Appropriate Fert Application

[flix_cw]

I'm still learning a lot, and one thing i'm not quite sure about is when it's best to dose ferts via the substrate or via the water column.

I currently have an UGF so i've never used root tabs and know very little about them. When i started dosing seachem flourish excel, all my algae problems disappeared and my plant growth took off! I also dose Sera flore drops too, but i'm really not quite sure exactly why (which isn't very clever really). Is the Flourish purely organic carbon and nothing else, or is there N&P in it too? I really don't know what the flore drops contain, and whether i even need to be dosing it as well.

When i upgrade my tank, i intend to change to a flourite substrate capped with sand, is that sensible? Do added drops via the water column struggle to reach the roots through a sand substrate, thus making root tabs a more sensible option? Are root tabs just trace elements, or can you get organic carbon and/or N&P ones too?

Questions questions! Help!

 

[stevereade]

If I were you I'd do as I do, dose the water column with TPN+ so your plants get everything they need as the UGF will suck up the black gunk from the root tabs and your tank water will go black. Liquid Carbon is fine but I've had the best success with yeast CO2 and TPN+ and I grow some rare plants and some that are very hard to grow and have no problems at all, not even algae.

 

[flix_cw]

If I were you I'd do as I do, dose the water column with TPN+ so your plants get everything they need as the UGF will suck up the black gunk from the root tabs and your tank water will go black. Liquid Carbon is fine but I've had the best success with yeast CO2 and TPN+ and I grow some rare plants and some that are very hard to grow and have no problems at all, not even algae.

Sorry mate i'm not familiar with TPN+, is that Trace phosphates and nitrates?

 

[stevereade]

Its pretty much everything your plants need in one.

Link.
http/thegreenmachineonline.com/products/aquatics/liquid-fertilisers/tropica-liquid-fertilisers/tropica-plant-nutrition-liquid-100ml

If you have good CO2 just dose 1ml per 4gal daily or every other day if your plants aren't too needy and your plants will be fine. I have an 18 gallon, fully planted and I mean its a jungle lol and I dose 5ml daily, yeast CO2 and its perfect.

 

[waterdrop]

+1 for stevereade's suggestion - we see many, many people on TFF who have had good success with Tropica Plant Nutrition Plus (TPN+)