Retirement and forum shutdown (17 Jan 2022)
Hi,
John Howell who has managed the forum for years is getting on and wishes to retire from the role of managing it.
Over the years, he has managed the forum through good days and bad days and he has always been fair.
He has managed to bring his passion for fish keeping to the forum and keep it going for so long.
I wish to thank John for his hard work in keeping the forum going.
With John wishing to "retire" from the role of managing the forum and the forum receiving very little traffic, I think we must agree that forum has come to a natural conclusion and it's time to put it to rest.
I am proposing that the forum be made read-only from March 2022 onwards and that no new users or content be created. The website is still registered for several more years, so the content will still be accessible but no new topics or replies will be allowed.
If there is interest from the ITFS or other fish keeping clubs, we may redirect traffic to them or to a Facebook group but will not actively manage it.
I'd like to thank everyone over the years who helped with forum, posted a reply, started a new topic, ask a question and helped a newbie in fish keeping. And thank you to the sponsors who helped us along the away. Hopefully it made the hobby stronger.
I'd especially like to thank John Howell and Valerie Rousseau for all of their contributions, without them the forum would have never been has successful.
Thank you
Darragh Sherwin
Growing aquatic plants in semi-green house / shed
I have searched about the subject on the forum but maybe I have missed the thread so please let me know if that’s the case.
Basically I have been thinking about propagating plants for a long time, especially Anubias which I find great and want more of. As of now I have only really done it in submersed form. They just grow so slow and I want to find out the best way to grow them faster without too much fancy equipment. I know there are many great enthusiasts of aquatic plants here and I am sure I'll get great advice.
Yesterday I bought the Practical Fishkeeping Magazine and there was an article about Anubias which I suppose gave me a kick in the bum to get started.
I have access to this semi-green house:
Would it be an idea to start using this or am I better of growing them indoors, I have not measured the night and day time temperatures yet.
I am aware that Anubias does not like it too sunny so perhaps the greenhouse / shed is not the best idea?
My plan is to grow them semi-emersed, ie leafs above the waterline, has anyone done this and do they grow much faster this way? In early tests the plant kept moist just by condensation.
I have e few of these seed boxes too which I was thinking of using either indoors or in the shed:
Looking forward to hear you views.
Melander
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Melander
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Very good advice from both of you, thanks!
@Kev I am was concerned about the fluctuations until I read your reply I was more worried about the night time drop though.
@Darren The Styrofoam boxes sounds like great idea, not only for the insulating properties. I'm definitely going to get a few of them and i actually found a few pieces of Plexiglas sheets in the shed which could serve as lids.
I have a feeling that this project will be a slow growing one(no pun intended) but in a way it suits me well as I can experiment with different soils and methods to see what works best.
Melander
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The difficulty here is keeping the temperatures consistently warm. It's well worth checking out Tom Barr's Dry Start Method:
www.barrreport.com/showthread.php/3594-T...or-Planted-Aquariums
The plants need kept in a warm and very humid area with lots of light and nutrients. Normally the humidity is achieved by covering with cling film or a tightly fitting lid.
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@Omen: The Dry Start Method sounds like an excellent trick, definitely something I would consider for the future. Regarding the transition from emersed and submersed form (and vice versa) is there a trick to do it without chocking the plant, would a slow transition for instance make a difference?
@NosIreland: I was planning on growing them emersed and actually held one of those heated propagator in the store the other day but decided against it. You said they grew faster in your tanks and I have to ask If your tank was set up for good plant growth (proper lights, c02)? My tanks are definitely not set up for plants growth and I was hoping to grow the plants waster emersed than where they are a.t.m.
Cheers,
Melander
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@Kev: Sounds great, I’ll try that. I was thinking of doing a test with a number of plants using different fert, soil, light etc. I know i could just look it up but i quite fancy the idea.
@NosIreland: That’s what i was thinking, my only concern with natural light is the Anubias, famous for doing well in the shade. I believe several forms I have had have done great in quite strong light in the past but I'm not sure about direct sunlight.
Cheers,
Melander
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@Omen: That's reassuring to hear, I am sticking to the easy to keep plants I have at the moment anyway and they will go back to matured tanks so the transition should not be a problem then.
I feel that I have gotten the answers I was looking for and have moved my first little Anubias nana to an emersed state. I'm going to stick to containers inside at the moment until we have gotten the "green shed" going with regular vegetables.
Would be a great little circle: using fish waste as fertilizer for growing aquatics plants and courgettes for the fish
Thanks for the help lads!
Melander
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The water butt is another good ide. I have a couple of large black cattle troughs with at the bottom which I was thinking of using for something similar but a water butt would probably be better, and have less visual impact in the garden.
Melander
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