Hi everyone. I'm a noob to the aquatic plant world. For the past couple years, I have kept java ferns as well as wisteria in my tanks successfully, but without having to invest in any supplemental additives and nutrients. I am looking to heavily plant my 16g, and I've just placed an order for 3 cryptocoryne (wendtii), a bunch of dwarf sags, a bunch of corkscrew vallisneria, some rotala indica, and some anubias nana. I tried to shoot for low light, beginner plants. I was looking around my local PetSmart today, and was wondering if any of their products were worth buying. The substrate in my 16g is pool filter sand, and it does have driftwood (if that makes a difference), but otherwise I do nothing special for the tank. I was looking at the root tabs, but apparently these are only to be used for tanks with gravel? I suppose that makes sense. I was interested in some liquid ferts, and they had SeaChem Flourish, Hagen PlantGro, and API Leaf Zone. Flourish seems to be the most popular. The latter two appear to provide mainly iron and potassium. Which is these would be best, or would they be better used in combination? They also has Flourish Iron, which was really cheap. In what scenario would this product be necessary?
One other question I have is about CO2 systems.. Honestly enough, I wasn't looking into setting one up, as it seems to be more than I want to get into. However, PetSmart has a Hydor CO2 kit that is reduced from $50 to $20. Would this be worth it for my tank? I did not see the refills and the package said it lasted up to 45 days.. I figure since my tank will be pretty heavily planted, a CO2 system would not be a bad idea, right?
Also, another pet store has almost all of their Kent aquatic plant products on sale from $10 to $5. I was in a rush so I didn't really get to stop and look at the specific products, but I was wondering if anyone had experience with them and could tell me if any of them would be a good idea for my tank?
Sorry about all of the questions. Thanks in advance for any input!
One other question I have is about CO2 systems.. Honestly enough, I wasn't looking into setting one up, as it seems to be more than I want to get into. However, PetSmart has a Hydor CO2 kit that is reduced from $50 to $20. Would this be worth it for my tank? I did not see the refills and the package said it lasted up to 45 days.. I figure since my tank will be pretty heavily planted, a CO2 system would not be a bad idea, right?
Also, another pet store has almost all of their Kent aquatic plant products on sale from $10 to $5. I was in a rush so I didn't really get to stop and look at the specific products, but I was wondering if anyone had experience with them and could tell me if any of them would be a good idea for my tank?
Sorry about all of the questions. Thanks in advance for any input!
