Fertilizer Help

[carttman]

I will not be adding CO2 to my tank, but I have been told that I should still use fertilizer. I was on Big Als web site yesterday looking for fertilizers but I did not know which one to get. Can someone tell me if I should get a liquid or root tabs? Also what is a good brand, how much should I add and how often?

 

[SnakeIce]

I use my own diy versions. If you have a low fish load Grant's Stump Remover, Greenlight Stump remover, is an adequate source of K and N in the form of KNO3. My source of P is Fleet Enema.

I use Chuck Gadd's calculator on his web page to make a stock solution of KNO3 and use a small dropper to dose the Fleet. When I had my 20 gallon set up and tested no P in the water I only needed 3 drops to bring it up to the 1 ppm recomended to balance 10 ppm nitrate. If you have more fish in the tank and don't need to dose for Nitrate as much you will need to dose some K. NuSalt or KCl is what is used for that.

I use flourish for my trace element mixture.

I know there are comercial products you can buy that are marketed for use but the diy route is so much cheaper that I prefer it.

 

[magicmagni]

The ferts really depend on what the amount of light is. More light=fast growth and more ferts including C02.

Plants need light, C02, Macro nutrients and Micro nutrients. The rates at which all of these things are used up from the water all depend on the growth rate, which is linked to the intensity of the lighting.

Some people grow plants just fine on Tap water and fish food/waste, while others like myself add a whole lot of off the shelf chemicals and trace mixes to keep up with the demand of the plants or else we see deficiencies.