Please recommend most common & proven fertiliser regime

[gid]

Hey bros,

I am using a really uncommon brand of fertiliser now: Dymax Flora and Dymax Iron Essentials, plus excel too of course.

Dymax was a brand that came reccomended with the LFS when I started off as a total noob. They have been working well, but I'm thinking of switching to the more mainstream brands.

I have 2 tanks, both are low tech tanks, with 16w light, New Amazonia soil, GEX Slim HOF.


Tank A
Sakura Shrimps - 15 adults
Amber Tetras - 5
Otto - 2

Glosso
Mini Nana
Windelov Fern
Flame Moss

Tank B
Green Neon Tetras - 14
SAE - 1

Jap Hairgrass
Blyxia Japonica
Luwidja Bevipes


Please reccommend the most popular combi of ferts. Like, is there some sort of 101 regime and proven brand that everyone uses?

[diazman]

You could try using the Seachem ferts. they are quit good but $$. Alternatively you could try using lusgro products. Both brands have served me well. lusgro can order online and have them delivered to you

[Kenng]

You could try using the Seachem ferts. they are quit good but $$. Alternatively you could try using lusgro products. Both brands have served me well. lusgro can order online and have them delivered to you

What are the basic Seachem needed in priorities?
Flourish, then K then P and trace or?
Please help to advise. Thank you

[gid]

You could try using the Seachem ferts. they are quit good but $$. Alternatively you could try using lusgro products. Both brands have served me well. lusgro can order online and have them delivered to you

Thanks Diazman, I was thinking of seachem too. $ is not an issue, my tanks are small anyway.

Will the most basic combi be Flourish, Florish Iron and Excel? I have seen this their Plant Pack Fundamentals kit before, it comprises these 3 products and they say its good for basic beginner tanks,

[cherabin]

Hi gid, Flourish comprehensive is essentially trace elements. If you going for premix range of fertilizers from Seachem, then I would think you need the macros N, P, K, followed be trace by either Flourish comprehensive or Equilibrium. Iron will be good too especially for stem plants.

If you thinking of DIY, I can spare you some dry fertilizers from Dr Malick's.

[gid]

Hi gid, Flourish comprehensive is essentially trace elements. If you going for premix range of fertilizers from Seachem, then I would think you need the macros N, P, K, followed be trace by either Flourish comprehensive or Equilibrium. Iron will be good too especially for stem plants.

If you thinking of DIY, I can spare you some dry fertilizers from Dr Malick's.

Hello Cherabin

Thanks, but I thought most of the macros are naturally available in the tank? If I were to go for N P K, then I will have a whole suite of at least 6 bottles of ferts!

Will Flourish Comprehensive, Florish Iron and Excel be good enough?

Oh and thanks for the offering the dry ferts! I will sms you if I wanna go DIY.

[cherabin]

I use dry fertilizers for dosing of P and K. N is supplemented by Seachem Nitrogen while Fe, of course from Seachem Iron. Trace by Seachem Equilibrium. Daily dosing of Excel.

So far so good and all my tanks are low maintenance with mainly water top-ups.

[diazman]

What are the basic Seachem needed in priorities?
Flourish, then K then P and trace or?
Please help to advise. Thank you

Seachem's ferts are good but if you need macro, you have to purchase them separately. You will end up like 5-6 bottles of ferts. for plant growth you need the essential NPK followed by the micros. Seachem have them all.

[diazman]

Thanks Diazman, I was thinking of seachem too. $ is not an issue, my tanks are small anyway.

Will the most basic combi be Flourish, Florish Iron and Excel? I have seen this their Plant Pack Fundamentals kit before, it comprises these 3 products and they say its good for basic beginner tanks,

I used to dose my low techs with flourish only As bro cherabin says, its mainly trace compounds. If you need macro, you will have to get the NPK bottles separately. Used to have seachem ferts but there were too many bottles of them, so i switched for Lusgro Macro, Lushgro Micro and their dry fert KH2PO4. Dry fert is good as you can mix them a couple of times. 100g of those can last you a long time compared to liquid commercial brand

[gid]

Hey Cherbin & Diazman, but is it true that we do not need macro ferts as N P K are naturally available from the fauna's poop?

[diazman]

Hey Cherbin & Diazman, but is it true that we do not need macro ferts as N P K are naturally available from the fauna's poop?

I'm not really sure on that though. Usually i will dose them even if it's in a small quantity because i understock all my tanks

[dc88]

Hey Cherbin & Diazman, but is it true that we do not need macro ferts as N P K are naturally available from the fauna's poop?

In general most tank are short of micro because these trace elements usually got locked up quickly by the natural compounds in the tank soil, water, etc. The commercial micro (e.g. Seachem Flourish, Lusgro Trace, etc) has the trace elements held in suspension chemically and slowly releasing (broken down by action of light) to make available for the plant.
As for the Macro (N, K, P) if you have good soil and ample fishes (and fish food) there are always some amount in the tank, but it depends how hard you drive the tank (light level). If the plant is hyper-driven with very strong light level, and you add CO2, then the next thing that will run out usually the Macro (assuming you add Micro). Check out Seachem website there is a list to describe plant's nutrient deficiency. Also there is "good" nutrient vs "bad" nutrient (e.g. ammonia) which the later (from excess fish foods) will promote algae bloom. Hence we normally feed the fish sparingly and administer the macro for the plant to the level we can control.

[cherabin]

Hi gid, dc88 has summed it up very appropiately.

Anyway, since the Dymax are working very well for you as shown in the lastest pictures update of your tanks, is there any compelling reason to switch to a mainstream brand?

I'm a believer of 'if it ain't broken, don't fix it'

[gid]

Thanks dc88, from what you say, I think I will not need macro for now.

Hey Cherabin, yes I get where you are coming from. There is no reason to change actually. But it just feel weird not using the mainstream brand. My tanks are small so money is not an issue. I just wanna get the best of everything. But this mentality is quite amatuer-ish right? haha.

Things work well now, im just wondering if it can get better!

[diazman]

Thanks dc88, from what you say, I think I will not need macro for now.

Hey Cherabin, yes I get where you are coming from. There is no reason to change actually. But it just feel weird not using the mainstream brand. My tanks are small so money is not an issue. I just wanna get the best of everything. But this mentality is quite amatuer-ish right? haha.

Things work well now, im just wondering if it can get better!

haha, whatever brand you choose, make sure not to take in the "ista" fert brands though. I tried it in my tank and it became an algae farm

[bettarism]

Dry fertiliser based on EI dosing is still the best!

[gid]

Ok i finally made my decision to buy a new set of ferts. Cos I have actually been having some problems with my current regime. Plants are doing superb, but fauna can do better. In one tank, my sakuras seem to getting smaller in size even in adulthood, and there has been alot of shrimplet deaths, even though overall population is still growing. My other tank has got SAEs and neons jumping out every week.

This is my new set, all from Seachem:

*Florish
*Florish Excel
*Florish Iron
*and Prime for water conditioning during WC

What do you guys think of this regime?

[diazman]

If you need seachem iron and nearby my area can get from me FOC. not using. still 90% full. Save $ money for you

[gid]

If you need seachem iron and nearby my area can get from me FOC. not using. still 90% full. Save $ money for you

Eh bro, now then you say. I just bought it yesterday! But thanks man.

[diazman]

Eh bro, now then you say. I just bought it yesterday! But thanks man.

Ack! i thought you still planning the purchase..