# Your Biggest Challange



## trenac (Jul 16, 2004)

What as been your biggest challenge in maintaining a planted tank?

For me in the beginning it was algae then later on it became the fertilization routine. Both go hand in hand, so I voted for algae control. Now I have a grasp on both.


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## Gomer (Feb 2, 2004)

Overcoming lazyness.

Some times I get lazy and decide I don't want to add ferts, prune, WC etc...this lazyness can extend for way way longer than should be allowed LOL.


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## Piscesgirl (Feb 25, 2004)

BBA in my 55 gallon loach tank has been my greatest challenge. I'm almost at the point where I want to up the water flow and forget the plants. I think my loaches would be much more happier with that, too....


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## SnakeIce (May 9, 2005)

for me it is equipment. I am still trying to get a tank together where the light, CO2(don't have any addition of), substrate and what ever else make it so I can grow plants like i want to.

first it was epoxied gravel, switched out to small river gravel, switched to flourite. then I figured out that the eclipse hood on the 20 gallon was to little and uneaven lighting. 3 years later I've down graded to a 10 gallon with the same amount of light, but no co2. I'm discovering it takes more cheap bulbs to produce the same effect.

6 months ago I started saveing for a 75 gallon setup. I have the tank, experience gained building a 20 long stand and tools. I'm broke again. Education comes first.

so I guess for me it is money.


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## Cavan Allen (Jul 22, 2004)

Getting rid of _Monosolenium tenerum_ has been my biggest challenge. One day I will be victorious.


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## John P. (Nov 24, 2004)

Having my wife "permit" me to spend any time whatsoever on my "fish tank."


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## Gaijin (Sep 8, 2005)

The Japanese prices!!!


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## Bert H (Mar 2, 2004)

As crazy as this sounds it has been the realization and acceptance of the fact that an excess of all nutrients doesn't mean you will get algae.


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## MatPat (Mar 22, 2004)

Hmm, I think maybe you need an "everything" category  

At first it was the algae, then it was learning how to prune, then what to do with all of the extra plants I was growing. It became hard to keep up with the pruning. 

The extra plants issue was solved by giving them away and selling some. Then it was finding slow growing plants that I liked to replace the faster growers. Once these started growing well, same problem as before, what to do with the plants again. Simple, buy more tanks! 

Now that I had the tanks came the collectoritis stage, setting up the Tonina tank, learing how to balance additions of KH and GH to adjust the RO water for the Tonina tank. The challenge after that was letting go of the Tonina tank. 

The two challenges I am facing now are learning to create a decent "aquascape" and deciding to get rid of some of the smaller tanks (two 55's) for a larger tank (75g or 180g). It is definately a challenge to let go of tanks, especially when you have DIY'd everything for them except for the tank itself!


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## stcyrwm (Apr 20, 2005)

My biggest challenge has been sorting through all the conflicting and sometimes confusing information about planted aquariums........

Bill


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## Morbida (Aug 15, 2005)

My biggest challenge is starting in such a small tank , going a bit against the grain of everyone else, as well as chosing plants for my first adventure.


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## EcleckticGirl (Jul 26, 2005)

Aside from what Bill said in post #10 about sorting out conflicting information about the best way to do things, my biggest challenge has been just how to actually plant the plants. The gravel I started with was too coarse despite being what I thought was fine enough, it was what I could find on the shelf of the LFS in a large bag rather than the teeny tiny bags (though in retrospect those small bags would have been my better bet despite the greater cost). That coarse gravel fought me with inserting the stem plants and plants floated up overnight until I switched to a coarse grit type gravel (a find at building site actually). 
Even now I am not sure about placement and distance about some things -- if I should be leaving more room between larger leaved plants, or place some stems closer together on the finer leaved ones. Placement is also an issue with the lighting due to the shading of certain areas of the tank, and so I watch and wait and wonder if I am doing things right.


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## Paul Higashikawa (Mar 18, 2004)

Aside from being able to acquire all the technical equipments(due to financial, time, personal reasons, etc...), my greatest challenge is Patience itself.

Sometimes I tend to forget that what I am dealing with are plants. And still sometimes I forget and rearrange things, which does nothing but even makes their growth slower. 

Recently, I've learned to be more patient and relax more. They have been growing wonders ever since


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## CrownMan (Sep 12, 2005)

I agree with Paul. My biggest problem is PATIENCE. I tend to modify my plan too much. My next biggest problem is Algae. That's probably why I don't have any patience. I have had 2 of my 4 smallish tanks in the past 3 years get destroyed by algae blooms.

Mike


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## JanS (Apr 14, 2004)

My biggest challenge is stopping myself from buying every plant I think is cool, then winding up with a mish-mash that looks like heck in my tank. There are just too many appealing ones out there, and not enough tanks in my house.


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## Phil Edwards (Jan 22, 2004)

High light stemplant tanks are my biggest challenge. I have the hardest time getting a feel for them and how to achieve a the type of dynamic equilibrium they need in terms of nutrition vs. light intensity. High light rosette and epiphyte tanks are a cinch compared to stem tanks.


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## trenac (Jul 16, 2004)

Wow, we have a challanged bunch here [smilie=b: ...I knew I should have went with more choices.


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## JeffB (Mar 24, 2005)

My biggest challenge right now is aquascaping. Making my tank look more then an under-water jungle.

Next is algae. I know I will never be absolutely algae free, but I want it to be. I don't want to see spots of bba starting on my hair grass or amazon swords. Nor green spot starting on my filter intake.


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