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I recently upgraded the lighting on my 38 gallon to 59 watts and I picked up some fert sticks at the recommendation of my LFS. They're called Nutrafin Plant Gro sticks made by hagen and are supposed to be replaced once a year. The analysis on them is 16-9-12 (Total Nitrogen-available phosphate-water soluble phosphate) and there is 1% magnesium and 2% sulfur and less than 1% Boron, Iron, Manganese, Molybdenum and Zinc. The plants I have are java fern, vals, anacharis and amazon sword. I plan on adding some anubias and some sort of red plant(ludwigia?) eventually. Would it be beneficial for me to add a liquid fert? and do I need to take the carbon out of my filter? My best guess right now is that I should look for a liquid fert that has some iron in it.

Your vals and amazon sword will benefit from the added root nutrition. The mos timportant thing, above all else, is once inserted DO NOT REMOVE THEM. If they break up and disperse into the water column you'll start to see problems with algae and just general poor WQ.

I wouldn't overdo any liquid ferts right now.

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Back in the saddle!

I agree with Nowherman, except he didn't touch on the carbon in the filter. I myself have found that carbon in the filter is not required but should be used to absorb any meds that you put in the water. Carbon only really works for a week or two and then it has reached it full capacity to absorb and than it starts to leach back into the water, this is not to much of a problem if you have a HOB filter that you replace every month, but if you use a canister filter I know people who don't open their for 6 months. I usually replace the floss in mine every 4 months. Using carbon in a planted tank is one of those things that up for debate still. I'm testing the need in one tank and have not seen any difference in my water quality. So I tend to beleave to have carbon on hand when you finish any meds or have any trace elements you want to remove, but if your add fert I think it doe more harm than good. Harm meaning wasting your money on ferts.

Djrichie
"So Long, and Thanks For All The Fish" Douglas Adams

I was afraid the carbon would be taking the ferts out of the water. I use a penguin 350 so I'm limited to the cartidges with carbon in them unless I go buy some filter foam and cut it to the right size.

Take a sharp pair of scissors(even a dull pair works with some effort) and slice the bottom off the filter cartridge. Takes only a minute to do. Then pull the fabric away a little and shake all the carbon out. Rinse the cartridge to wash out any carbon dust and a few more pieces and slide it in your filter. Only a couple odd bits of carbon will remain and it's not enough to have any impact unless we're talking about a very small tank. If you can't stand to waste it all you can put it in a container and then if you ever need carbon just put it in a media bag(or pantyhose) and set it in your filter behind the cartridge. Also makes good fertilizer for a lawn or garden especially after it's been used in a tank. Just don't cut the tabs off the top of the cartridge but make sure to cut the bottom so it still sits in the filter right.

Nothing wrong with using carbon at the beginning. Makes the water look nice and clean etc.

In general though I think it's kind of a waste of space. it just takes up room in the filter that could be going towards more biological filtration, which is really what's going to keep your water clean, algae at bay, and your fish and plants happy.

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Back in the saddle!

Carbon is very important when you start up a tank from scratch, but that's about it. The Carbon will help get rid of Nh3 until the biological filter is up to speed. After the first few weeks you should remove it. I don't know why you would use carbon to get rid of meds in a planted tank once it's established. You can simply do a series of water changes and the meds will eventually be gone. This way you don't have to worry about carbon interfering with the ferts.

My Scapes

Carbon does a wonderful job of helping to keep the water crystal clear. After a while the carbon will absorb all of the toxins it can and then acts as a biological filter.
Since you are doing a planted tank, the the plants will absorb a good part of the impurities in the water therefore, carbon is not needed. The amount of carbon that is placed in those filter cartrages is such a small amount that I doubt if they will make much of a differance in the water quality to began with.

"There is also a Clown Pleco in this tank some where. I am telling you, HE IS IN HERE."