Does a planted tank always need aquarium plant fertilizer?

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most surface dwelling and upper water fishes do get lots of sunlight in the wild.

This is not the case. Maybe in northern Australia, but not South America where most of our fish come from. An excerpt from an article I authored elsewhere:

The Brightness of the Tank Light

“Daylight” can be vastly different for different species of fish, depending upon their natural habitats. Most aquarium fish are forest fish, living in rivers, streams and creeks, ponds and small lakes, and even ditches and swamps. Some of these watercourses are permanently shaded by the forest canopy or overhanging marginal vegetation; some are filled with branches and sunken bogwood; some watercourses are white-water, full of suspended particulate matter that “soaks up” the light and keeps the water murky and dimly lit; watercourses in full sunlight usually have a thick mat of floating plants, and depending upon the position of the sun in the sky, much of its light may be reflected off the surface. In most areas of the tropics, the rivers and streams rise and flood the surrounding forest for half the year, and it is during this period that the fish move into the even darker forest waters to spawn. For fish living in all of these environments, bright light is something they seldom—and in some cases never—experience, or from which they prefer to retreat given the opportunity. It is no surprise that the fish in the brightly-lit watercourses are almost always found at the edge under overhanging vegetation, branches and outcrops, or floating vegetation.

Programmed by nature over millions of years for such dimly-lit environments, the eyes of a fish are designed to capture the maximum amount of light. This allows the fish to have some degree of vision even in dimly-lit water. But when placed in brighter light, the fish will naturally look for cover in order to escape from that light. Aquarists can readily see this in the aquarium; many forest fish when given the option clearly prefer shaded areas. Baensch & Riehl (1987) called it a “light phobia” in characins. And it impacts the fish’s colouration too.

Fish (and amphibians) possess specialized cells called melanophores that contain hundreds of melanin-filled pigment granules, termed melanosomes. The sole function of these cells is pigment aggregation in the center of the cell or dispersion throughout the cytoplasm, thus altering the shade of colour. The melanophore cells are themselves light sensitive and respond directly to light by melanosome translocations, which is why the fish’s colouration pales during total darkness. Pencilfish in the genus Nannostomus have a diurnal patterning; at night the lateral lines break up into dashes, and the fish pales. This has been noted to occur even in blind fish, which shows that it is not sight that tells the fish it is getting dark, but the increase in darkness probably coupled with the circadian rhythm that sets in motion the natural response of the fish to darkness.

But the fish can also adjust the melanosomes voluntarily in response to environmental stimuli, stress, and social interactions. Fish in the store tank often appear pale, or after being netted and bagged will often be without any colour. Fish kept in brightly-lit tanks will frequently exhibit much less intense colouration. In all these cases, this “washed out” appearance is a natural response caused by high stress. Floating plants are one of the best ways to provide shade, along with using the minimum intensity of light necessary; the reward to the aquarist will be brighter colouration and increased interaction between the fish—and that spells healthier fish.
 
This is all the info i can find on tube.
 

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This is all the info i can find on tube.

That's good. While it does not indicate the Kelvin, it does say "Daylight," and it is a Sylvania make. I use Sylvania (or Phillips) tubes on my larger tanks, and "daylight" is around 6000K so you are good with this tube.
 
Happy days. Any idea what l.e.d lights are like? The ones you can set different shades of light
 
Happy days. Any idea what l.e.d lights are like? The ones you can set different shades of light

Two things. First, plants need specific spectrum and intensity to photosynthesize, and a lot of the LED units do not provide either or both. If you know what you are getting, it is ideal; but you need to know the light, and they are expensive. I have tried five units and all went back. I have stayed with T8 fluorescent, which is what you now have.

Second thing is light and fish. I do not know what you might actually mean by "different shades of light," but light significantly affects fish, which means their physiology, metabolism and health. It needs to be as natural as possible, both the light itself and the duration, with a period of several hours of total darkness each 24 hours.
 
Ok. I take it use of fertilisers will feed algae also? Im not sure if i should add any or just wait to see how plants are doing without.
 
Ok. I take it use of fertilisers will feed algae also? Im not sure if i should add any or just wait to see how plants are doing without.

I'll try to explain things for you. It is all about balance. Light drives photosynthesis, which is how plants grow. Light involves both intensity and spectrum. Briefly on spectrum, only red and blue light drives photosynthesis, although adding green light does improve plant response (for reasons I need not get into). That is why I asked about the spectrum earlier.

Intensity is crucial; plant species differ in their growth rates, and this comes from the light. Slow growing plants like mosses and ferns tend to need less light intensity than fast-growing plants like floating plants and stem plants. So having a bright light over a tank of mosses and ferns will inevitably cause algae, because algae is not so fussy and can use just about any light.

Light alone isn't enough, because plants also need food--nutrients. If any one of these is not available, photosynthesis will slow and may even stop altogether. Again, algae is able to take advantage because it again is not as highly evolved with respect to nutrient requirements and it can basically manage with any nutrients.

Sword plants were mentioned previously; these are heavy feeders. You light should be fine for these, but they are probably not going to find sufficient food to balance. With swords, it is easiest to use substrate tabs; this provides the nutrients close to the roots so the plant can use them, without the nutrients getting into the water column. Seachem make Flourish Tabs which I have been using for several years, and I recommend no other.

You could add a comprehensive liquid, but that does have to be controlled because it is going into the water and if the plants do not use it, algae will. I wold want to know all the plant species and numbers, and the GH of your source water; there is also the fish load and feeding. CO2 (carbon as carbon dioxide) is also crucial, but there is often a sufficient supply depending upon the fish load/feeding; not only do fish respire releasing CO2, but the decomposition of organics in the substrate is the major source of natural CO2 so you want to leave the substrate alone for the most part.
 
As usual Byron gives excellent advice. I would follow it .

“Daylight” can be vastly different for different species of fish, depending upon their natural habitats.

Strongly agree, All the fish I keep love floating plants so I tend to build a tank around their needs.

The surface of my Betta tank may not be to everyones liking and thats OK but my fish are happy.
 
As usual Byron gives excellent advice. I would follow it .
+1 On that. It really is about balance. It will take you a few weeks or longer to find the balance. There is no one solution fits all. I have multiple tanks and they are different in terms of the light and nutrient requirements. Things do change within a tank and you will soon figure out how to recognise those changes and you're to respond.
 
My 2 cents worth.

Im a fan of the KISS principle.

Go low tech, Forget all that CO2, Estimative Index dosing super bright lights and all that, use plants that do not require a lot of care and experiment with them. If it grows it grows if it dont oh well. Crypts are great and will grow to 30 cm tall and do real well in low to medium light.

Im the worlds laziest fish keeper, I change 50% water every week, I never vacuum the substrate, why throw away good fertilizer?, I sometimes add a few drops of Seachem Flourish comprehensive if I remember, I sometimes clean the front inside glass, I never touch the back or sides, But I do have snails, Malaysian Trumpet, Rams Horns and Mystery snails.

I use Easy Life Fluid Filter media as water treatment and sintered glass media in my filters at the rate of 1 kg per 100 liters of water.

Oh yes I feed the fish.
 
ThriveC is one of the best fertilizers for aquatic plants that you should not ignore. My aquarium has high enough nitrates but it still needs other nutrients for my plants to grow well. This fertilizer has a lower nitrate value and is perfect for my condition.
 
Anubias does grow in shaded streams in west Africa and I've seen/posted the vids of it growing underwater as far as the bank was rock or roots...not into the sand. That water was fast moving too and crystal clear. But,I know that pollination and seed is strictly for the land growing Anubias on the banks.
Its a very slow grower in low tech yet I've seen some big plants in low tech aquariums that were under very bright aquarium lights. Usually like a double shop light LED.
If you stick to the hardiest plants you can have nice plants that you never need to do a thing. Its the fussy ones ( too many to list) you want to avoid. Crypts,Swords are great. Stem hardies are Bacopa and Water Wisteria. Many more.just go over the videos on beginners plants on youtube.
 

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