Ive just introduced plants to my 2 tanks, so far so good, the fish love them. but there are a couple which have little brown areas on the leaves. im assuming theyre lacking nutrients going by other recent posts??
anyway, ive been reading this http
/www.fishforums.net/index.php?showtopic=104737&st=0 but i must say im totally overwhelmed by all the things you need just to feed the plants!! do i really need so much stuff? isnt there an easier/cheaper option??
I think you've gotten a little confused by the article.
Before I go into a little explanation I should ask a couple of things.
1 - Are we talking about a fully planted tank (75% or more substrate coverage looking from above the tank) or not.
If not then you don't need to add anything, the fish will supply all the plants need.
2 - Are you intending to have a turbo growth pressurised CO2 injected hi tec tank?
If not then you don't need that article although it is explaining what things the plants need.
Secondly even without pictures I would be 95% sure your plant is a microsorum sp (fern) The dark brown dots are where the mother plant produces plantlets. Don't get too excited as normally only leaves that are suffering give off plantlets or maybe the other way around that when the leaf produces plantlets the mother leaf suffers. I remove the mother leaf as soon as I see any plantlets as it is depriving the plant of nutrients and can look unsightly to boot.
Now onto the article:
EI is one of the simplest and most cost effective ways of fertilising. Yes it may look daunting as you need to buy several powders BUT those powders will last an awful lot longer than the premix off the shelf ferts for the same cash.
Basically you mix 2 solutions.
1 is macro that is a mix of KNO3 (Potassium Nitrate) and KH2PO4 (Potassium Phosphate) Some mix K2SO4 (Potassium Sulphate) but in reality this is nearly always a waste as there is Potassium in both the other products.
2 is the micros which are 'trace elements' mainly metals and you only need tiny doses of this. You can buy the powder and mix which is more cost effective or just buy something like Tropica Plant Nutrition
TPN (not TPN+) and use that.
That is the 2 solutions sorte.
Now what happens is that you have a start day i.e. Monday and therefore dose macros on Monday/Wednesday/Friday. You dose micros on Tuesday/Thursday/Saturday. On Sunday you dose nothing and then do a 50% water change and then start again on Monday.
You look at the chart on the article. Find the range of size your tank is in and it will tell you the quantity of solution (or neat dry salts if you choose not to make solutions) to dose.
That is it EI is simple.
The beauty of buying those powders is that you alter the recipe to follow a method like PMDD+PO4 which is leaner (You dose less) and therefore you can do smaller water changes. This however is very slightly riskier.
The aim of EI is to make nutrients unlimited. The plants cannot run out and therefore if there are problems they are to do with something else (namely light, CO2 or circulation.)
PMDD+PO4 aims to reduce the nutrients added to a level which should be 'just enough' rather than excess. It is very slightly riskier because there is a small chance that it could be just under what your plant and system need and therefore you may then see defficiencies. However it is a very small chance as tap water should nearly always bridge the gap r.e. nutrients as it has some in it too.
So there you go. Much simpler than you thought. Most definately cheaper than any off the shelf fert in the long term and much more adaptable to your specific tank's needs.
If you are not wanting to go hi tec CO2 and high light then you don't need this. You can get by with low light, no CO2, minimal or no water changes by using the fish waste as a fert and just briging the gap a little with some KNO3 which will supply just a little more N and K. There should be enough of everything else from the waste and fish food.
If you do go the lo tec route you only have to add a small amount of KNO3 every 2-4 weeks or more. You will see when if you have anubias
When your tank goes short of P Anubias will get green 'spots'
AC
Not needed but provides extra 
Dont you just hate it when plants are sold at lfs which arent suitable? gggrrrrr (im complaining to the manager at the weekend 
Im really not pleased, as you can tell. I have very little 'extra' money, the fish are taking all of it at the moment - the last thing i need when im trying to make some nice conditions for them is to actually make it worse by putting in soon-to-be rotting plants!! 
