Fertilizer

[alkataz]

I have been reading up on ferts and I am really trying to avoid dosing all the parts individually. I was leaning towards using flourish and flourish trace to dose the tank. Does anyone have experience with these products?

It is a 30 gallon tank the will have a little over 3 wpg. It will be moderately planted. I am already prepared to dose co2.

[TwoTankAmin]

You might want to look into tropica's Plant Nutritian+ http://192.38.244.204/article.asp?type=news&id=687

[alkataz]

Anyone else have a suggestion?

[StereoKills]

Dose each one on alternating days, then on the 7th day you need to do a 50% water change. Basically EI dosing.

[alkataz]

I thought the dosing instructions were for once or twice a week for the flourish and twice a week for the flourish trace. Am I suppose to ignore these directions?

[leocom2000]

don't ignore the directions. Floarish and floarish trace won't give you enough NPK.

[Canuck]

Neither Flourish or Flourish Trace contain appreciable amounts of macronutrients. At 3 watts per gallon these will likely be necessary. Traces and macros cannot be mixed in one formula because phosphate and iron will bind together and become less available to plants. You will need Flourish for micronutrients and macronutrients dosed on alternating days. The Tropica fertilizer mentioned above looks like an easy option for macros. Another option, probably much cheaper, is to get potassium nitrate and monobasic phosphate that you can mix together and alternate with the Flourish. Flourish also sells individual macros Nitrogen, phosphate and potassium, that could be used in your routine. I believe Flourish Trace is only Flourish without the iron and probably unnecessary.

Dosing instructions can be found all over the web, www.rexgrigg.com is a good one. And the whole process is not nearly as complicated as it seems at first.

[Diann62]

I use Big Al's liquid plant fertilizer on my plants. I use it twice a week and my plants are flourishing.

[alkataz]

Okay so I should dose Flourish once to twice a week as the bottle states and does the macro elements which would be Flourish Nitrogen, Potassium and Phosphorus on alternating days?

[Canuck]

As long as you don't dose phosphorus and Flourish on the same day, your fine. The amounts (or dosing frequency) of fertilizers will be dependent on fish load, and plant mass and growth.

[trashion]

Or you can order dry ferts from Rex Griggs. www.bestaquariumregulator.com

Use that with Flourish and follow these directions:
James' Planted Tank - Estimative Index Explained (http://www.theplantedtank.co.uk/EI.htm)

That's good fertilizing.

[alkataz]

Okay I will read through the sites listed. I understand a lot better now. Thanks for the advice.