And no orcs. Possibly the answer might be a video game rather than a video? "Quest for the planted tank" or "Prisoner of algae".It would be longer than Lord of the Rings.
I have a lot of spare time. I can grow algae, so I must be able to grow plants.
Can anyone recommend a video that’s going to tell me all I need to know?
<"Aquarium Science"> is an interesting one. I think he is very good on what you require to keep Rift Lake Cichlids in non-planted tanks, but when he strays away from "hard water/no plants" things begin to break down a bit. What I like about both Aquarium Science and the <"Ecology of the Planted Aquarium"> is that they include experimental data and are referenced etc.So, with these provisos, here's some stuff to get you going:
[1] Book - Ecology of the Planted Aquarium by Diana Walstad
[2] Website - https://aquariumscience.org
[3] Website - Seachem - Articles
We have a nice articles forum where this sort of information can be kept, rather than posting this all over the internet would be beneficial to UKAPS members if it's all contained in the site, after all, all the information is here like you said, just needs to be collated, digested and put into an easy to understand formThat said, if there is a better suggestion, I'm willing to get behind and push that instead (to what extent I can in my commitment-rich, time-poor lifestyle)!
Is there a way that I can write an article that is then open to anyone else to edit and improve? Or update with better links to keep it fresh over time? The power of a wiki is in its open nature. I'd much rather do something in-house, but I don't want to write a guide or explanation that can only be maintained by me. That's not a sustainable mechanism.We have a nice articles forum where this sort of information can be kept,
We can potentially create a new category of users, called something like "Content Moderators" and allow editing of any post in the articles section like our Global Mods have edit rights to all posts on the public forum.Is there a way that I can write an article that is then open to anyone else to edit and improve? Or update with better links to keep it fresh over time? The power of a wiki is in its open nature. I'd much rather do something in-house, but I don't want to write a guide or explanation that can only be maintained by me. That's not a sustainable mechanism.
Qb - What are the solids? Ab - Solids such as calcium and metals.
Qc - Do I need calcium in the aquarium?
Ac - Yes, (more questions about Calcium)
Qd - What would my target TDS be?
Calcium is a metal... The solids you measure as TDS are the salts all salts are a chemical composition from a Metal element and a Non-Metal element. Such as (Metal)Natrium (Non-Metal)Chloride makes table salt. Or (Metal)Potassium (Non-metal)Sulphate) makes a fertilization salt.
All salts are thus partially metals, and metals dissolved in water makes water conductive, more salts = greater conductivity. Then if we use a conductivity meter which a TDS meter actually is it gives you a low or a high number in return telling you the relative salinity of the water in micro siemens. The type of metal in the Total Dissolved Solids is rather irrelevant because you can't know without a chemical analysis what solids it refers to. This makes it a rather meaningless and fairly useless number.
If you do the recommended weekly water change any way you do not need to know the TDS because it actually tells you nothing useful.
Then coming to this conclusion all the time spend doing it and or watching videos about it is more or less a waste of energy if you are not planning to become a chemist and build a laboratory to do the analysis to know what it all means.
Sorry Zozo I think you missed the point, that was an example and I missed "other". Good response though
Just a thought ~ wouldn't it be easier for people to find if say karmicnull did an article on TDS and that was then added as a sticky in the water chemistry forum.We have a nice articles forum where this sort of information can be kept,
This would be nice, especially as the ones we do have are super useful, and then can further utilise the vast range of specialist knowledge people have here. I love going down long post rabbitholes on UKAPs, there always seems to be a new thread full of fascinating information, but a lot of it is old and so really hard to find.Just a thought ~ wouldn't it be easier for people to find if say karmicnull did an article on TDS and that was then added as a sticky in the water chemistry forum.
I was actually surprised that with all the knowledgeable members in the forum there wasn't more of these stickies explaining some of the basic things that's mentioned above.
Of course this would require time and effort from forum members, but would imo create a useful knowledge-base.
Yes I am still thinking about doing that! I would like to work on it with others if people are interested (message me if you are interested ). I wasn't thinking of anything big like a wiki, but more like a simple clear guide to a first planted aquarium that clearly explains the concepts you need to understand to not kill anything accidentally in a clear encouraging way, with links to more guides, tutorials and further reading for more depth if people want it, and to let them know of some of the possibilities. Personally I think it would be good if the guide was pretty (I am a designer after all lol!) with some illustrations to help people visual concepts, as a dyslexic person it's easy to get confused when all the science gets involved (I managed to read Walstad's book and completely miss all sorts of essential info). I think it's also good to attach it to UKAPS, as people here are always happy to help, and it's nice to contribute to the site and the community, cos really everything I know I learnt from you all.That feels a bit like <5 whys>. I've also been thinking about some form of beginners guide to planted tanks, and I seem to recall @shangman saying she was too. There is a ton of info on this site, but it's not organised in a way that makes it easy to access.
I started off thinking about some FAQ-style format, but gradually gravitated towards a wiki for a couple of reasons. First-off, it enables that sort of 5-whys approach @castle suggests that lets the reader double-click into areas of interest, and secondly because it lets many people contribute. Then I wondered about how to prevent trolling - whether you should have some sort of qualification to give you write/edit privileges (a little like the 20+posts to access the sales forum we have here). In then end my conclusion was that walled gardens eventually wither and die when all the gardeners leave, and it would be better to follow Eric S. Raymond's approach in <the cathedral and the bazaar> and leave it completely open to all. In particular his observation "given enough eyeballs, all bugs are shallow" always sticks with me.
So that's where I was a week or so ago, when I discovered <the aquarium wiki>, and in particular the somewhat sparse planted tanks section. I made one test change <here> (adding a link to UKAPS), and waited to see whether it survived or got trashed. To-date, it remains untouched, so my current plan is to try and add or improve a page every week or so on that wiki, giving an explanation about some aspect of planted tanks, with references to relevant posts / threads mostly on UKAPS, and occasionally elsewhere, and gradually cross-link those pages to build a resource that is helpful, easy to navigate, and reasonably data driven.
That said, if there is a better suggestion, I'm willing to get behind and push that instead (to what extent I can in my commitment-rich, time-poor lifestyle)!
Cheers,
Simon