Fertilisers For Plants

Krishan · Apr 28, 2011

Hi There,

I currently have 130 litre tank, and have bogwood with some java fern's tied around the wood.

I am using the JBL Ferropol fertiliser which the local fish shop gave, so we have been using that but they are abit dear.. 250ml for £12. Online its around £13/14 quid

So now im here asking is there any cheaper ferts out there? or what is the best one to use to grow plants?

Also how long should I keep the aquarium light on? currently its on for only 5 hours, which is from 5pm to 10pm. I presume 5 hours is not enough to grow plants. So how many hours should light be on if there are live plants.

Substitute - Sand.

Thank you in advance.

coldcazzie · Apr 28, 2011

5 hours is fine. Between 4 and 8 is ok, usually startnig at less light and slowly increasing to more.

As for ferts, I'm not sure as I am fairly new to plants myself, but I use dry fertilisers which I mix with water and add. They are much cheaper than liquid ones, but they are not for everyone. I also use Seachem Flourish which contains trace elements and I dose a capful of that weekly. It cost me about £10 about 20 months ago and I still have it (although it is now getting empty), and my tank is bigger than yours (240L). Other people use TPN+ but I've never used it so no idea how much it costs or how long it lasts.

try asking in the planted section, or maybe one of the mods can move this thread over there?