liquid fertiliser vs those in the soil

**wllm33** · 28th Aug 2009, 21:50

can anyone explain in which instance do we use liquid fertiliser, and when do we use those put in the soil like root monster.

is there any exceptional situation where one is preferred to the other?
Or is one superior to the other.
E.g. if i just bought a new plant and put in my tank, which is the better choice?
thanks

**barmby** · 31st Aug 2009, 12:57

Allow me to try.

It will be minute difference if you dose sufficient fertilizer into the water column. Why? Because there are some folks (like me) who can grow huge Echinodorus in lapis sand without base fertilizer. What I did was only insert root monsters back then. Anyway I lost the plant due to malnutrition too. Another reason could be that I hold back on my NPK dose.

To answer this thread - I think both methods are required for new plants been introduced. Because we do not want the new plants to be starved as older plants are much settled in this case. Therefore, there are excesses for new plants to use. However, be mindful that excess could be an issue if no one is ready to use the excess.

**torque6** · 2nd Sep 2009, 21:11

I have a 1year setup, planted tank, started with a regular dosing regime but somehow had more persistant algae problems for months. I have stopped dosing for almost 9 months now, havent had algae nor plants dying. Infact, i had to trimm and prune all my plants every 2 weeks.

I believe if you are using soil base subtrate like those of ada 2 and gex, these rich nutrients would actually leech back into the water column, ensuring good growth for plants. Of course knowing this, you have to regulate co2/ lights output to manage balance plants uptake of nutrients.

**StanChung** · 3rd Sep 2009, 18:55

Originally Posted by wllm33

can anyone explain in which instance do we use liquid fertiliser, and when do we use those put in the soil like root monster.

is there any exceptional situation where one is preferred to the other?
Or is one superior to the other.
E.g. if i just bought a new plant and put in my tank, which is the better choice?
thanks

You have to figure out if your plant is a 'root feeder' or a 'leaf feeder'.
Typically plants prefer one method over the other but they can feed both ways in general. They can even change they way they eat in different stages of their growth.

Crypts & Echinodorus are typically root feeders with large underground networks once they're established so using soil and root tabs works great for them.

Stem plants in general prefer water column dosing in the beginning when first planted but once they've established roots then they would take advantage of that as well.

The substrate plays an important role as the plant food buffer in case the water column's run out. So it would generally be a little easier to grow plants in soil than in sand or gravel because of the extra food storage factor.

**wllm33** · 3rd Sep 2009, 23:52

thanks for the explanation.
can advise if i just bought plants like hair grass, gujing and downoi and planted into my tank soil, will it be fair to say that i need to use both the liquid fert and soil fert together till the roots take to make sure that they don't melt before they settle and establish themselves in my tank.
cos they are not exactly cheap and i would just like to keep them alive.
thanks