A little inspiration.

[Gilles]

Nice!

 

[fatih şenel]

Çok güzel

 

[Paulo Soares]

First of all; thanks for appreciating 🙂

Yep........(again😉), correct trimmng at correct time is IMO the second most important thing in good plant health (first one is environment). I'm a gardener/nursery-man.......... So I trim a lot😛.

This tank is roughly 200 l. (very long, not very deep).​

Because of the very dense plant-mass and very high growth-rate (all conditions are "high end": lights, temp., etc.... and a lot of fast-growing stem-plants and carpeting-plants in there), this tank "eats" anything between 200 - 300 ml. fertiliser a week, mixing the two kinds according to current needs.
So I'm probaply overdosing a little too, to ensure enough of anything is available at any time.
- BUT........... there's really not a lot of fish, and about 1/4 of water is exchanged every week, to ensure things don't "pile up" in any way.

Mick.

So lets see. .. 200-300 ML a week will give a liter per month.. Wich means at list 30€ a month in fertilizers (Portugal prices) .. 360€ / year.

 

[Paulo Soares]

Honestly (and I know others will have "secrets" to provide), I really believe it takes the same basic things to have success with red plants as with green ones : Ideal conditions !!! If you can grow perfect greens, you can usually grow perfect reds too !!!
First of all, realize that "red plants" aren't a homogenuous group. Different red plants have different needs and respond to different things. For some it's a matter of plenty light and ferts (iron and molybdaen are important, yes), for others you can "stress" them with starvation or too much light. For the Tigerlotus it's generally a question of genes, some "strains" of stemplants, just colour up better ( these are what I look for at Tropica ) also because of genes.........and the list goes on !!
- Sorry, I can't provide a "one-covers-all"-solution.
If I could, Tropica would be selling it by now 😉
Mick.

Well, i never had so good reds in my tank until i started to use a 4000 kelvins bulb. That is a point.
But i´m gonna say something else.

One thing else.. I never had saw to.. in a real tank... this reds performed by PHOTOS! Sorry but i´ve seen to many tanks and never have the luck to see these kind of reds alive. The photos bring a colour that in real life i never saw.. not even in any store here in Portugal. Not a single one!
I´m trying to get it.. but a normal red is quite diferrent to what these photos show us..

 

[Mick.Dk]

Hi Paulo
In this part of the forum, I'm actually allowed to comment on Tropica-related issues - so in this case, I will.
I agree, that a lot of heavily photo-shopped pic.s are around - even in respected contests, I'm sad to say.
To make general/all-covering conclusions on the fact, that YOU have never seen good red plants in a public displayed tank.....is really not serious, my friend - not to mention fair.
Tropica go on exibitions/expo's/general shows quite often, displayingin-grown tanks (usually grown in for 3 months at Tropica, and then moved to specific exibition). This we do for exactly the reason, you mention ; it's too easy to manipulaye pictures.
We realize, that seing is believing............and InterZoo in Nurenberg every second year, is our biggest "window-decoration". A lot of costrs have come to believe us after visiting and see

 

[Mick.Dk]

A lot of costumets have come to believe us, after visiting and see the aquariums in real life. It's a matter of credability.........

 

[Paulo Soares]

I live In Portugal my friend... and unfortunately we do not have any kind of exibitions/expo's/general shows from the hobby. Just a few stores that sometimes i doubt of their knowledge for themselves ..
It´s sad but true.
And my opinion is one from a guy ( myself..) who´s been working to progress in the hobby for a few years now, and only now i´m seeing some results. At list one´s i consider to be respectable.
But those reds in the pictures? Since day one i never believed it. I got reds in my tank. But not like the photos we usually see around the web.. that´s what i intend to say.
I do believe in what you say about the reds you got. But hey.. you´re the ones who´s a manufacturing and have all kinds of equipment.. and do all kind of tests etc. not a regular aquaristic.

Kindest regards,

 

[Mick.Dk]

Thx. for the kind words, Paulo - I'm glad we actually agree.
Tests are part of my job, and I do ofcourse use equipment to document measures and observations.
I have 40+ years in this hobby........and honestly this is what bring the results, far more than any equipment.
There is just no substitute for experience...........

 

[Paulo Soares]

There is just no substitute for experience...........

No doubt of that my friend.. i learn more from a careless and accurate atention to my tank then anything else. I used to say that the tanks talk with us! 🙂
Most of the times we are not paying attention to what is saying 😉