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L# Freshwater Aquaria
 L# Planted Aquaria
  L# Time to add ferts?
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SubscribeTime to add ferts?
Fish On The Brains
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Hobbyist
Posts: 141
Kudos: 126
Votes: 65
Registered: 04-Jan-2005
male canada ca-ontario
With 2.75 WPG of power compact fluorescent light (9325 Kelvin lamp) and dosing CO2 using Hagen's system is it time to start adding some ferts or trace elements?

I just started using CO2 about 1 week ago, and I'm getting a bubble every 8 seconds. My substrate is a small pea sized gravel.

Plants are, Hornwort (Ceratophyllum demersum), Wisteria (Hygrophilia difformis), Cryptocoryne wendtii 'Mi Oya', Java Moss (Vesicularia dubyana), Java Fern, Hygrophila Polysperma, Anubias 'Nana' and Coffeefolia, Marsh Pennywort (Hydrocotyle verticillata), Anacharis (Egeria densa), Moneywort (Bacopa monnieri) and Corkscrew Vallisneria.

Are Seachem's products something I would want to consider? I'm open to any ideas to have some great looking plants Thanks.

bala shark
Post InfoPosted 26-Jan-2006 11:42Profile Homepage Yahoo PM Edit Report 
whetu
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Mega Fish
Posts: 900
Votes: 63
Registered: 31-Jan-2003
female newzealand
Bala, I would tend to only start adding ferts when your plants tell you they need it. Keep a very close eye on them. Some will show you by producing smaller leaves than normal, some will have leaves that are a slightly yellowish colour.

I haven't grown most of the plants in your tank, but I have found that my hygro is a heavy leaf-feeder and is a good indicator of when there's something lacking in the water column. The crypts, on the other hand, are root-feeders and will benefit much more from an enriched substrate fert. The anubias grows so slowly that it seems to have very limited fert uptake.

When I bought my hagen system it came with a free promotional bottle of Plant Gro iron enriched liquid fert. Did yours come with this too, or am I just special?
Post InfoPosted 26-Jan-2006 11:42Profile MSN PM Edit Delete Report 
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Big Fish
Posts: 488
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Registered: 07-Nov-2004
male uk
I agree with whetu, plants and algae are the best indication to fertilisers. Light gree or small leaves then not enough, algae bloom then too much. By the lists of your plants and the plants that I've had or still have, I think that the hornwort will be the first to show the need of fertilisers as its new leaves will be very thin and fragile.

I use Tropica's Master Grow to and JBL's 7 balls to fertilise my plants. I can recommend both. I've not tried anything else so I can't say if they're good or not.
Post InfoPosted 26-Jan-2006 11:42Profile PM Edit Delete Report 
mattyboombatty
 
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Tenellus Obsessor
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Registered: 26-Mar-2004
male usa us-northcarolina
Some things you can check for, and you should. Like Nitrate and Phosphate. You want nitrates to be between 5-10 ppm and phospates between .5 and 1ppm. Potassium is something that is usually lacking in tap water, but won't cause algae if you overdose a little. So dose that according to directions. If all three of these are normal, with the light and CO2 balanced and plants still look frail, then trace elements are the way to go.



Critical Fertilator: The Micromanager of Macronutrients
Post InfoPosted 26-Jan-2006 11:42Profile Homepage PM Edit Delete Report 
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