Fertiliser

marcodigio · Nov 20, 2013

Hi,
hope somebody can suggest a good fertiliser for plants in my tank. The problem with the ones I have found browsing the internet is that they all seem to contain iron, which I believe would kill all my red ramshorn snails. Is any fertiliser safe to use in a tank that contains snails?

many thanks

marco

Ch4rlie · Nov 20, 2013

I use this for my tank, I have RCS, Assassin Snails and common snails, no problems so far.

http

/www.petsathome.com/shop/tropica-plant-growth-premium-fertiliser-300ml-112405

marcodigio · Nov 20, 2013

Thanks...I have a petsathome shop near where I live. I will have a look next time I'm there!

Tim95 · Nov 20, 2013

Unless you are using a Co2 system, fertilizers won't be very beneficial. I suggest plant tabs, a small tab of nutrients that you place under the roots of the plant while planting it. Fertilizers tend to spawn string algea on plants.

daizeUK · Nov 21, 2013

Just to reiterate what I said in the other thread for Marco's benefit, it is not true that fertilizers cause algae. Algae is most often caused by too much light or too little carbon in low-tech tanks. Root tabs will benefit plants which are heavy root feeders such as cryptocorynes and echinodorus but a liquid fertilizer would be more appropriate for most other plants.

CrimsonBoli · Nov 21, 2013

I was looking at that product recently... The confusing part 'Recommended for aquariums with few plants and lots of fish'

Why?

marcodigio · Nov 21, 2013

thanks all for the tips....at some point I would like to get a Co2 system. But at the moment all efforts are going into making sure the fish tank is as balanced as possible. For the time being I'm sticking with plants that Tropica labels "easy". Once I get the hang of them I would like to progress and get different plants. To be honest, there are many awesome "easy" looking plants to keep myself occupied for awhile.

daizeUK · Nov 22, 2013

CrimsonBoli said:
I was looking at that product recently... The confusing part 'Recommended for aquariums with few plants and lots of fish'

Why?

Because it doesn't contain nitrate or phosphate. The fish will produce enough of these nutrients as long as you have a higher stocking of fish relative to plants. If you have a heavily planted tank then the fish won't produce enough and you would have to add some N+P fertiliser.