# New to the Forum



## darkswan (Nov 13, 2004)

Hi everybody!  

After reading (and learnt) a lot from this forum I finally decided to subscribe. I ask you a little patience from the beginning if my wording will be not fully understandable: english is not my mother language and I'll surely make a lot of mistakes... :? 
I'm firstly posting in this area of the forum because I'm really captured by the latest fertilizing techniques coming from the US. What amazes me most is that for the first time (at least in Europe) we are understanding causes/effects of dosing macro and microelements on plant flourishing. For the first time we get to know that we don't have to be scared by P and we'd rather add some N if the bio-load of fish population is not relevant. All these things, together with many others that you perfectly are aware of, convinced me to leave the old european school (mainly german and dutch) not just beacuse it's not valid but because it didn't explain to me the working principles of different fertilizers. You know, in Europe we have some well-known and estabilished brands/producers making their own products line from around 3 decades. The problem is that they do not declare contents and just tell you to put x drops on day y with an absolutely blind approach. I simply can't stand it any longer...
That's why I started following different approaches and experimenting a little further. Wondering through the web I had the chance to see creations from various contests partecipants (AGA, Aquabotanic...) and I asked myself why not following their techniques. This is the reason why I started to discuss the "Tom Barr" approach some months ago in a local italian Forum (Aquaplanta) with other guys. Fortunately I can count on the great support and knowledge of Giancarlo Podio who is active here in APC.
Details of my planted tank:
100 lt. - 0,75 W/lt. - CO2 not less than 30 mg/lt
weekly water change 50%: 20% tap water 80% RO water + 1 spoon Equilibrium
1 weekly dose of KNO3 - K2SO4 - enema fleet
2 weekly doses of 2 ml Flourish each

All values in range:
KH: 4
PH: 6,6
NO 3: 10 mg/lt
PO 4: 0,2 - 0,5 mg/lt

I dose KNO3 and fleet just once per week because I don't see a real need to do it more frequently: nutrients depletion (NO3-PO4) before water change are around 50% of initial levels...
How is the tank running? Well... mmmh..... BBA issues :? :? but I'd rather talk about it in the othe section. Isn't it?


----------



## trenac (Jul 16, 2004)

Welcome to forum, Darkswan. Glad to have you join us.


----------



## Laith (Sep 4, 2004)

Welcome to the forum...

I agree with you compeletely re the aquarium fertilizers available here in Europe.

I was using Dennerle's line of ferts until I noticed a deficiency and found there was no way to correct it with their products because I didn't know what was in each component. So I switched to my own dosing.

The only European fert which does list detailed composition is also very popular in the US. In fact I have never seen it in any lfs around here. And that product is Tropica Master Grow (TMG).


----------



## darkswan (Nov 13, 2004)

Laith said:


> Welcome to the forum...
> 
> I agree with you compeletely re the aquarium fertilizers available here in Europe.
> 
> ...


Hi Laith!

:wink: :wink: We both know the story... I can remember about 12 years ago, when being a "Dennerlist" or a "Duplist" was a kind of religious choice!!! Fortunately that time is (almost) over and now we can share experiences and understand a little better how it works! Thank you Internet!


----------



## Laith (Sep 4, 2004)

Yes, I agree.


----------

