Reply With QuoteNot too sure about 1. but for 2. you might not want to add the ferts anyway the plants are quite low maintenance or simply remove some of the frogbits
Hi guys! I have 2 tanks that I'm thinking of whether I need to add liquid fertilisers.
1. 4ft 175gallon tank (including sump)
Using GRAVEL, and 1w/gal of light, filled with Java fern(tied to driftwood), some frogbits and Amazon sword (rooted into gravel)
Some of my plants leaves are turning black and I'm wondering if I should add Seachem Flourish to it.
It has around 40+ Neon tetras, 1 rainbow shark, 2 neon dwarf Rainbowfish, 4 angelfish, 2 pea puffers, 6 corydoras and around 8 ghost shrimps.
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2. 1ft Nano shrimp tank, 2gallon
Using GEX shrimp soil, 12W light (turned on for around 4hrs a day or less. (Sometimes only using 6w)
Has some anubias nana tied to a driftwood and some Java moss.
Contains 30+ cherry shrimps and 2 rams horn snail.
Should I add seachem flourish too?
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Not too sure about 1. but for 2. you might not want to add the ferts anyway the plants are quite low maintenance or simply remove some of the frogbits
For the 4ft tank, yes you will need to dose some seachem potassium and flourish, since you might be feeding your fishes daily. I would suggest you also insert root tablets into the gravel underneath each Amazon Sword as they are heavy root feeders.
For the shrimp tank, i think it will be better not to dose any flourish as it contains copper, and invertebrates are sensitive to copper. Most shrimp foods and supplements should provide enough nutrients for those low requirement plants.
I'm kinda lazy to reach into the tank and stuff root tablets... Can I just pour seachem flourish?
But your gravel has no nutrient, if you dose only flourish might not be enough for swords.
Hmmmm as of now the Amazon swords are not looking like they're dying... How much are the root tablets and if I do add them, what else would I need?
You might need to dose Potassium too? Phosphate and nitrate can get from fish waste. For root tabs, gotta depend on which brand you buy, some brands contain only micro nutrients, while some have NPK only
Damn I thought Amazon swords were low maintenance plants... Why need potassium also? O.o
Low maintenance plants mean they don't need trimming or less frequently, due to the slower growth and thus low light requirement. But that doesn't mean they don't need nutrients at all. In fact all plants need macro and micro nutrients to photosynthesis and grow. When the plants are nutrient-starved, they will shed their older leaves and conserve the remaining nutrients for new growth.
Potassium is one of the macro nutrients required by plants to in order to utilise all the other macro and micro nutrients, in many setups, potassium tends to be quickly used up and deficient so plants can't use the other nutrients even if they are available in ample amounts. Hence its usually recommended to dose ferts containing good levels of potassium.
Yeah, all plants need light, nutrients and Co2 to photosynthesis and grow... when nutrients are insufficient they stop growing and start to die back.
Most people start planted tanks nowadays using active soil substrates (ie. ADA Amazonia aquasoil) which supply ample nutrients during the initial few weeks and months of plant growth. So they don't need to dose as much ferts initially. Even then they will eventually still need to dose additional ferts as the nutrients from the soil will gradually run out.
In your case with the use of only inert gravel substrate, if you want to grow healthy plants, definitely need to dose fertilisers to supplement their nutrient requirements, as you don't have the benefit of active soil nutrients to help the plants grow.
Root tabs or sticks will help the rooted plant growth in your tank, just use a pincettes and push each tab/stick into the substrate near the plants. They can last for a few weeks to a few months (depending on plant take-up rate and growth). This has the added benefit of supplying nutrients directly to the plant roots, rather than flooding the water column with ferts whereby algae may end up using instead.
Hello! Just an update of my Amazon plants in plain black gravel without any root tabs whatsoever, there's a few small holes on some of the leaves with shorter stems but there's this one long shoot that grew out and it didn't have any leaves at first. After quite some time, there's now a lot of leaves growing on the shoot!
So I guess everything is sort of doing well?
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That is adventitious root form the sword, you can cut the plants that are already with roots and replant it.Originally Posted by Ryan Peh
Hello! Just an update of my Amazon plants in plain black gravel without any root tabs whatsoever, there's a few small holes on some of the leaves with shorter stems but there's this one long shoot that grew out and it didn't have any leaves at first. After quite some time, there's now a lot of leaves growing on the shoot!
So I guess everything is sort of doing well?
ImageUploadedByTapatalk1449488408.852668.jpg
For Amazon plant put in some root tab, if you need some i can spare some,PM me.
Hello! I'm looking to start using flourish excel for my 1ft nano tank. I'm intending to plant monte Carlos and I'm wondering if using shrimp soil and dosing flourish excel or what do I dose, would allow the plants to grow?
Or should I buy other type of soil instead for the 1ft tank?
Seachem Excel is a liquid carbon supplement which can help plant growth... though you may still need to dose fertilizer nutrients to help the plants grow.
You could look at using all-in-one fertilizers like (ie. Seachem Flourish Comprehensive) to support the plant growth.
The other option is to use root fertilizer tablets or sticks (ie. Seachem Flourish Tabs) which you can insert into the substrate to provide nutrients directly to the plant roots.
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