Plant Fertilizers

Without knowing a great deal more about what you are trying to do, and how your tank is set and oerated, that is really difficult to answer.

I do think that folks who are new to plants will do better sticking with a single line of products, and I do think that Seachem has a very good plant product line. I use it myself.

You might want to do a search on "plantbrain" or Tom Barr here on AC. He has responded many times with planted tank care and feeding guidelines, and very good ones.
 
Tom Barr was very helpful for me as well, you can do a search on my user name and find some of the advice that he gave me. I must say that it was very good advice because my plants are growing like mad - I prune weekly. My plants also pearl everyday. I do use the SeaChem line, and am very happy with the results. I use Trace, Iron, Excel very carefully (as I only have DIY co2), and then I bought powdered potassium sulfate, potassium nitrate, and potassium phosphate from www.litemanu.com You can get the ferts in small quantitites. In addition, SeaChem has potassium, nitrogen, and phosphorus ferts in liquid form now.
But, I have a very brightly lit tank (55 gallon with 220 watts of light) and I do a 50% water change every week.

If you have a low light tank, things do change a bit. I don't know what you need to do with a low light tank as I'm new to the planted aquarium hobby and have chosen to go high light.

Also, you might not have to dose certain ferts - have your water company give you a list of the minerals, chemicals, etc. in your water. Your water may be high in nitrates and phosphates and you would not need to fertilize for these macronutrients.
Hopefully Tom will help you out - he really helped me
 
For less light etc, same dosage, but less frequency. High light: 3x a week, medium 2x aweek, low light 1x a week, 50% weekly water changes.

Rules change if you use non CO2/Carbon enriched tank methods.

I think your tap is fine, your dosing of the CO2 might not be, blame that before you even consider all the other options. RO water taste good and I use mine for that but never for a fish/plant tank.

I use 4 basic things in addition to light, and CO2 gas from pressure tanks:

KNO3
K2SO4
KH2PO4
SeaChem Flourish

Substrate: Flourite or Onyx.

Weekly 50% water changes. If your tap has high enough PO4's, you will not need any KH2PO4 but it will not hurt to grab some just in case, it's cheap and 1 lb will last a decade or two.

SeaChem now makes a nitrogen supplement but the KNO3, K2SO4 etc are cheap.
Regards,
Tom Barr
 
I don't think you'll need multiple reactors but 2 x 2liter bottles will be needed for a 55gal.
You can copy the reactor designs from a couple of places or look around on the web.
I highly suggest that you use a decent active reactor to fully dissolve the gas.
The design on the krib is good.
The gravel vac deisgn can be altered for DIY by attaching the CO2 input to the suction side of the pump. When the pump is off, the bubble escape out the top of the tank. You can also drill a hole into the tube so that only a specific amount will ever fill up the tube and the rest of the gas will burp out the hole.

You can reduce the size of the tube or cut it in half down to 4 to 6 inches and place a bio ball in the way or a sponge to keep the gas from escaping so much.
You can also use an elbow to direct the gas to hit the side of the tube thereby not needing any bio balls/sponge but still being able to use a short smaller reactor tube. A small 100GPH will do well.

Even in a low light tank like you are planning, the CO2 will help a great deal.
Crypts do especially well. Weekly water changes and weekly dosing afterwards is all you need for such a tank. Provide a fairly deep iron rich substrate.

Regards,
Tom Barr
 
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