Hi,
I'm Daniel, and I would like to say hello to everybody in this wonderful forum. I live in Seville, Spain, and only kept freshwater tanks when I was in primary school (that was in the early Eighties !). After a nearly 30 year hiatus I'm coming back to the hobby and would like to start with a planted tank, something more ambitious than the inert gravel-low light-livebearer tank of my childhood.
Before ordering my new aquarium (I hope to get it next week), I have researched as much as possible for several months, and was in one of those net searching nights in which I arrived to The BarrReport. After many hours lurking and reading its contents I have decided to become a subscriber mainly because in this forum I've found not only a wealth of useful information but, most important for me, here the myths and ever repeated rules are debunked or at least put into the test. E.g., in spanish forums you are told to have at least more than 2 WPG if you want to grow any plant beyond anubias and Java fern, and of course it is impossible to grow HC or glosso with less than 4 WPG T5HO at less than 40 cm of the substrate. You can imagine the shock when I started to read here that what I would grow at such high levels is an assorted catalogue of freshwater algae and that it would be better to stick to lower light levels. I am in the process of learning the details of the EI method, which of course contradicts the fundamental principles of the usual fertilizing routines in my country. However, I see that the principles behind EI are quite reasonable, thus I have no doubts that a tailored EI will be my fert routine in the near future.
Of course, I have many questions for you, but I'm still digesting as much information as possible, so I will go step by step.
Best regards,
Daniel.
P.S: As you may have noticed I'm not a native english speaker so let me apologize for all the mistakes and confusions that could arise from that.
I'm Daniel, and I would like to say hello to everybody in this wonderful forum. I live in Seville, Spain, and only kept freshwater tanks when I was in primary school (that was in the early Eighties !). After a nearly 30 year hiatus I'm coming back to the hobby and would like to start with a planted tank, something more ambitious than the inert gravel-low light-livebearer tank of my childhood.
Before ordering my new aquarium (I hope to get it next week), I have researched as much as possible for several months, and was in one of those net searching nights in which I arrived to The BarrReport. After many hours lurking and reading its contents I have decided to become a subscriber mainly because in this forum I've found not only a wealth of useful information but, most important for me, here the myths and ever repeated rules are debunked or at least put into the test. E.g., in spanish forums you are told to have at least more than 2 WPG if you want to grow any plant beyond anubias and Java fern, and of course it is impossible to grow HC or glosso with less than 4 WPG T5HO at less than 40 cm of the substrate. You can imagine the shock when I started to read here that what I would grow at such high levels is an assorted catalogue of freshwater algae and that it would be better to stick to lower light levels. I am in the process of learning the details of the EI method, which of course contradicts the fundamental principles of the usual fertilizing routines in my country. However, I see that the principles behind EI are quite reasonable, thus I have no doubts that a tailored EI will be my fert routine in the near future.
Of course, I have many questions for you, but I'm still digesting as much information as possible, so I will go step by step.
Best regards,
Daniel.
P.S: As you may have noticed I'm not a native english speaker so let me apologize for all the mistakes and confusions that could arise from that.
