jerime said:
Tom' what are you actually saying ? they don't really create currents in the aquarium (and benefit the roots etc' etc') or that they do but it doesn't really matter?
If you don't use them and you have lower PH in the substrate and smaller sized gravel, are you saying that even without them, there will be no H2s production and all that stuff?
Crap,
I wrote a great thing and the damn site deleted it when I submitted.
They create currents, but that does not help.
pH will tend to neutratlity in any wetland soil unless you add lots of organic matter down there at a given rate.
No H2S will form unless you have a lot of OM down there to feed the bacteria, which will remove all the O2 in a feeding frenzy. This will cuase H2S reduction. Othwerwise at a low rate of mulm/OM accreation, there's no way for the H2S reducers to live, they must have anaerobic concditions.
Bottom line, cables have never been shown to do anything, I have not seen anything that says plants need cables to grow well, they are not a nutrient or light.
The problem is that over 12-24 months, doing a controlled experiment is very very difficult. If you do a controlled experiment, then you address the confounding factors, low CO2, nutrient status etc.
Porous iron/trace metal rich grains like Fluorite are better, they provide the aerobic regions for the larger roots, faster decomposition (O2, aerobic bacteria are 18X faster at breakdown), much higher surface area, the tiny root hairs can get at the anaerobic regions in the internal spaces and reduce the Mn, Zn, Fe etc for uptake.
This provides the best of both worlds andn protects these anaerobic regions when you uproot plants.
Do cables and sand do that?
Nope.
Bottom line: you'll see a significant difference using onyx/flourite with a little peat/mulm added vs a cable/sand + mulm, peat set up.
Cables do not hurt IME, but they do not help either.
I just have little need for them as well as does everyone, they just know it and believe they need more gagdets to be successful.
Simple is better, focus on what causes a plant to grow, nutrients, CO2 light.
Do not get confused with all the product mumbo, becuase in reality, that's all it is.
Regards,
Tom Barr
Tom Barr