NMCM All Things Family Blog

Approaches To Supply Nutrients For Aquatic Plant Care

Previous articles have addressed plant nutrition and their roles in aquarium plant will address two main methods for supplying nutrients to submersed aquatic plants: the substrate and the water column. These two locations have been fiercely debated over the last 20 years and very intensely since the introduction of PMDD(Poor Man’s dosing Drops, or some referred to them as Poor Man’s Dupla Drops) back around 1995-1996. For the best results with aquarium plant, I highly suggest that everyone reading this also read the Sears and Conlin paper.

Water column:
Kevin Conlin among many others from the Aquatic Plant’s Digest mailing list helped to developed a cheap simple plant nutrient formulation using KNO3, MgSO4, K2SO4 and the CMS+Boron trace mix. This idea was based upon Liebig’s law of minimums and the prevailing limnology of northern lakes and papers from such researchers as Phillips et al 1978. The main concept was to provide enough PO4 for plant development, but not enough for algae to thrive. I had high PO4 in my tap water while dosing KNO3, K2SO4 and good traces, along with high CO2. Most hobbyists at the time (early to mid 1990’s) had 2-3 mm plain sand substrates, with laterite mixed into the lower 1/3 of the layer. Essentially this method was relying mostly on the water column for plant nutrition. This provides guideance on Aquarium Plant Fertilizer.

Several Dutch and German hobbyists had been adding soil and loam and getting good results as well and not adding KNO3 and K2SO4, but generally used Tropica Master Grow which has some Mg2+ and K+ added. Scientific support based on natural systems had significant support for this culture method (Barko and Smart, 1985, Phillips et al, 1978). This allowed both methods to work well but neither has significant growth over long time frames without nutrient restoration of the substrate, often experiencing unexplained lulls in plant growth and problems with growing particular aquatic plant species. It is also important to note, historical light intensities where much lower than today’s standards in terms of efficiency, color spectrum and reflector use. 1.5 to 2.0 watt per gallon where the normal ranges using T12 fluorescent lighting without reflectors at that time. 15ppm of Carbon Dioxide was the normal suggested CO2 range. Trace elements where added based on test kits for Fe. This means that growth was much slower and the aquarist had much more room to work with in terms of the sources of nutrients, smaller loading from biological waste still provided enough for the plants to get by fairly well, substrates alone could supply most of the nutrients at the slower growth rate. Then high light power compact fluorescent lighting dropped in price as did metal halide lighting. There was a strong trend to more light and higher color temperature. This in turn, led to more dependency upon inorganic fertilization methods, much like farms that require fertilizers to grow their crops year after year rather than a “balanced ecology” concept where food is gathered from wildlife and no fertilizers are utilized to enhance plant growth. When conversations of “balance” are brought up, the focus should be on balancing the natural biological waste with the plant uptake and nutrient needs. For a more modern approach, the Perpetual Preservation System Classic should also be considered as an alternative method towards plant nutrition.

Healthy Body

World Health Organization (WHO) defines health as a state of absolute mental, physical, and social well-being; not only the absence of infirmity or disease. Never take your Health for granted! Because if you do you just might lose your Health for good. There’s a saying that Health is Wealth and it is a very well said proverb. It’s a universal truth for every person living anywhere in the world irrespective of any factors.

Having a slim and healthy body is very much on people’s minds today. Most people consider a healthy body is about being fit. In reality a healthy body is a combination of many factors, of which exercise is a small part. A healthy body is achieved not only with physical wellbeing but also with a healthy mental and spiritual attitude. The way to good health and a healthy body is directly related to what is put into that body and how the body is treated.

If you want to be healthier, there are several ways to having more energy and a healthy body. One of the ways is through a healthy diet. A healthy diet is important to a better health because a good diet helps to prevent critical diseases such as obesity, heart attacks, and strokes. A good diet will also be helpful to treat diabetes, high blood pressure, and celiac disease. And if you need to prevent vitamin deficiency and loss of muscle strength, you have to eat a well-balanced diet and exercise regularly. Another way to maintain a healthy body is through a body detox.

Physical exercise plays a vital role in keeping the body fit. It is not possible to have a fit body without performing regular physical exercise. While the idea of body fitness generally is thought to involve mostly weight and heart health requirements. However, we need to think about other organs as well as the heart. They are just as important as that organ. The habit of doing physical exercise is actually very good for you as it provides benefits to the entire body. It helps to recover what has been depleted during the course of daily living and ensures that the body is adequately supplied with what it needs to function in a healthy fashion.

We’ve all heard the saying - a healthy body houses a healthy mind, and thanks to scientific research we now know this for a fact. Also, the opposite is equally true: a healthy mind equals a healthy body. If we learn to be in control of our emotional association to food, we will automatically take care of our bodies. The instant satisfaction we get from junk food caused a lot of people to make pleasurable association (in their subconscious minds) to these foods that lead to overeating and addiction. There’s another to keep your body healthy - through a body detox. Find out more about Orovo Detox here.

When a body is fit, it can cope with the appropriate foods, vitamins, and minerals. Being fit also means having good spiritual health. When all the body’s processes function at their peak levels, we say a body is fit. It takes more than merely going to the gym and taking occasional walks in the park. Form more information on how to have a healthy body, check out 1healthybody.com

Expect Only The Best From Your Child: Good Parent Info

Expect the best from your son or daughter. If you expect the best behavior and performance from your son or daughter, it’s often what you will get.

Children pick up on our beliefs about them, form a self-concept that matches that belief, and perform accordingly. If we expect them to be lazy, they’ll be lazy, which will confirm our expectations for them, and the cycle toward failure is started. If, on the other hand, we expect our children to be successful, productive, creative, and responsible and honestly believe it to be true, then our children can’t help but rise to the occasion and confirm our best opinions of them with their positive actions. So expect nothing but the best from your children and watch them fulfill your expectations.

Praise your son or daughter often when they perform a good deed or accomplish a new skill. Set simple, clear and consistent rules so your child knows exactly what is expected of them and the consequences of misbehaving or breaking the rules. Keep to a consistent daily routine for your son or daughter as much as possible, and make sure your son or daughter gets lots of physical activity and time to play and socialize with their friends. Encourage your son or daughter to learn how to make appropriate choices, and encourage your child to do things for themselves. Allow your son or daughter to talk about strong feelings, which will help them work through their anger and frustration.

Above all, you must try to be a positive role model for your son or daughter. As their strongest educator is your duty to set a good example. Take care of yourself, and expect the best from yourself. Make appropriate choices and be firm yet fair when disciplining your son or daughter. Ensure you spend lots of quality time with your son or daughter, and encourage them to become involved in activities that foster cooperation and a sense of accomplishment.

If you have great expectations of your son or daughter, you’ll be greatly pleased in the end.

An excellent way to spend quality time with your child is to have a shared interest or hobby. Face painting makes for a creative hobby. Children of all ages love getting their faces painted. And of course having some face painting skills is really useful for Halloween, other festivities and themed birthday parties.

Both parent and child can take great joy from learning how to face paint. Discover more
Face painting pictures
Face painting ideas