I appreciate the compliments my friend but come on, that tank is pretty boring without the green color. Of course the problem is not getting more plants but trying not to die, I'm not sure what they mean by "root tabs", but even the easiest plants wither in my tank, any suggestions?
Root tabs are little discs, approximately 0.5 inches in diameter, that you press into the substrate around your plants. They add nutrients and are supposed to encourage root growth. I use them around crypts, sword plants and vallisneria, especially in my sand-substrate tanks. I use a half or quarter tablet per plant once per month. I usually use the API ones here at
API Root Tabs. I've never used the Flourish tabs so I can't give you a comparison.
My plants are meant to be functional and to compliment the fish; none of my tanks are supposed to be brilliantly scaped visions of beauty, lol. In addition to the root tabs, the rest of my specific care regimen is Seachem Flourish Excel once a week and a home-made liquid fertilizer that a friend who's really into planted tanks came up with twice a month, mainly for my cabomba, hornwort, and this other stuff green, pink-trimmed stuff with actual leaves that grows like crazy (I can't remember what it is, maybe ludwigia). I don't have a lot of delicate plants, though, and my goal is really to keep the plants healthy so they serve their purpose as cover. One thing I will say, I used to have a heck of a time with plants until Mark started helping me. When he showed me how to make his liquid concoction, he told me to quit overthinking it and trying so hard, especially since I wasn't dealing with delicate plants.
WYite