Nor should anyone try to advocate any such methods to a beginner. But that doesn't make them wrong in any way. If anything, there is far more "bad info" in the beginner world than in the more advanced scene. Perhaps it's because most of the beginner info comes from the "industry" while most of the advanced info comes from hobbyists.

A low tech planted tank is certainly a possibility for anyone with a little dedication and self control when pacing the lfs isles. Unfortunately today's trend seems to be to buy the most amount of light you can afford, it's quite normal for a novice to walk out of a store with over 4WPG, which can be a handful to master and eventually as plant mass grows it will be difficult to acchieve quality growth without adopting a "high light regime" of some kind. Some people can do that quite well, will put in the effort to master such beast and will be successful, others may find themselves in over their heads with a tank that requires more than they are willing to do.

One has to establish their needs and desires first, and hopefully be steered in the right direction to acchieve them. Even in one of my own living room tanks which is managed similarly to the EI methodology, I will often slow it down during the summer months where other hobbies take precedence. I cut the CO2 down a little, reduce water changes to every other month, fertilize only following a water change and depending on how it's going may also remove a bulb from the system. It still does well, it no longer puts on a display of pearling, carpeting plants tend to grow a little too vertical during this period, but it certainly remains a nice looking tank which for most people would be more than satisfactory.

Once you've mastered a tank and know where to fall back on when problems arise, it can actually be fun to experiment with your own ideas or other regimes. These little tests aren't for everyone obviously, but they sure do build one's experience and every now and then you stumble on something that produces better results for you... I have not heard from many people who have more than 3WPG of light, have tried the EI method in it's entirety and have concluded that it was counterproductive. Sure they may have moved on to better things or back to a more hands off approach, I have done the same with most regimes, but if put to the test properly I think you will find that it's not as bad as you have made it sound here. Once you master it and understand it's concept and how your tank reacts to certain conditions, it takes little effort to figure out a more laid back approach with similar results. But as a starting point, when one still has little understanding of their own tank's requirements, it's still a valid approach for those seeking a fast growting tank suitable for aquascaping purposes.

 

[Anonymous]

milz

 

[Anonymous]

1. Excessive nutrients in the form of fertilizers (nitrates, phosphates, etc) don't cause algae, excessive lighting and/or ammonia does. (source: Tom Barr)
2. In a tank with good CO2 injection and high lighting, in the absence of high levels of nitrate, phosphate, iron, etc algae will grow, not plants. If high levels of nitrate, phosphate, iron, etc are added to a tank with good CO2 and lighting, plants will grow, not algae.

This is absolute, utter crap. Anyone that says so has never seen what's happening to Florida's Springs and spring runs.

 

[Anonymous]

This is absolute, utter crap. Anyone that says so has never seen what's happening to Florida's Springs and spring runs.

Not arguing