Fertiliser!?

[mandz]

if i'm using base fert, do i still need to get liquid fert? how's the dosage like if i need to get?

[lorba]

Yes u need. Some plants take in nutrients from the soil while some from the water column. Follow the instruction on the liquid fert bottle.

[Irn-Bru]

lorba, how would we know which type of plants take in nutrients direct from the water?

[lorba]

Plants which have lotsa roots usually take in more from the soil, eg crypts, also most stems plants like hygrophila sp, tonina etc. These plants do take in from water column, but will benefit more from soil.

For example, I think liquid iron will oxides very soon and most plant might not be utilizing it to the fullest. Get solid iron fert might be better in this case, also will prevent lots of spot algae on the tank wall?

Plants with no root system at all, such as mosses, riccia, or floating plants benefits more from water column.

Please correct me if i am wrong.

[Allen_1971]

In general stem plants tend to draw from the water more than Rosette plants. Though, you could break this down even further. If you look at D. Walstads book, she goes even further to state that plants prefer uptake of certain nutrients more through their leaves, and other through roots... For example potassium is prefered through the leaves.

[mandz]

thanks guys, which brand of fert do u guys recommend? and wat to look out for in terms of contents of the fert?

[budak]

read this and this and this

[SleepyAries]

hello....

after reading the link provided by budak, i understand potassium and iron are both require for plans to grow well...however, i'm curious wat will happens if one of this is missing ? ie : if lack of iron, will the plants be lack in colors ? or if lack of potassium, will be plant grow slower ? does plants need more potassium or iron ? wat happens if there are excess of potassium or iron ?

thanks..=)

J.J

[Plantbrain]

Well it depends on how you interpert DW's book.
I've found direct primary literature(Journal of FW biology 2001 Feb) that show some 25 submergent plants that will take in and grow great when there's nutrients in the water column.

They don't even bother getting things from the soil if it's in the water column in sufficent supply. Most natural systems are lean or limited in the water column.
So plants switch to that routine for their source of nutrients. They have to adapt to what they have available to them. They'll suck NH4 right out the water column or NO3, PO4 etc. You can see this and also test for this yourself to see if this occurs.
It would take too long for the nutrients to go down into the substrate and then be taken in and transported to the locations in the plant for this root uptake to occur before the plant response was noted.

Also, you can test the water column for supplies of nutrients, there is no real way to do this for the substrate.

The main thing the substrate provides is some source of iron which is one of the few nutrients that should be added to the substrate for optimal growth.

It just doesn't last long in the water column and which form(many different iron complexes exist in the water) it's in during that time is also open to question.

Peat is good for new tanks. And mulm, that old dirty filth and detritus you pull up with a gravel vacuum.

That is Aqua Soil!

Add that fresh, with some iron source, and a handful of ground peat per sq ft of tank floor.

Amano adds the peat and seed bacteria(fresh mulm is better and is already growing) so you can do this yourself fairly easily.

We have flourite and onyx here which are very good IME.
I do this same routine with these. Or sand +laterite also.

For the water column,
KNO3
K2SO4
KH2PO4
Traces, TMG is great or Flourish or Sera.

You can grow plants very without any iron at all to the gravel if you add these. If you also have some iron then the plants will grow a bit better/colorful etc.

But the biggest benefit you can do for your tank is dosing the macro and micro nutrients to your tank regularly and especially if you use CO2 etc.

You can see significant differences in every plant tank even the "tougher" plants(Eusteralis, some Crypts etc).

You can test to see how much NO3 a plant tank will use in one week etc.

Can't do that with a soil based substrate etc.

Having everything in soil is nice since you don't have to dose etc.

But feeding your plants 1-3x a week depending on light levels, is not a bad routine. Most folks feed their fish that much and once you have a routine down, dosing takes about 45 seconds a tank, about the same time for feeding fish.

Tanks have no algae, jamming plant health.
Then you can focus on the art and scaping.

Regards,
Tom Barr