Best fertilizers to use?

[Yeaulman]

Ok so I tested my tank the other day and here are the results:

NH3/NH4 - 0
NO2 - 0
GH - 8.96 (Hope I did this right)
KH - APROX 100 mg/L
PH - 7.8

I have 130 watts 6700k over a 48gallon freshwater tank. Someone said that the reason my plants are not growing as fast as they were when I cycled my tank was because I was in need of micro or macro nutrients. When I planted my tank the first time it cycled, they grew like 1" or so every week.Now they wont even grow 1" in a month and I have hair algae like you wouldnt believe.

Ao my question is, what is the best fertlizer to use to get ALL the nutrients that my plants need. Has anyone ever tried the Tropica Master Gro?

I am using the Plang Gro right now (0.15 - 0 - 0) by Nutrafin.

 

[konrad05]

The tropica one is supposedly the "best" according to guys at the lfs, but I have had best success using seperate bottles of potassium and iron.

 

[Dubby]

What you have there is perfectly normal behaviour- they grow like crazy at first and then it slows down. They should now grow at a more steady pace. The algae maybe getting the upper hand at the moment hence you dont see much growth.

What is your nitrate reading? EDIT: OOps, I didnt see above...
Do you use root tabs?

 

[blue_ram]

Unfortunately, there are some key information missing. Your test kit is fine for fish only aquarium, but for plants, you need several other information such as:

temperature?
phosphate?
potassium?
nitrate?
light?
co2?

Unless you see a sign of nutrient deficiency, I probably won't add trace mineral nutrients. But I would add CO2 first. If the parameter above are correct, and you aren't missing any key nutrients, then you're probably lacking CO2. But for now, I would get a large bottle (2 liter) of Seachem Excel and use it until the plants recover from hair algae. Note that Excel is not a permanent solution. Just a temporary solution until the plants recover.

Usually, if you have hard water, you probably aren't lacking any minerals. Also, if temperature and light is normal, chances are you're lacking CO2, nitrate, or phosphate. Since nitrate and phosphate can lead to algae bloom (of different kind) start with CO2.