Hi. I think I'm at the point where I need to start dosing with fertilizer. I have a 55g tank with 110watts of cf lighting. I have 2 amazon swords, some bunches of water sprite, some java fern mounted on a coconut shell, a bunch of jungle vals, some crypts, a couple of bunches of anacharis and an anubias nana. Im starting to see some signs of nutrient deficiency: slow growth, pale leaves, etc. Very little algae, though, so that's good. I have some flourite mixed in with the gravel. For the amazons I made these plastic rings with holes in them. I stuck them in the gravel, scooped out the gravel inside the ring and replaced it with flourite (It goes down about 3 inches). Then I placed the swords' roots on top, covered with more flourite and covered that with gravel.
Nitrates are barely registering in my tank. Ammonia and nitrite are zero. It's been up and running for over a year and is cycled. I don't know what my actual tap readings are for phosphorous and potassium. The county water authority reports that the tap water in my area contains, at most, 1.77ppm phosphate (.21ppm on avg) and 2.48ppm potassium (.88ppm on avg) and 9.42ppm nitrates (4.53ppm on avg, which is close to what my test kit reports).
My pH is 7.5 (which is close to the avg value of 7.3). My temp is at a relatively constant 75 F. I do not use CO2, mostly because I haven't had the time to put together a DIY unit. I leave the lights on for 12 hours a day and the tank doesn't get any direct sun light.
If I start dosing, can I get a general, all purpose aquatic plant fertilizer for my macro nutrients? Or, should I try to get some combination of individual containers of N, P, and K? Also, what kind of values should I be looking for for micronutrients and which ones? I can get the data on those, too, just don't know which ones to focus in on. Thanks a lot.
Nitrates are barely registering in my tank. Ammonia and nitrite are zero. It's been up and running for over a year and is cycled. I don't know what my actual tap readings are for phosphorous and potassium. The county water authority reports that the tap water in my area contains, at most, 1.77ppm phosphate (.21ppm on avg) and 2.48ppm potassium (.88ppm on avg) and 9.42ppm nitrates (4.53ppm on avg, which is close to what my test kit reports).
My pH is 7.5 (which is close to the avg value of 7.3). My temp is at a relatively constant 75 F. I do not use CO2, mostly because I haven't had the time to put together a DIY unit. I leave the lights on for 12 hours a day and the tank doesn't get any direct sun light.
If I start dosing, can I get a general, all purpose aquatic plant fertilizer for my macro nutrients? Or, should I try to get some combination of individual containers of N, P, and K? Also, what kind of values should I be looking for for micronutrients and which ones? I can get the data on those, too, just don't know which ones to focus in on. Thanks a lot.
into my tank. And I have yet to refill it and its been a year and a half. With s/h and all taxes and fees I figure i got around $200 in my co2 setup and that was buying stuff for about as cheap as I could get it.