DIY Epiphytic Fertilizer: Some planted aquariums have epiphytes (plants that grow on wood or rock) and floating plants. They have to be supplied phosphate and iron through the water column.
AquariumScience
Aquarium Science
Aquariumscience.org is a website dedicated to freshwater aquariums. It is based on SCIENCE AND LOGIC, not on parroted internet “advice”, anecdotal “It worked great for me“, or the marketing hype of some profit-driven marketer.
Auteur: David Bogert
What needs to be emphasized is that this research has pointed out that there are a huge number of ways to be successful with freshwater aquariums. The aquarium is a natural system and Mother Nature is very flexible. One does not need to invest huge amounts of money and time in fish-keeping to have beautiful tanks. Nor does one need to do a ton of research before getting into the hobby. And above all, there is simply no “right way” to do things in this hobby.
So if one is a newcomer to the hobby just relax and enjoy it. If you obsess over every detail and believe all the negativity on social media along the lines of “don’t do this or you will kill your fish” you will not enjoy the hobby and you will leave in relatively short order.
There are 18 chapters leading to over 400 articles on almost all aspects of keeping a freshwater aquarium. These articles have NO links to profit-making sites and thus have no “questionable motivations” in their recommendations, unlike all the for-profit sites you will find with Google. Note I do admit a bias against several companies that blatantly use huge amounts of egregious “pseudoscientific bedazzlement” to sell worthless aquarium products. I can’t help it.
Bookmark and browse! Note that a search bar at the bottom of each page allows one to search the entire site for any particular subject. Note that the entire website is “open” in that any written material can be freely quoted and used without regard to copyrights.
Multilevel Information
This website is designed in descending levels of difficulty, the first level on any given subject which is very simple, a second more complicated level, in some cases going all the way down to sixth and seventh levels which can be very wordy, convoluted and difficult. Note that because each article has to stand on it own in this hierarchy, we often repeat ourselves as we go from simple to complex explanations.
First Level: Keeping it Simple
We start out with a very simple fifteen-point list of what to do with a new aquarium, This simple list can be found in the article:
Second Level
Then we add a second level of complexity when we discuss three very important topics: chlorine, cycling, and the amount of food in this link:
1.1. Guidelines for Beginners
Third Level: Guidelines for Beginners
Then we add a third level of complexity when we give condensed versions of various topics in articles 1.1.1. to 1.1.14.
1.1.1. What to do with Your First Aquarium
1.1.2. A Simple Way to Cycle an Aquarium
1.1.3. Fish Food Simplified
1.1.4. Water Parameters
1.1.5. Filters for the Newbie
1.1.6. Filter Media
1.1.7. Aeration
1.1.8. Stocking a Tank
1.1.9. Brown Algae in a New Tank
1.1.10. Plants and the New Hobbyist
1.1.11. The Most Common Fish Disease – Ich
1.1.12. How to Make Fish Thrive
1.1.13. Fish for the Beginner
1.1.14. Aquarium Maintenance
Fourth Level: Basic Fishkeeping
Then there are the rather verbose general interest articles in the “Basics of Fishkeeping” section 1.2. though 1.7., the fourth level of difficulty.
1.2. 150 Myths
1.3. Marketing Hype
1.4. Sources of Data
1.5. Aquarium Options
1.6. Causes of Rapid Fish Deaths
1.7. Causes of Slow Fish Deaths
Fifth and Sixth Levels: Fishkeeping in Depth
Then there is the fifth level of difficulty in the 18 chapters seen at the top of this article in maroon (also seen either below this section [mobile use] or on the right side [computer screen]). These 18 “chapters” then lead to the sixth level of over 400 “articles” on various aquarium subjects.
Seventh and Eighth Levels: The Scientific Research Papers
Some of these articles have a seventh and even an eighth level of difficulty which delve into the basic science underlying the hobby with many scientific journal articles, book excerpts, and other references. These are long and tedious dissertations only for real aquarium nerds like the author.
Hierarchy
The articles are arranged in a hierarchy. Take the three articles on nitrate for instance. The main article “5. Ammonia, Nitrite, Nitrate, and Chlorine” is a general overview. This article links at the bottom of its 5. article to the hyperlink “5.4. Safe Nitrate Levels”. The article, “5.4. Safe Nitrate Levels”, talks only about nitrate. At the bottom of the 5.4. article, there is a link to the article “5.4.1. Nitrate in Depth”. This final 5.4.1. article is a very boring, verbose, and lengthy look at the scientific papers on nitrate. This is a very typical “hierarchy”.
De auteur : David Bogert
The author’s credentials are in the following article:
97. Author of Aquariumscience.org
Revisions
If you are following this website and want to know when the author has learned something new (I learn something new about aquariums every day!), one can go to the following article to see all the major revisions that are done:
99. Revisions to Aquarium Science Website
And note the author is constantly learning new things from others in the hobby. And he is constantly finding mistakes in his research.
15.5.4. NH4 + Tabs Aquarium Fertilizer
NH4 + Tabs Aquarium Fertilizer: a guide to making a series of do-it-yourself (DIY) fertilizers for aquariums.
15.5.3. Estimative Index
The Estimative Index (EI) method is the most popular method of dosing fertilizers in high-tech planted CO2-injected aquariums. I find it to be somewhat complicated and very time-consuming to implement. But there is no question it will give one a very beautiful high-tech planted aquarium.
15.5.2. Fertilizer Programs
There are several planted aquarium commercial fertilizer “lines” of several products, all designed to be used together in a “program”. Easily 80% of the “fertilizers” in “programs” are pure unadulterated snake oil designed solely to get you to part with sizable chunks of money.
15.5.1. Ready Made Fertilizers
Ready Made Fertilizers: The easiest approach to planted aquarium fertilizing is to simply use Aquarium Co-Op Easy Green™ per the instructions on the container. Easy. Simple. Reasonably effective but expensive.
2.15. Cycling a Planted Aquarium
Cycling a planted aquarium is tricky. If the plants start growing from the get-go the plants can absorb the ammonia before the beneficial bacteria can get to it.
15.5. Aquarium Fertilizing
Aquarium Fertilizing can be done in several ways. This article explains a couple of aquarium fertilisation methods.
15.4. Types of Planted Aquariums
There are many types of planted aquariums! Many of the successful planted aquariums in the world are very simple affairs without carbon dioxide additions and pretty much ANY combination of substrates, plants, aeration and filtration.
15.3. Fish Limitations in a Planted Aquarium
There are fish limitations in a planted aquarium. Having a lot of fish and plants is not an easy combination
15.2. Fish for a Planted Aquarium
There are plenty of Fish for a Planted Aquarium. This article helps in choosing the right ones.