Chris Allsop:
okay, 2 months or so ago i had a very average planted 40G, plants with brown leaves, straggly vallis with kinks in it, not that great to look at.
i had the standard Juwel twin tube lighting (60W total), plain gravel and no co2.
since then i have done the following:
- added 2 more tubes (4x30W - now 120W total = 3WPG)
cost: £18 for ballasts x2 = £36, £12 for tubes x2 = £24, £10 for reflectors x2 =£20
- added 3 Nutrafin Natural CO2 units all with seperate bubble ladders
£20 each = £60
- with a huge effort moved all fish into a big dustbin for a day and added twice the recommended quantity of first layer laterite to the plain gravel and then gravel vacuumed it for ages to get it all mixed in Cost = £40 (and about 4 hours work)
- Finally added between 150-200ML of Rowaphos to absorb phosphate and prevent algae Cost = £20 ish
so total cost £200 to transform the very mediocre tank to the current one.
plus iron, phosphate, CO2 & PH test kits to keep an eye on things and react before anything goes wrong.
i also stick a JBL Ferrotab (iron tablets) directly beneath the roots of all the major plants and 1/2 stated dose of Kent marine multinutrient liquid fertiliser every water change (25% weekly)
hope that helps, if you have plain gravel i'd run to the shop asap and get some laterite. it's the biggest job and a major pain but well worth the effort. you wouldn't want to do it after the roots have spread. trust me..
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