fertilizers for plants

[joni_boi]

What brand of liquid plant fertilizer would you recommend me to buy. i'm kind of watching my budget so i don't want something too expensive like a CO2 fertilizer or something just a liquid fertilizer that works

 

[plah831]

what size tank do you have? And what kind of plants? How much lighting is there?

I ask because if it's low light, you don't even need a carbon source or ferts. With less light, there is less photosynthesis so the plants may not even be able to use the extras.

That's what I do in my low light tanks. Basically nothing extra needed, just 50% water changes every week to replenish minerals they have used up.

 

[Mgamer20o0]

if you need ferts then you need co2. as you add more light your plants will need co2. with even more lights then thats when they will start to need ferts.

with low light tanks you dont need co2 and ferts just like plah831 said. if you can answer the questions plah831 asked we can help better.

 

[sumthin fishy]

Blueiz has a great method for a DIY C02 setup. Not sure if its 100% her origional idea or not, but I know the yeast method has been used for some time. I just set it up for about $20 and should last me 3 months. Then about 1$ a month to refill it

 

[coupedefleur]

Greg Watson has a dry fert. that you can mix up to make "PMDD". You mix something like 5 tablespoons to 2 cups water, and use two drops of the mixture per 10 gallons every day. You can mix up a LOT of fertilizer for $9 !

http://www.gregwatson.com/products.asp

He also had a link to an interesting Tom Barr article about non-CO2 methods of growing plants:
http://www.barrreport.com/forums/showthread.php?t=395&highlight=methods

CO2 is a bit like a drug addiction that hobbyists get hooked on. That's fine, but this non CO2 approach will give an excuse to have another tank that needs less attention and is cheap.

I suggest folks coming from either the non CO2 or the CO2 enrichement approaches to give the other method a try and see what benefits it has.

CO2 and non CO2 tanks work for all the same reasons, but........
They grow at different rates.

Based off of my testing, I'd estimate close to 5 to 10 times slower than a CO2 enriched tank at 2-3 w/gal.

 

[Mgamer20o0]

yea greg watson does have some good stuff. the thing with that is depending on what they have they may or may not even need them.

 

[ImAGMan]

New To Planting.

oppps sorry