Fertalizers for my 10 gallon

[Stohz]

So I was just wanting some advice one what all I should get for my planted 10 gallon.

Right now I have seachem flourish and excell. I have a low light tank approx. 1.5 watts per gallon. Plants seem to be doing fine, (not dying) but not really growing. Any suggestions? I've been looking at flourish iron, potassium, and nitrogen.


Thanks

 

[Slappy*McFish]

Try DIY CO2. What exactly do you have for lighting, BTW?
If it's a standard 15w fluorescent, then that's more than likely your problem.

 

[red_wall]

Erm. Immediate advice is to up the lighting. What plants do you have?

 

[jmhart]

With 15w of fluorescent lighting over a 10g tank, you have a very nice low light setup. The addition of Seachem Flourish as a trace mix is great. Seachem Excel is nice as well, but not fully required. You don't need anything else, and adding anything else would probably only cause you problems.

The plants will be slow growing. Adding DIY CO2 would speed them up a little, but the only way to make them really fast growing is to increase the lighting to 25-30 watts, add co2, and add additional fertilizers. This requires an investment of time and money.

 

[BoCoMo]

Will you post a pic of your lighting? If it is a dual incandescent bulb set-up (like I see on most beginning 10 gallons) replacing the two incandescent bulbs with two 15 watt flourescents (available in Wal-Mart's pet section) you can easily up your wattage high enough for good growth.

What are your goals with the tank? What type of plants?

If you would please post pics of your light or the underside of your aquarium hood.

 

[Stohz]

I do not have the 2 incandescent bulbs, it's just one long bulb. Yes I agree that I do need to upgrade lighting. At my LPS they sell the "incandescent type" of bulbs that are actually flourescent and 20 watts each. I have a hood that can hold those as well, so if I get two of those bulbs I'll have 40 watts for my 10 gallon.

 

[BoCoMo]

Sounds like a plan! What kind of plants?

 

[peanutbowl]

if you do decide to up the lighting, be prepared to start dosing ferts. have your NPK on hand and the iron might not be a bad idea either. also, if your water is soft ( gh < 4 to 5) consider picking up a gh booster like equilibrium or barr's gh booster as well. make sure you got a big ol bottle of excel to go with it all!

good times!

 

[peanutbowl]

oh, almost forgot. do some reading on dosing tactics. EI is probably the easiest to start with.