....because I'm desperate to look upon some beauty (and hope)...
Importantly, I am curious to know what you do - or don't do, to keep them optimal?
Please if you have a mo can you share your insights about how & why your tank works so well - and give those of us in my situation an idea of your set up - substrate/filtration/ferts/lighting/wc/age of the tank, etc
I have just had an epiphany that actually I don't know what I am doing when it comes to my tanks.
This is so not a good place to be - especially since I thought I had it all worked out. Theoretically. I was proud of all my research... read Walsted till it came out of my ears - read forum topics - at the end of it all I was ready to go bigtime....
Well, pride does come before a fall, right?!
This is before I actually spent hours - nay - weeks - baking substrate, setting them up and staring into a glimmer of hope that one day there would be these lush healthy tanks housing happy fish.
Now months on - the ugly reality is staring me bleakly in the face. My pride is well hurt! I almost can't stand looking at my tanks anymore. I'm onto the excel out of desperation now.
It all starts off hunky dory and then degenerates into algae, yellow leaves, no growth and waste. I'm despondent - but still determined - or just plain foolish maybe.
Out of all my tanks - it's only a neglected mulm riddled experiment that has a healthy plant population(no fish.)
Is complete neglect, a substrate thick with mulm & a slow poke filter that has a trickle out of the encrusted spraybar - with no water changes - no filter rinses, no anything - only a calcium deposit crud on everything ....is this really the way to go? Does my answer lie here do you think? - or is there some intangible middle way I am missing?
Importantly, I am curious to know what you do - or don't do, to keep them optimal?
Please if you have a mo can you share your insights about how & why your tank works so well - and give those of us in my situation an idea of your set up - substrate/filtration/ferts/lighting/wc/age of the tank, etc
I have just had an epiphany that actually I don't know what I am doing when it comes to my tanks.
This is so not a good place to be - especially since I thought I had it all worked out. Theoretically. I was proud of all my research... read Walsted till it came out of my ears - read forum topics - at the end of it all I was ready to go bigtime....
Well, pride does come before a fall, right?!
This is before I actually spent hours - nay - weeks - baking substrate, setting them up and staring into a glimmer of hope that one day there would be these lush healthy tanks housing happy fish.
Now months on - the ugly reality is staring me bleakly in the face. My pride is well hurt! I almost can't stand looking at my tanks anymore. I'm onto the excel out of desperation now.
It all starts off hunky dory and then degenerates into algae, yellow leaves, no growth and waste. I'm despondent - but still determined - or just plain foolish maybe.
Out of all my tanks - it's only a neglected mulm riddled experiment that has a healthy plant population(no fish.)
Is complete neglect, a substrate thick with mulm & a slow poke filter that has a trickle out of the encrusted spraybar - with no water changes - no filter rinses, no anything - only a calcium deposit crud on everything ....is this really the way to go? Does my answer lie here do you think? - or is there some intangible middle way I am missing?