How to breed plants in an aquarium. What inventory is needed to equip an aquarium? Rules for planting aquarium plants
About the benefits of aquarium plants.
Plants in an aquarium play an important role in the life of its inhabitants. We can say that the presence of plants in the aquarium is only a huge number of pluses:
Plants are the "lungs" of an aquarium.
During the day, they release oxygen during photosynthesis.
Photosynthesis is the process of converting light energy into the energy of chemical bonds of organic substances in the light by photoautotrophs with the participation of photosynthetic pigments (chlorophyll in plants, bacteriochlorophyll and bacteriorhodopsin in bacteria). In modern plant physiology, photosynthesis is more often understood as a photoautotrophic function - a set of processes of absorption, transformation and use of the energy of light quanta in various endergonic reactions, including the conversion of carbon dioxide into organic substances.
Simply put, in plants, the process of converting water (H2O) and carbon dioxide (CO2) under the influence of sunlight into an energy-rich organic compound - glucose (C6H12O6) takes place. The formula for photosynthesis can be represented as follows:
6CO2 + 6H2O = C6H12O6 (glucose) + 6O2
In the dark, the reverse process occurs:
С6Н12O6 + 6O2 = 6CO2 + 6H2O
Plants are the key to a stable biological balance in the aquarium.
One of the main elements that plants use to build their bodies is nitrogen (N), which they take from nitrate (NO3). Nitrate is a poison, a breakdown product of nitrogenous compounds. To make it even clearer to you, let's analyze the chain that flows in the aquarium.
"DIRT AND GARBAGE"
(dead organic matter, fish food, feces, etc.)
decomposed by bacteria
AMMONIA/AMMONIUM NH4
(the strongest poison, destructive to all living things)
under the action of another group of bacteria decomposes into
NITRITE NO2 followed by NITRATE NO3
(less dangerous, but also poisonous)
further decompose to
GAS STATE OF N2-NITROGEN
and come out of the aquarium water
For those who want to study the issue in more detail, I recommend going to the forum thread:
The above diagram shows the process of nitrate formation, which is used by aquarium plants as fertilizer. Thus, we can say that they are connected to the process of removing poisons from the aquarium. Moreover, we note that in dense herbal plants NO3 is zeroed out to such an extent that the aquascaper has to replenish it using the appropriate fertilizer mono-compositions.
Plants are a tool for setting up an aquarium.
Of course, the processes that take place in the aquarium do not end only with the nitrogen cycle. There are many aspects that affect the condition of the aquarium. Plants are an aquarium tuning fork, with which you can immediately assess the condition of the aquarium. An algae outbreak, crooked plants, holes in the leaves are signals to the aquarist that something is wrong and action needs to be taken.
Live plants are the natural habitat of many fish and other aquatic organisms: shrimps, snails, and so on. The concept of a natural aquarium, which was praised, was based primarily on the postulate of recreating naturalness.
Plants are fish food and spawning grounds.
Many hydrobionts are phytophages. Moreover, many of them use plants as shelter and spawning grounds.
Note that some fish generally just graze like sheep in a meadow and mow down all the vegetation. For example, the family, well, just loves plant foods. For these types of aquarium inhabitants, plant foods are needed, for example, Tetra Vegetable. But the question arises, why spend money when you can feed the fish with fresh, actually grown vegetation. In an aquarium separate from goldfish, you can grow fast-growing duckweed or hornwort and periodically feed it to golden gluttons.
Live aquarium plants are beautiful and natural!
Aquarium with live plants.
Aquarium with artificial plants.
What do you need for aquarium plants?
A novice aquarist usually thinks that plants in an aquarium are too much of a problem. Actually, for the normal life of plants in an aquarium, as well as for fish, the main thing is to create optimal conditions. In relation to plants, this is achieved by selecting proper lighting, neutral soil, the correct concentration of fertilizers, and proper water parameters.
Lighting. A very important role for plants is played by the intensity of lighting and daylight hours, they must be optimal. After all, the process of photosynthesis will not be without it. Some plants need a lot of lighting, some vice versa. You can learn more about the nuances of lighting in the following articles. ,.
Soil for aquarium plants. In general, we can say that the soil for plants should be neutral (not hissing), 5 to 7 centimeters thick, light and fine. It is this thickness and more that will allow the plants to take root well. Detailed article about soil and substrate for aquarium plants -.
Rules for planting aquarium plants.
An example of preparing a Cryptocoryne bush for planting.
Who interfered with the whole process? =)
Fertilizers for aquarium plants . Plants need macro and micronutrients. Macro fertilizers (NPK) - nitrate (NO3), phosphate (P/PO4), potassium (K). Micro-fertilizers - .
Modern aquarists do not know this problem. Any pet store sells tablets or liquid plant fertilizers. For example, . Such tablets are crushed and applied under the root system of plants. There are other fertilizer complexes that a beginner can use. For example, . There are also more "serious" fertilizers, which are already separated by macro and micro elements.
- Protects and strengthens new plants.
- enhances growth thanks to a valuable plant hormone.
- promotes the formation of roots.
- improves root survival during planting and transplanting.
- Enhances resistance with macronutrients.
- fertilizes plants purposefully through roots.
How to use: The tablet should be crushed and placed on the ground near the roots of plants.
This is an intensive fertilizer that is used for the development of all varieties of aquatic plants. Contains iron and a complex of all nutrients necessary for leaf growth. Promotes the formation of chlorophyll (green leaves), guarantees a uniform long-term supply of residual elements. Free from nitrates and phosphorus, which causes no load on the natural environment existing in the aquarium.
It is especially effective when used together with TetraPlant Crypto fertilizer. Fertilizer promotes the development of healthy and strong plant roots.
Aquarium plants and fertilizer video from Tetra
In addition, it is possible to independently prepare fertilizers for aquarium plants. Of course, this is a whole science for a beginner. Therefore, at this stage, we do not recommend beginners to get involved in this topic. But we will give the link =) .
There is also an old, old-fashioned method - to put lumps of clay under the roots of the plant. We do not recommend this method at all. In practice, beginners get a cloudy aquarium, but there is not much use from it. Clay is very dusty!
Caring for aquarium plants
Caring for aquarium plants consists in cutting and pruning them as needed. When trimming, you need to: remove rotten leaves, trim an overgrown plant, cut off daughter plants, planting them in a new place. Be sure to replace the aquarium water with fresh water weekly.
In this section, we will highlight one of the most important aspects for plants - CO2. CO2 is a gas that aquarium plants need. Plants are 50% carbon (C). Under natural conditions, the concentration of CO2 in water ranges from 15-40 mg/l. But in the aquarium, this indicator tends to zero, even though the fish and other inhabitants of the aquarium produce it in the process of life, but in very small quantities.
CO2
It is the main building material of the plant organism! Plants in an aquarium, with a competent supply of CO2, become: beautiful and healthy, fast-growing.
Plants release O2 during photosynthesis! This process is popularly called bubbling or perling of plants. In turn, the oxygen released by plants is consumed by fish and other hydrobionts, which eliminates the need for mechanical aeration of the aquarium during daylight hours.
- in addition, when CO2 is supplied to the aquarium, the pH level decreases. What virtually all plants and some soft-water fish like.
We hope that our video materials will be useful to you and encourage you to be creative!
Liked? Subscribe to You Tube channel FanChips!
To not miss anything
How many plants do you need in an aquarium?
List of aquarium plants for beginners.
Like fish, there are a huge number of aquarium plants. Here is a section of the site where there is a description of most aquarium plants with photos and videos -. List of aquarium plants -The text of the work is placed without images and formulas.
The full version of the work is available in the "Job Files" tab in PDF format
Introduction
They bought me an aquarium
They put fish in it.
Sword-bearers and gourami
With a very long mustache
Barbus and cockerel
Only he without a comb,
Two large scalars
They are so flat.
I look through the glass
I'm terribly lucky
I have a sea at home
It is real!
This year, for the first time, I swam in the sea on my own, and, in an underwater mask with a snorkel, I watched how fish frolic at the bottom, how jellyfish swim, they are all so wonderful! You can admire the underwater world for hours, the fish fascinate with their charm.
People on a subconscious level are drawn to nature. Today, many keep various animals at home. Someone has a dog, someone has a cat, someone keeps hamsters, and someone has aquarium fish. Aquarium - a corner of relaxation, a window into nature. Its importance is especially great here, in Siberia. After all, the summer here is short, before you have time to look back, and autumn is already coming, and then a long winter. In the aquarium, it can be summer all year round, and this gives any apartment coziness and comfort.
I like to sit by the aquarium after a hard day and watch the fish, look at their life from the outside. By the light of a lamp, when the room is completely dark and the house is very quiet, the aquarium is especially beautiful, its own, different life continues there.
The vital activity of aquarium fish is greatly influenced by external factors, which determines the relevance of the topic.
In order for the fish to be healthy and continue to please the eye, I decided to watch aquarium fish.
So, object my research became an aquarium.
The purpose of the research work- to determine the most comfortable conditions for the life of aquarium fish.
Tasks:
Find out the effect of lighting and heating the aquarium on the life of the fish;
Determine the type of dry food most preferred by the fish;
To form conditioned reflexes in the fish to the sound and time of feeding.
Working hypothesis: the heating and lighting of the aquarium, as well as the nutrition of the fish, play an important role in the life of the fish.
Aquarium inhabitants (literature review)
"Aquarium" in Greek means "water tank". A properly organized aquarium looks great, does not require constant attention. But in order for the aquarium to please the eye, you need to make a lot of effort. Before filling with water, the aquarium should be disinfected with potassium permanganate or sodium chloride solution.
rinse with water. Then the soil is carefully laid out in the form of a pattern. After that, various decorations are placed. In my aquarium, these are beautiful driftwood, artificial algae, shells, Figure 1.
This question is asked by almost every newbie. It is not so easy to answer it. First of all, it's a matter of taste. But you can not be guided only by aesthetic considerations. A beginner aquarist should know at least the following.
There are live-bearing fish, in which offspring are born and are immediately able to do without the help of their parents.
There are spawning fish, in which the offspring in the first days of life needs the care of their parents. Both among viviparous and spawning fish there are predators that cannot be kept with other fish, especially if they are smaller.
Some aquarium fish do not occur in nature at all, but are only the fruit of many years of work of breeders. These are various breeds of goldfish, swordtails, guppies, discus, angelfish and catfish.
There are 6 fish in my aquarium. We tried to start more, but it always remains about 6. Then I read in a book about aquarium fish that normally 3-5 liters of water should fall on 1 fish, stronger fish survive.
Guppies, zebrafish and neons were the first to populate the reservoir, Figure 3. After a while, we added gourami and mollies to them. When the balance in the aquarium was again established and all the fish were safe and healthy, more speckled catfish and scalars appeared. I will tell about them.
Guppy- the best fish for beginners. Unpretentious, peaceful. Size 2 cm.
Figure 4 - My aquarium
Research methodology
An aquarium is a small artificial reservoir. To care for the aquarium, I needed: a water drain hose, a floating feeder, a heater, a thermometer, a lamp, a dirt scoop, a glass scraper and a net.
At the bottom of the aquarium, I poured soil - from pure sand and small pebbles.
Then I planted the plants in the soil. And filled the aquarium with water. The first days the water was cloudy. But gradually small particles of soil settled down, the water became transparent.
The inhabitants of the aquarium launched into the settled water. FISHES LIVE ONLY IN CLEAR WATER.
The main methods of my research are: the study of scientific literature and Internet resources, experiment, observation.
In order to find out the most favorable conditions for keeping fish in an aquarium, I conducted the following experiments:
I observed the behavior of the fish in the absence of light in the aquarium and with its prolonged illumination;
I observed the behavior of fish at water temperatures of +20 0 С, +24+26 0 С and at +28 0 С;
Find out the most preferred types of dry food;
I tried to develop conditioned reflexes in the fish to the sound and time of feeding.
The main factors of external influence on the life of aquarium fish
Lighting
Research results
I paid special attention to the lighting of the aquarium where the fish live.
The aquarium should not be exposed to the open rays of the sun. You can not put it in bright light, but it is better to choose the darkest place in the room for it. Fish need bright lighting only during the breeding season and if they have beriberi. In this case, they need additional lighting. In other cases, an excess of light is harmful to them, because in bright light, green microscopic algae begin to multiply in the water. They settle on the glass, and the water begins to bloom.
If the aquarium is in the sun, then during the day it warms up a lot, at night the temperature drops, even undemanding fish can be harmed by this approach.
At night, in the dark, I went to the aquarium and saw that the fish were not moving. Their eyes are open, not blinking. I wondered why fish sleep with their eyes open. From the literature, I learned that this happens because the fish do not have eyelids.
To find out how the fish relate to the light, I conducted an experiment: - At night, when the light is off and the fish are in the dark, they are inactive and sleepy.
I turned on the light and the fish became active, moving, Figure 5.
She turned off the light again - the fish sank to the bottom and did not move.
If the lamp lights up, then the fish behave more lively, swim near the light, they like the artificial sun, but not more than 12 hours a day.
I noticed that if the aquarium is illuminated for more than 12 hours a day, then the fish begin to lose their beautiful colors - first of all, the red color begins to disappear with an excess of light. And in the literature, I read that females can stop spawning. Excessively long exposure can cause infertility.
Figure 5 - Activity of fish with a light source at night
Conclusion: Shaded places are most favorable for placing an aquarium. Fish love bright light, but with prolonged exposure, colors are lost.
Heating
The water in our aquarium is 20-22°C. At this temperature, the fish can exist, but they feel uncomfortable - they swim slowly, only in the upper layers of the water and do not play. If the temperature is below 20 °, then dangerous diseases can sneak up on the fish. And if the temperature in the aquarium drops to 17 °, then illness, and then the death of wonderful fish, is inevitable.
I decided to test how the fish would react to heat.
I put a heater against the wall near the aquarium, Figure 6. The fish like warmer water, so they quickly chose a warm place and swam where the water was heated by the heater.
The aquarium has a thermometer. I turned on the heater and heated the water to 26 degrees. The behavior of the fish has changed. They became active, mobile and swam all over the aquarium.
She continued the experiment: she placed the fish in a separate jar with a temperature of 28 ° C. I saw that at a very high temperature - above 28 ° C - the fish become ill, they lack oxygen, and they begin to suffocate - this is expressed in the fact that they swim to the surface and begin to protrude from the water. After all, less oxygen dissolves in warm water than in cold water.
Figure 6 - The heat source in the aquarium and the activity of the fish near
heat source
Conclusion: Fish are very sensitive to changes in water temperature. The best water temperature for aquarium fish is 24-26°. At this temperature, the fish are active and playful.
Nutrition
Having studied the literature for a novice aquarist, I learned that it is best to feed aquarium fish with live food - this is a cyclops, small daphnia, small bloodworm, tubifex. If there is no live food and you have to feed the fish with dry cyclops or dry daphnia, then it is better to get liquid vitamin "D". Mix a small portion of dry food (half a teaspoon) with two or three drops of vitamin, let it lie down for a while and only then give it to the fish. So the fish will receive vitamin food. Instead of dry daphnia and dry cyclops, it is better to give special dry fish food, which is sold in pet stores. This is a high quality vitamin food.
dry pressing method. The composition of the feed includes: fish, wheat, grass and soy flour, nettle, trace elements, vitamins A, B, C, D, E, K, H and special additives.
I gave the fish food in small portions, they ate it literally “on the fly”. The remains of food that have fallen to the bottom rot and this makes the water cloudy, so you should not pour a lot of food.
2 weeks - feed "Universal". The fish ate any food equally quickly.
Conclusion: Fish like any of these foods, they quickly get used to the feeding regimen, it is better to alternate foods.
Development of reflexes in fish
3.2.1 Reflex to sound
Reflexes are habits that are developed over a period of time. Conditioned reflexes are reversible reflexes, which, in the absence of factors supporting them, disappear over time.
With my fish, I conducted an experiment on the development of conditioned reflexes. I fed the fish at the same time, at 10 o'clock in the morning.
1 day. I tapped the aquarium with a spoon. The fish did not swim to the knock. Sprinkled food. The fish swam.
Day 2 I tapped the aquarium with a spoon. Five fish swam up. Sprinkled food. The fish all swam up, Figure 9.
aquarium. All the fish swam to the feeder. Sprinkled food.
6 day-8 day. I tapped the aquarium with a spoon. All the fish swam to the feeder. Sprinkled food.
Day 9 She knocked on the wall of the aquarium. The fish swam up, swam at the feeder for several minutes. But I didn't feed.
Checking if the fish can hear. Until it was time for feeding, the fish swam quietly. I went up and rang the bell over the lid - almost all the fish floated to the surface, Figure 10. From which it follows that the fish hear, have hearing.
Conclusion: Thus, it took me only 5 days to develop a conditioned reflex in fish to sound. To develop a conditioned reflex, you need to feed the fish at the same time, knock on the wall of the aquarium in a certain place.
3.2.2. Reflex for feeding time
I decided to check it out, will the fish be able to develop a reflex at the time of feeding? In this experiment, I feed the fish at the same time - at 8 pm.
1 Week. During feeding, the fish did not float to the surface, but ate at the bottom.
2 weeks. During feeding, almost all surfaced and ate food.
3 weeks. Closer to 8 pm, even before feeding, all the fish together floated to the surface, waiting for food.
I draw a conclusion: reflex to feeding time can be developed in 2-3 weeks
conclusions
Aquarium lighting is a very important factor in the active life of fish. The aquarium should be in a shaded place, and illuminated - no more than 12 hours a day. Fish are very fond of light, but its excess negatively affects both the color of the fish and their well-being.
The temperature of the water also plays a big role in the life of the fish. temperatures below 20 0 C can cause disease and death of fish; at 20 0 C, the fish are lethargic and inactive, at 28 0 C they begin to suffocate from a lack of oxygen. The most favorable water temperature is + 24 + 26 0 С.
Aquarium fish willingly ate both studied dry food: both "Cockleil" and "Universal".
The simplest conditioned reflexes can be developed in fish: a reflex to a sound is developed on the 5th day of the experiment, a reflex to the time of feeding on 2-3 weeks.
Conclusion
Watching the fish in the aquarium, I learned how they grow and develop, how to properly care for and feed them, which means their behavior in different cases. After all, any living creature requires care and attention from a person. The more we know about our younger friends, the more comfortable conditions we can offer them. Aquarium fish bring a lot of positive emotions, sitting near the aquarium and looking at the fish, we forget about our fatigue. Strength and good mood are returning to us.
In the future, I plan to observe the birth of fry and their behavior in the first days of life. I want to see how long the fry will reach the size of adult fish? How many females will be born, and how many males? I have yet to find out the answers to these questions.
List of used sources and literature :
Efremov A.V. Aquarium and its inhabitants / A. V. Efremov. Novosibirsk book publishing house, 1990
Sobe-Panek M. The ABC of domestic animals / M. Sobe-Panek. Publishing House "Planet of Childhood", 1999
Sorokoumova E.A. Ecology lessons in elementary school. / E.A. Sorokoumova. M .: "Maria", 1994.
Annex 1
Aquarium care
Annex 2
Stages of research work
Understanding the nitrogen cycle, during which certain types of bacteria process the waste products of living organisms, is vital for keeping healthy fish. The bacteria involved in this process colonize the aquarium soil, live in ...
Using rainwater may seem like the ideal solution to avoid problems like hardness and over-alkalinity, but doing so is fraught with danger. Rainwater is almost always acidic, because atmospheric carbon dioxide is dissolved in it ...
The aquarium in the house is a small piece of the underwater world with its beautiful inhabitants and plants. In addition, a beautiful aquarium can become a stylish element in the overall interior. The beautiful design of the aquarium, combined with bright pets, will be able to fascinate for a long time,...
The biotopes of West Africa are very diverse. In addition to tropical rainforests, there are savannahs with large and small ponds, rivers and streams, as well as depressions and ditches not far from the coast, where fresh water mixes with sea water. How diverse biotopes are, so ...
Novice aquarists who decide to go in for growing plants, often ask questions on the forums: how to fertilize, how to apply CO2, how to plant, how to prune, what to do with black coating on the leaves, etc., etc. They are usually advised to "reach a balance" ... And this is certainly true , but all these are general words, there is no instruction like: "How to achieve balance in an aquarium, step by step ..." Recently, I have also been often asked about similar topics and the idea came to me to write such an instruction based on my own experience. Why not? After all, we all launch new banks and use the same launch schemes and parole ..
In order to immediately avoid the wrath of the great gurus who are always and everywhere, I will give a photo of my aquarium (at the bottom of the article) and how it looks at the time of writing this opus. From the moment of launch, all this has passed through all types of algae without chemicals and technical means such as CO2 cylinders, external filters, UV lamps ... Regular T4 6400k daylight lamps replace standard ones, as I wrote earlier ... No super-spectra and there are no such super-funds for super loot!
I will most likely get a multi-variant instruction, and the number of options will depend on the goals of the aquarist and the initial conditions .. However, it seemed to me possible to average it out so to speak)) Therefore, I decided not to take into account the initial conditions at all! No, no, I don’t have a fever and I’m not delirious)) But since we need to achieve a balance, it means that it doesn’t exist yet ... which means that the initial conditions are as they are. Well, I think it will be clearer...
Let's start with the simplest option: aquarist grows plants for himself and the growth rate of plants for him is not fundamental. If only it was clean and without algae. A gardener-aquarist does not grow plants for sale in bulk, does not cut them after three days and does not have technical devices such as CO2 installations and expensive UDOs, which, by the way, for example, I did not need at all. As I already wrote, I use my self-mess)
So the first option and call it:
Growing plants the easy way.
We have an aquarium aged 1 or 6 months with a flip flops, a beard and black coating on the leaves, the water is clean but periodically crawl out, green threads, sometimes blue-green (for example, in the ground or at the roots) ... The light in the aquarium is simply very important. LIGHT AND NOT SUPER-LAMPS! For example, I have ordinary fluorescent lamps, but: 100 watts per 140 liters ...Let's start, as previously suggested, with a change of water. But first, let's take a couple of steps. To do this, we need clay balls and sames udo, which are described by me below.
Step one:
We densely plant the aquarium with plants such as valisneria, hornwort, hygrophila and, for example, rotala indica ... In short, we plant penny but very unpretentious plants that grow quickly and are designed to survive excess nitrates and phosphates. Plants are chosen by me so that there are both lovers of nitrates (hornwort) and big lovers of phosphates, or rather, quickly absorbing them - as a rule, plants actively give aerial roots and are ready to eat not only leaves ... Rotala, by the way, contrary to popular belief, perfectly eats both nitrates and and phosphates, well, this is so, by the way, I had to ... The main problem is the number of fish and organic matter in the water. That's why
Step two:
We cultivate in the soil, EXACTLY IN THE GROUND, the culture of nitrobacteria. I would advise Nitrivek, I myself use it at start-up .. Why in the ground? Because since there is a lot of organic matter in the water, the filter (simple, with a sponge) needs to be washed often! Once a week and properly.
We add clay balls to the soil to the plants, which you can make yourself, it would be clay. This is necessary in order to make less udo in the water ... After top dressing, we begin to change the water.
The first week - every other day by 30%. The second - in two days by 30%, the third week - once by 50%. Further change of water weekly by 25 - 30%. And important: we try to keep the temperature, if possible, no higher than 25 degrees! The fact is that at low temperatures, plants that have not yet started to grow properly will have an advantage in the supply of nutrients over algae. At higher temperatures, plants are less likely to grow unless they are already actively growing. Algae will start much faster!
At this stage, we are not pouring any udos at all! We rely on fish. The number of fish can be calculated approximately like this.
Optimal 7 cm per 10-12 liters of water. Those, if you have a jar of 120 liters, then it is desirable to have no more than 12 fish there, the size of which is about 7 cm ... This is, of course, roughly and roughly, but the principle is clear, fish are the best producer of fertilizers, but also organic matter, and we need it in such a proportion that would have time to decompose and nourish our grass. The task is to ensure that bacteria quickly decompose organic matter and plants have time to absorb it faster than algae.
Step three:
We take a time out... Approximately 2-3 weeks... We change the water and don't do anything.... The aquarium is a self-regulating system.. Clay does its job in the ground. after 2-3 weeks. How to see it? Just. You will see that the filter has become clogged more slowly, the water is always clear, and you wipe the glass from plaque less and less often ... and ... you cut the rotala once every 10 days and the valisnria begins to spread its shoots over the jar ... All this is still not in perfect condition but it is clear that the life of the grass began to spread in volume ..
Now we are one step away from what we want!!!
Step four:
This step depends on the results of the previous steps. Namely:
If algae disappear in the aquarium, and the plants start to grow, then you should not give additional water.. In general, you don’t need to climb into the biosystem while it heals itself! Then, when cleanliness comes, you feed the plants by leaf and improve their size, but for now, just watch the miracle: everything grows by itself! This is really a miracle, nature regulates itself very effectively without our intervention and chemistry... You can add more complex and beautiful plants)
If purity has already come, then with a planned change of water, we start feeding with self-mess. Very careful! Macro and micro + separately iron citrate. Slowly. Keep the temperature low. If the temperature is reduced to 23-24 gr. then you can increase the number of fish by 50 percent! Temperature and light are the most important factors, and in my opinion the temperature is more important.
That's all! It's simple. but there are some additions.
- if the aquarium is young, less than 6 months old, then the denser you plant it, the better.
- if the jar is older than 6 months, then the stocking density will affect the amount of CO2 in the water, the rate of absorption of UDO and metabolism, and it can be changed arbitrarily by changing the amount of UDO and the amount of CO2, respectively.
- if the light in the aquarium is less than 0.6 watts per liter, then CO2 is not needed at all when planting grass 30% of the volume. If the light is brighter, then either give CO2 mash or tighten the fit.
- Separately, I note the usefulness of settling shrimp cherries, Beeline snails, etc. into the aquarium. Organics will become many times less and black plaque, respectively, too. With thick grass, cherries will survive even with barbs and cichlids - it’s checked, I’ll even publish a video soon.
