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as i have been posting for awhile now, i want to go to a planted tank. and im finally goin through the steps, but i was wondering if anyone has used the tetra brand liquid plant fertilizer? if so would anyone reccomend it or not

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If you can get ahold of the seachem stuff, it's better IMO. They have a full line of macros and micros. Flourish has a greater number of the necessary micronutrients your plants will need to grow properly.

HTH

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Critical Fertilator: The Micromanager of Macronutrients

I use the whole line of Seachem products for my planted tank with good results. The only catch is that it's most effective when you do use the whole line. Unfortunately, I don't know of anyone that has found a truly effective all-in-one liquid fertilizer.

How much light do you have, and what kind of plants do you plan on keeping? If you have low light (2 or fewer watts per gallon) and have slow-growing low-light plants like anubais, crypts, java fern and moss, then you probably will not need to to dose any ferts, as the nutrients from fish waste and water changes and normal gas-exchange should be enough for them.

If you have high light (3 or more watts per gallon) and fast-growing stem plants, then fertilization will be necessary. Also, if you have lots of rooted or rosette plants, you will probably want to have a rich substrate either by using fert tabs in the gravel (seachem makes a good fert tab that can be broken up and placed near rooted plants once a month, but be careful when gravel vacing that you don't stir them up, or you could have big problems), or by using one of the commercial planting substrates like eco-complete. I have to fertilize my substrate because I have lots of crypts that don't grow well without it. YMMV

Seachem's Flourish Excel is a good carbon supplement. It does not produce the dramatic fast growth and pearling of pressurized CO2, but it does help keep the balance between light, available nutrients, and plant absorption. You can overdose, however, which can kill certain plants, and can be harmful to fish, or especially inverts.
I use regular Seachem Flourish (not flourish trace) to add micro nutrients. It helps fill in some of the gaps between macro-nutrients, but it is not a complete fertilizer in itself. I tried to get away with using just Excel and Flourish for a while, and it was a disaster.
The macro-nutrients are Nitrogen, Phosphorus, Potassium, and Iron. I use all of these, but you might not need to depending on your bio-load or your tapwater. Iron is typically needed for the red plants, like ludwigia, rotalla, and others. I was very surprized to need to dose nitrogen since my tank is overstocked, but even though I don't need to use the full recommended dose on the bottle, it still helps.
I also use Seachem's Equilibrium because my water is very, very soft and some plants (like crypts) really do need at least a little calcium and magnesium. If you have somewhat hard water, then you will not need it, or you can use a little bit of limestone or crushed coral (or just decorative pieces of coral) to help add those nutrients.

I know it sounds like a lot of bottles. I use all 7 on a regular basis. However, one thing Seachem got right was the concentration so that you only need a little bit (1ml per 10 gallons for most supplements) for each dose, so those bottles last a very long time. The 8.5 oz. bottles last me nearly a year of dosing my 30 gallon tank 2-3 times per week. I've even mixed up the proportions I use into a single bottle so I don't have to open 5-7 different bottles every time I need to dose my tank.

I hope this helps.

Hoping that there must be a word for everything I mean...

Concerning a trace mix , Tropica Master Grow has shown itself to be very good over a wider range than the SeaChem, although such differences are subtle.

For macro nutrients:

www.GregWatson.com in the USA etc is the best on line place.

GH booster
KNO3
KH2PO4

Cover all of the macro nutrients effectively.
Greg may carry TMG coming up soon. I have a very good relationship with Tropica and may be importing the 5 liter jugs to the USA as no one presently does.

Regards,
Tom Barr

illustrae thanks for that info. so you say its safe to mix the chemicals according to there doseage ahead of time? do you think that there might be any chemical reactions? well i was looking just for some low light stuff to start with so that why i not diving head first in to expences till i got the jist of things down then i will get some more lighting later.

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I only use Seachem ferts in my Betta tank with great success. To calculate the correct amount to use I contacted Seachem with some water test and they gave me the correct dosage to use after a while I done another water test sent them the results and a minor adjustment was made to the dosage.
Now not a problem at all, They also advised me to use the fert tabs as well.

Have a look in [link=My Profile] http://www.fishprofiles.com/forums/member.aspx?id=1935[/link] for my tank info

Look here for my
Betta 11Gal Desktop & Placidity 5ft Community Tank Photos

Keith

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