Best time to fertilize

[Matak]

Is it true that plants take in nutrients at night? If this is true then would a couple of hours before "lights out" be the best time to dose? My feeling is that the less time the fertilizer is in the water, the less chance it has to create adverse effects, like algae blooms, fish stress (even if light) etc. Waddya think?

[djlen]

I don't know about that. I know that their uptake of CO2 goes way down practically to nothing at night. I think they are pretty dormant during dark time.
Len

[plantbrain]

The answer: besides CO2 if you consider it as a "nutrient", is no, they take up nutrients _all_ the time.
Eg NO3/NH4 etc. Some forms of Amino Acids vary diurnally due to photosynthesis, eg Glutamate and Glutamine.
Just don't let nutrients run out.

Regards,
Tom Barr