Fertilizing Plants - Necessary?

webcricket

webcricket

(So chill.) No wonder it's freezing
Mar 22, 2006
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Syracuse, NY
How do I determine if I need to supplement my planted tank with additional liquid fertilizers? So far everything is growing well under 20 watts of lighting with some root tabs I placed on 7/25 (have since done three 40% water changes) - and all the new growth is healthy looking and green. Should I be adding fertilizers even if everything is looking okay? What kinds do you recommend?
 
There is no way to answer that question without knowing some basic information about your tank.
20 watts over a 5.5 gal. or 10 gal. would work fine, but over a 20 or larger would probably not be effective over time.
Type of fluorescent and watts per gallon often determine need for nutrient dosing, but fish load, plant mass etc. is also information that is helpful before making any suggestions.
Make sure you don't disturb those 'root tabs' until well after they are spent, or you could be looking at an algae bloom you wouldn't believe. IMO, they are not a necessary nutritional additive and further can cause more problems than they cure. Be careful with them.

Len
 
Sorry I should have specified that it's my 10 gallon with 20 watts full spectrum fluorescent lighting. As far as fish bioload, right now there are three 1 inch platies in the tank and it will be home to 2 or 3 dwarf puffers and 2 otos in the near future. The plants are:

+Brown Wendtii Crypt 6" tall and 6" round/full with runners
+Java Fern 7" tall over 10 large leaves anchored to cypress driftwood
+Windelov's Fern 5" tall 7 leaves of various size and new leaflets sprouting anchored to cypress driftwood
+Red Melon Sword 8" tall and 9 large leaves plus new growth
+Lloydiella 5 8" well rooted stems and 4 5" top of stem trimmings growing like weeds
+Baby Tears 1" to 2" inch carpet filling out along the front with lots of side growth

I am going for the densely planted look. I'm not seeing any worrisome algae growth. Ammonia 0, Nitrite 0, Nitrate 5ppm (stays pretty steady there), GH and KH each 120, pH at 7.4 (a bit lower than tap and my unplanted tanks but probably due to the driftwood).

I'm not planning on using the root tabs any longer - they were just to get the rooted plants established during the first couple of weeks. If anything, I'll be looking into the liquid fertilizers.
 
If you have no algae issues and the plants are growing you may not need to fertilize much of anything, but if you find the need the Seachem's Flourish line of ferts. would be the way to go.
But even if you do fertilize go very lightly initially and check the plants for growth.
A weekly water change will be necessary or you will get a build up of excess nutrients that you don't need and can cause problems. This will really become important once you add the extra fish.
As you can probably tell, I am not a fan of in-substrate fertilization. Too many horror stories when people have disturbed them prematurely, and I've never used them and many of my plants are so-called 'root feeders'. My plants grow just fine without them.

Len
 
Thanks for the advice! I shall keep a close eye on the plants for signs of deficiency and start in small doses of fertilizers if anything comes up. I do already perform 40% (or so) water changes weekly on my tanks, so nutrient build-up shouldn't be an issue.
 
Make sure you have enough nitrate. A lot of people were taught that Nitrates were bad but without them your plants will starve.
 
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