Amazon Swords and ferts

[nickmcmechan]

I have a SA setup woth approx 60 Amazon Swords in a 55G

I use 3 x 1 litres bottles, refreshed once per week, yeast based CO2 injection

Nitrates never rise above 10ppm as I do 3 x 30% pwcs every week.

I've just bought (yesterday) and dosed with Flourish, Flourish Excel and Flourish Iron. 30 root tabs were placed in amongst the Swords 6 weeks ago.

The tank is so heavily planted I feel I cant honestly get root tabs in without ruining everything and stressing out the fish, which is why I'm using the Flourish combo.

My thinking is that some of the ferts on the water will sink thro' the gravel an nourish the roots.

Am I wasting my money?

I heard that Flourish contains a mild algicide, will this stop or clear the small amount of bba thats appearing on the swords?

i do have some brown leaves in amongst the swords, but some are very healthy looking

[echoofformless]

Swords like softer water - so you might want to consider peat filtration if you aren't already. (Which you should for a more "proper" SA setup.)

Root tabs should last a few months at most. I wouldn't worry about replacing for a while.

My swords do well with mild occasional doses of liquid ferts. Their leaves do absorb the nutrients. Excel will keep algae down.

Brown and dying leaves are normal with swords and are always replaced with nice new ones. In fact I had swords come back from two weeks of blackout. It all comes down to the roots with these plants from what I have observed.

Substrate is a consideration. Gravel will allow more circulation of liquid ferts to the roots. But I have found that swords like to root more in sandy substrates.

That is my knowledge so far.

[nickmcmechan]

thank you, excellent answers, thanks!

my water is soft (6.4-6.8 and peat filtered) and glad to hear about excel and algae.

thanks for the response, great to know i'm doing the right things!

the graveil is fine (1mm or less in size) so hope that helps the swords

[nickmcmechan]

just thought i'd say thanks for the advice...the swords are doing great now...seen a significan t difference in growth, even in the past week