Old Member, New Moderator

[lljdma06]

Hello everybody,

I gave it a few days to sink in that I've been appointed as the new moderator for the Planted Section at TFF. It hasn't been updated in the menu for TFF, but I'm sure William is just a bit behind. I'm sure you've noticed that my status had changed. I am deeply honored that George had enough confidence in me to recommend me for the position. I can never replace him. I do not have his expertise, but if he thought of me, then I can only know that he must of seen something in me that I do not.

All mushy stuff aside, I'd like to really work hard to keep this section tidy. You are usually good boys and girls, so I'm not particularly worried about certain things in this section (trolling, flaming, bad behavior), but I think some of the pinned topics need either cleaning up, merging, moving around, or they just need to be categorized. I already took the liberty of cleaning up "Plant swap" a bit. 5 pages was too much to thread through, and I deleted many of the posts that simply said "GONE". I'd like permission to delete other posts, especially some in the beginning, from 2006, where I'm positive either the plants are all dead or they've been swapped and the member hasn't gotten around to PMing the moderator to remove the post. I'll also browse through the "Member's tank" section, and make sure that the posts that are there reflect George's original intention. I will PM the member if I find that certain tanks do not meet the expectations of that thread before I take any action.

Is there anything in particular that you'd like to see done? Any special requests to make this section run better? Any articles you'd like to see pinned (Hint, hint, Sam and nano lighting?)

Look forward to serving you and making you experience at TFF a friendly one.

lljdma06

 

[George Farmer]

All the best with your new role, llj!

 

[Biulu]

Congratulations llj! I had already noticed the change in status, and just got around to check the moderator's team, and you're on!

I hope to be reading a lot from you in this section, as you have definitively a lot to say when it comes to planted tanks (especially the low light ones in which I am particularly interested).

 

[Azaezl]

I have a suggestion for a new pinned topic. How about somewhere a total newbie can come and look for an ideal setup that they can both afford & understand? I've advised a few people the past few days to go planted but I know from experience that it all seems a little complicated esp. when you throw in E.I, different Co2 systems, lighting etc...it can make ones head spin a little and be very overwhelming. I'm sure all the experienced plant people could put something together if they all worked together.

Just for an example something for an absolute basic planted(if you'd call it that lol) could be something like this;

Plants - fast growing, low light plants, check out the plants index and/or the pinned topic here for ideas, e.g are hygrophilia polysperma, anubais - cost - depends on how many you require but we'll say £15 for a good amount

Plant food - just basic bottled plant food from your lfs such as tetra plant - cost around £5

Lighting - whatever you have should be sufficient for low light plants - cost - £0

Optional extras - Nutrafin Co2 system(this is very benficial to the plants, but not essential for this setup) - cost around £15

Total cost for this setup - £35, depending on number of plants required & if you choose the optional extras

Then just keep adding more so for the next setup, you could recomend a better quality plant food, perhaps suggest a suitable substrate like ada soil, just add slightly better equipment / more suggestions & information. Then someone could look through the list of plant setups decide what they can afford / what they understand from the information available(like the pinned topics on E.I & Co2). Then at a later date they could see what the next setup from the one they have is and go for that or skip a few and go for a more advanced setup depending on what they feel confident in doing.

It might save alot of posts from people who don't know where to start, they'd have somewhere to look to get a good idea of where they feel ready to start and ask questions accordingly. For example someone might want to start with the above example but want plants that require medium lighting so they could post about how to go about it. Although the information would / should already be there on what medium light plants require, so in theory they should be able to scroll down the list and see that 'plant X' needs high lighting, pressurised Co2 system, etc to really thrive and so they'll upgrade their setup or they see the cost and decide they can't afford it

Might be a bad idea but as a relatively new to plant person myself I know it would be very helpful to me and probably to others who aren't sure where to start and get a little confused by all the different options available.

 

[jimbooo]

Congratulations lljdma06, i whole heartadly agree with the decision to nominate you as the new planted section Mod. you obviously know what your doing as your tanks speak for them selves. you seem quite cool headed as well which is a great quality for the job.

best of luck with it all and i'll try to behave..

 

[radioman]

Congratulations, you have helped me so much and I am sure you will do a great job helping others on this section!
THANKS!!!!!

 

[Castellop123]

...

 

[nry]

Good choice! I was trying to guess who would be chosen, well done!

 

[ICEEGRL]

Congrats! You will make a great mod.

Let me know when you have too many plants again.

 

[montyII]

Congrats! You've given me some good advice over the last 9 months and I'm sure you'll do a great job.

 

[Themuleous]

Nice one Llj, well deserved (dam and blast )

I'll have a think re what would be a good addition/changes.

Sam

 

[blue acara]

Congratz Llj, Good choice Mr Farmer. You have made many informative and funny posts so great choice. Sam im sure you were second in line-

 

[Maximumbob]

well done!

look forward to your input...

 

[Gill]

Congratulations and good luck with your new role here.