Quote:
|
Originally Posted by Raul-7 Enrinco's tank uses this mix, doesn't liquid fertilize, and his E.stellata is still pinkish! |
Well its not dead... I wouldn't call it completely healthy - the tank would seriously benefit from some water column ferts. The idea here is that in a very high light tank, iron is screwy and every little bit you can do to help is good... I'm not so sure the castings are providing the nutrients directly, what I think is going on is that the organic matter lowers the redox potential in the substrate, mobilizing the iron from a clay such as laterite... I say this because I don't think it really matters whether you use worm castings or not, peat, mulm, lignite, all that stuff should be just fine...
Re: too many macros... Worm castings (if slow release fert has not been added) are not that strong a fertilizier. You are very correct, lots of things can go very wrong, the idea of this forum was more advanced topics and this is definately one for someone with experience. Thats why a fine gravel of at least 2" is really necessary to slow diffusion from the substrate into the water column down. It also seems possible to add way to much OM, if the redox potential drops too low you favor the:
NO3- ->NH4+
chemistry instead of denitrification, also can promote excessive H2S generation... there's a fine line here which requires some experimentation to find...
Cheers,
Jeff