Woodsy
28th November 2008, 11:14 PM
Undoubtedly, the best part of my job is when a client approaches me and says, "I have this tank, I'm bored with it, and I want you to deck it out for me starting from scratch." Well, out comes the sketch pad and the fun begins. More often that not though, the client will through in a little something to make you stretch. So when my client (who we'll call, "John") said, "I love it, but can we do it with live plants instead?" I couldn't resist the challenge.
Until about a year ago I thought that a planted African cichlid aquarium was the thing of myth, but as I've become more and more of a plant geek of late, I've started to realise that it's not so far out of the question. Well, out came "Ecology of the Planted Aquarium" (Walstad), and I got to reading. It would seem that every time I pick that book up I pick up something new, and it's often the type of thing that you probably wouldn't think of unless someone pointed it out to you. Tonight it was understanding the different ways hard and softwater plants utilise calcium (and possibly why I've never been successful at growing Vallisneria!)
So since it's a first for me, I thought I'd start this little diary in the hope that it may be of help to someone in the future, and that some of you might even be able to help me out along the way :)
Until about a year ago I thought that a planted African cichlid aquarium was the thing of myth, but as I've become more and more of a plant geek of late, I've started to realise that it's not so far out of the question. Well, out came "Ecology of the Planted Aquarium" (Walstad), and I got to reading. It would seem that every time I pick that book up I pick up something new, and it's often the type of thing that you probably wouldn't think of unless someone pointed it out to you. Tonight it was understanding the different ways hard and softwater plants utilise calcium (and possibly why I've never been successful at growing Vallisneria!)
So since it's a first for me, I thought I'd start this little diary in the hope that it may be of help to someone in the future, and that some of you might even be able to help me out along the way :)