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I have a confession to make - I'm a plant killer. There I've said it! In my 3 months of tankhood I've only had one fish death but countless of plants have come a cropper at my hands! I think my misfortune is due to a combination of over heating due to climate (I have another posting hopefully addressing that one) and some non existent advice from my LFS. I've read some great articles on this site so I think I'm armed with a bit more knowledge in terms of lighting and good hardy plants to buy on my next plant purchasing mission rather than "I'll just get that one because it looks nice and is not too expensive".

So my question is, what is the general consensus on plant food. I've heard that it's not great for your water quality ... is that correct? Given my track history with plants should I try in a little? Plus if you have any other pearls of wisdom to turn me from a plant killer into a green fingered wonder I'll be very grateful. :%)

cheers

Focus more on substrate, light and temperature range than on plant foods. Walk or in your case let a few plants take root before trying to run or feed the plants.

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"To steal ideas from one person is plagiarism; to steal from many is research."
researched from Steven Wright

Well, we've all killed our fair share of plants.

As regards to the temp, it shouldn't be a major issue for most plants. I have a similar problem as I live in the tropics. Most plants (not all) will tolerate higher temps quite well, at least up to about 30oC , growth may be a bit slower but they should survive. If the temp is ok for the fish should be ok for the plants. A simple computer fan over the computer will knock about 2-3oC off your temp.

Well if you are now armed with good info on the plants and light requirements you should be good to go.Put the new found knowledge to good use.

As to your main question, an opinion on "plant foods". I'll be honest here, right off the bat I have a problem with fertilizers being referred to as plant "food". It's confusing and a bit of misconception. It suggests that you need to put something in the water to feed plants the same way as you give fish their flakes or whatever, and if you didn't do that the plants wouldn't get any "food". This is wrong and often leads beginners to believe they can solve their plant problems by "feeding" them when in fact they may be causing more harm then good. You already have plenty of plant food in your tank. There is food in the flake you feed your fish, the poop the fish produce, depending on the substrate used there may be some food in there too, the tap water you use for water changes has tons of plant food. For most people these things should supply enough food without adding anything else.

Fertilizers are really supplements to be used where there is so many plants or a lot of light and Co2 is being provided which causes very fast growth. In these cases the plants may be using up the food already in the tank very quickly and additional has to be added to keep up with the growth. If you don't have a large amount of fast growing plants or high light/co2 supplementation there should be no need to add ferts and the poop and tap water should take care of things.

Fertilizers won't mess up your water chemistry as such (unless you really overdose), rather if the plants are not using the nutrients something else will, algae. Algae is not harmful but it is ugly and unsightly so it's more of an aesthetic issue.




Last edited by bensaf at 07-Apr-2005 21:45

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