Where Next?

[rvdbarnes]

Hi all!

Im going to have another go at planting the aquarium, but hopefully if i do it properly, they might actually grow!
My current tank is a juwel rekord 96, with fine gravel and an external filter and its matured parameters are as follows

ammonia 0
gh 3
kh 2
nitrate 5-10
nitrite 0
pH 7

Unfortunatly the hood on the rekord 96 is only a single tube and looks like it would be really difficult to modify, although i have seen it done!
Iv read through the stickys on CO2 etc
Basically im just wondering what to do next in my attempt to grow a planted tank.

cheers guys

Lee

 

[Themuleous]

Next I would work out what kind of tank you want, high tech/light or low tech/light. If you've read the pinned EI article you should have an idea of the high tech/light route. Low tech/light is basically simpler - less growth, maintenance, fert dosing, etc, but the plants grow slower.

The big difference is the cost, if you got plenty of money and time and want to grow the more demanding glosso carpets, etc then give high tech/light a try. If you just want an easy to keep tank, that has some 'standard' plants in it, and doesn't cost very much to run try the low tech/light approach.

Once you decided, its a case of working out what you do and do not need and getting it!

Sam