Ferts For My Plants

[chishnfips]

can anyone recommend good fertiliser to use in the tank. I have live plants in with the lighting for them and also fertiliser sticks, since I put in the new bulb in the plants have totally started to grow, but could do with more help, I am considering a CO2 kit but first I want to see what else helps.

I bought some sera florena today as well, has anyone used this? Is it any good. And should I be careful what ferts I put in the tank are they all safe with all kinds of fish?

Oh plants I have are amazon swords, java fern, Hygrophila polysperma (I think) and one other one I dont know what it is, it has white and green striped leaves. lol.

cheers chish.

 

[Miss Wiggle]

seachem flourish is a good all round fert, if you don't want to go full Co2 you can dose with flourish excel which is a carbon supplement

 

[nicklfire]

I'd recommend you read the estimated index (EI) method that's pinned in this section. I covers all ferts that should be added to your tank giving your plants all they need plus a little bit more. It's alot cheaper and easier then all the liquid ferts out there since your making them and dosing yourself. I think the results are far more better and you wont run into any nutrient deficiencies that may erupt from lacking certain dosages.

 

[arif_93]

get either tropica+ plus food or nutrfain plany gro they are they gd cheap ones

 

[chishnfips]

HI folks cheers for the replies

Nicklfire: that went totally over my head lol, it usually takes me a while to soak things up into my brain lol. Is that about making your ferts rather than buying ready made ones?

 

[BHornsey]

Hi,

Yeah, thats about right. Rather than buying made up ferts, you buy the dry powders and dose them directly to the tank.
Overall it works out far cheaper than buying the various company's snake oil.
To make it work you will need to have CO2 and around 2wpg of light.
If you don't want to go to this far, there are various 'light' routines using DIY CO2 or Seachem Flourish Excel as the carbon source.

 

[three-fingers]

one other one I dont know what it is, it has white and green striped leaves

Nothing like this is it?

 

[arif_93]

if it the picture three fingures added the plant is a dracena a non aquatic plant remove it from your tank or it will rot away and amke a mess of your water

 

[cheesy feet]

It won't straight away, i usto have one and it lasted 2 months before it started to rot.EI is great, even i can do it and im 13 lol.Good cheap measuring spoons which i use to measure the dosage are here-
http/cgi.ebay.co.uk/Mini-Measuring-Spoon...1QQcmdZViewItem

 

[chishnfips]

yip thats the plant in the picture, is it non aquatic? It seems fine in the tank and hasn't rotted, its been in there for about 4 months, never mind I was going to remove it anyway.

Yeah I will get CO2 but I want to look at it first. how often do you change the cannisters on them, are they expensive to run?


cheers again chish

 

[cheesy feet]

Depends what kind of co2 you use.Pressurised is expensive at first but is supposed to be good in the long run, and diy or nutrafin co2 kits are cheap at first but can add up with multiple units.

 

[BHornsey]

one other one I dont know what it is, it has white and green striped leaves

Nothing like this is it?

There is a marginal form of this plant, Dracenae sanderiana. It grows on flood plains and can survive up to 3 or 4 months part or even fully submerged. It cannot tolerate continuous life under water though. If it's been in 4 months, pop it out into a pot and put it on your kitchen window til next year

 

[chishnfips]

hi brian, sound I have removed it anyway, its sitting pride of place on my kitchen window sill.


So is C02 a lot of hassle for what it is, I mean constantly changing settings and that.

 

[cheesy feet]

Not really, co2 is pretty easy to add to your tank.I don't really know what you mean "constantly changing settings and that".

lol, sorry



O yeh, and for diy co2 or nutrafin i change every 5 days.Pressurised can last for months depending on the size of the canister/bottle size.

 

[rsands]

seapets turbo biosystem said it can last a few weeks and can feed a 160litre tank....only 40 for the system with one cartirdge of the yeast etc.

its excellant kit...not joking one of my plants grew just under an inch in a day...i measured it first thing and then after lights out and it had growen an inch with the co2 bubbles near it. now just under a week later...i have had already had to trim them down as they are floating out the top of the tank water.