Go Back   Aquatic Plant Central > General Interest Forums > El Natural
User Name
Password

Advertise on APC

El Natural Diana Walstad's low-maintenance, soil-based 'El Natural' method for keeping plants and fish.

Reply
 
Thread Tools Display Modes
Old 07-29-2008, 03:14 PM   #21
dwalstad
Senior Member
 
Join Date: Apr 2006
Posts: 653
iTrader Ratings: 0
dwalstad is a regular member
Plant Points: 29525
Default Advice on tank with plain substrate


After all the questions, I wasn't expecting such a nice tank. Its lovely.
Good going!

dwalstad is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 07-30-2008, 02:31 AM   #22
plantblr
Member
 
Join Date: Feb 2007
Location: Bangalore,INDIA
Posts: 72
iTrader Ratings: 0
plantblr is a regular member
Plant Points: 4050
Default Re: Advice on tank with plain substrate

Thank you Diana.........,

One more help pls.How can I paste pictures on the reply instead of pasting the URL's?

Thanks
Ravi
plantblr is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 07-31-2008, 03:45 PM   #23
dwalstad
Senior Member
 
Join Date: Apr 2006
Posts: 653
iTrader Ratings: 0
dwalstad is a regular member
Plant Points: 29525
Default Re: Advice on tank with plain substrate

Ravi,

The only way I know how to do it is the way I used for my recent 50 gal thread. My procedure:

When you're writing your reply, go to the paper clip icon at the top window:

Click on it

That should open a window that says "Manage Attachments"

You should see a choice that says "Upload files from your computer"

Use the Browse button to find your picture files on your computer

From there on, just follow the APC instructions for uploading.

However, you must make sure beforehand to condense the picture files to jpeg of less than 100 KB.

Some ordinary programs show you how to condense files for e-mail sending. I used one of these programs to condense my large picture files, and then I sent the pictures to myself in an e-mail. It took me a bit of tinkering to figure it out.

Good Luck! We'll want to see those pictures.
dwalstad is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 08-01-2008, 08:00 AM   #24
plantblr
Member
 
Join Date: Feb 2007
Location: Bangalore,INDIA
Posts: 72
iTrader Ratings: 0
plantblr is a regular member
Plant Points: 4050
Default Re: Advice on tank with plain substrate

Tried to load the pics on the reply.......
plantblr is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 09-02-2008, 05:11 AM   #25
plantblr
Member
 
Join Date: Feb 2007
Location: Bangalore,INDIA
Posts: 72
iTrader Ratings: 0
plantblr is a regular member
Plant Points: 4050
Default Re: Advice on tank with plain substrate

Hi all,

Here are some updates as of 02nd Sep.
Check for the photos titled "As of 02/09/08".

http://www.flickr.com/photos/28318201@N08/

Thanks for seeing,
Ravi
plantblr is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 09-03-2008, 01:04 PM   #26
mommyeireanne
Senior Member
 
Join Date: Oct 2007
Location: Ohio, USA
Posts: 260
iTrader Ratings: 0
mommyeireanne is a regular member
Plant Points: 15600
Default Re: Advice on tank with plain substrate

it's beautiful
mommyeireanne is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 09-04-2008, 01:56 AM   #27
plantblr
Member
 
Join Date: Feb 2007
Location: Bangalore,INDIA
Posts: 72
iTrader Ratings: 0
plantblr is a regular member
Plant Points: 4050
Default Re: Advice on tank with plain substrate

Thanks mommyeireanne ,

Now I find small snails crawling all over the glass & plants .I think these are garden snails.I've been fishing these manually in the morning before the lights are on,but they are breeding like crazy.Any solution for this?

Thanks
Ravi
plantblr is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 09-25-2008, 07:20 AM   #28
gravy9
Senior Member
 
gravy9's Avatar
 
Join Date: Aug 2008
Location: IL
Posts: 316
iTrader Ratings: 8
iTrader Positive Rating: 100%
gravy9 is a regular member
Plant Points: 17200
Default Re: Advice on tank with plain substrate

Awesome tank Ravi. BTW, my name's Ravi also from the Chicago area. Will try to contact you and stop by when I'm there to visit my brother. I would like to understand how the process is different in India.

I'm new to this hobby and am using Aaron's Mineralized substrate method (working on it) and have another tank using Walstad method. I've had the Walstad-method tank for about a month now and the nitrates are starting to slow down.

regards,
Ravi
gravy9 is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 09-27-2008, 05:05 AM   #29
dwalstad
Senior Member
 
Join Date: Apr 2006
Posts: 653
iTrader Ratings: 0
dwalstad is a regular member
Plant Points: 29525
Default Re: Advice on tank with plain substrate

Quote:
Originally Posted by plantblr View Post
Thanks mommyeireanne ,

Now I find small snails crawling all over the glass & plants .I think these are garden snails.I've been fishing these manually in the morning before the lights are on,but they are breeding like crazy.Any solution for this?

Thanks
Ravi
Yes. Just let them be.

Snails are good. They clean the leaves of algae and bacteria. Snails speed up the decomposition process that provides nutrients to plants. They provide live food for many fish; Bettas, clown loaches, etc relish them. In some tanks you will find only baby snails, because the fish eat them as they get bigger. If these are MTS (Malaysian Trumpet Snails), then they are aerating the substrate-- another benefit.

You have a beautiful tank. I would relax and enjoy it.
dwalstad is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 09-28-2008, 05:58 PM   #30
mommyeireanne
Senior Member
 
Join Date: Oct 2007
Location: Ohio, USA
Posts: 260
iTrader Ratings: 0
mommyeireanne is a regular member
Plant Points: 15600
Default Re: Advice on tank with plain substrate

Ravi, I like snails too for the job they do, but I've been selective about what kinds. I had some hitch-hiking baby Giant Ramshorn snails that ate holes in my plants. They had a curly-Q shaped shell and I manually removed them. I believe the football shaped pond snails did also, my Beta ate the small ones and I removed the bigger ones. Took a while to eradicate them but my Beta was vigilant.
There were also tiny flat ones that looked like half an oyster (ancilid snails). The Beta removed these all without help. He did not however eat the Malaysian Trumpet snails, which as Diana said also stir the substrate. Love them! I got some from a friend and finally found a LFS that would pick some out of their tanks and give them to me. They do double duty and mostly stay underground in the day, so you won't see them as much. I don't know if loaches would eat them or not. I've had Pomacea bridgesi (apple snails or mystery snails), too. But you have to be careful in identifying them at the store. If you guess wrong you could get a voracious plant eater. This site helped me. I've heard good things about Nerites but they will lay infertile eggs everywhere.
My shrimp do a good clean up job also. I've had ghost/american glass shrimp, but they shredded my Betas fins (provoked) and ate baby Red Cherry Shrimp fry. I like the Amano shrimp and the Red Cherry Shrimp most. the RCS will breed in the tank once it settles in. I like my invertebrates as much as my fish, as you may have guessed. There are options out there for everybody if you want to fill the niche in your tank, but aren't thrilled about what came with the plants.
mommyeireanne is offline   Reply With Quote
Reply


Aquatic Plant Central > General Interest Forums > El Natural > Advice on tank with plain substrate

Thread Tools
Display Modes

Posting Rules
You may not post new threads
You may not post replies
You may not post attachments
You may not edit your posts

vB code is On
Smilies are On
[IMG] code is On
HTML code is Off
Forum Jump

All times are GMT -8. The time now is 09:22 PM.

Powered by vBulletin® Version 3.6.8
Copyright ©2000 - 2008, Jelsoft Enterprises Ltd.


Copyright © 2006 - 2008 Aquatic Plant Central | About Aquatic Plant Central | Legal | A member of the Crowdgather Forum Community
Created by Blue Moose Designs
vB Ad Management by =RedTyger=