Plant Ferts

[-=Joel=-]

Hiya folks,

Now I have my pressurised co2 system, substrait in the form of cactus compost and pond peat, and lighting system on the way (3 x 150watt halides + T5s!!!) giving me over 4wpg (400litre tank)

I was wondering whats the best way to ge about adding extra ferts ...

Greenline sell somthing in the form of a bag that sits in your tank ... looks to good to be true !!

Looking for somthing fairly easy to use and it needs to be economical (money wise) to be used in a 400 litre tank and fairly easy to use / dose.

Once this problem is sorted I will just need to hook everything up and get some plants

Thank you for any help,

Joel

 

[Themuleous]

Remind me again, what wattage are you going to have over the tank?

The dry trace mix aquaessentials do is probably the cheapest micro trace you can get, but the Tropica Plant Nutrition is supposed to be the best.

If this is going to be a high light then getting the plant nutrition plus would add NO3 and PO4 to the tank as well and you might find you need them in a high light.

Sam

 

[-=Joel=-]

Based on the wpg for T8s I will have just over 4wpg however im using T5s so I dont know how many wpg I have for sure.

Dont know if this effects anything but I will be having fish in this tank so food and waste will be going into the tank.

Joel

 

[George Farmer]

As Sam suggests Tropica Nutrition is excellent. It's what I will use in my next set-up.

 

[-=Joel=-]

Google isnt helping much ... can anyone send me a link to the dosages needed and also anyone out there know of a cheapish source ?

Joel

ah just found it ....

We recommend 5 mL per 50 L water per week,

so if used at this doasge it would last around 12 weeks for my tank ....

so thats around £50 a year for ferts !!

ouch ... but if the plants need it I supose it has to be done.

Joel

 

[-=Joel=-]

hiya folks,

have had to ammend my original post abit ... is this still the best way to fertilze the tank ?

Joel

 

[George Farmer]

I would recommend Tropica Nutrition Plus in a tank like this for convenience. It is more expensive that EI and dry powders but as you have mentioned to me previously you need something more user-friendly. Dose as per the instructions at the start. If you experience any deficiencies then up the dosing.

Make sure you plant heavily with that much light, especially at the start. Cover at least 75% of the substrate with fast growing stems plants (there's a list in the pinned algae thread). Get your CO2 at 30ppm before lighting too.

 

[-=Joel=-]

Thanks again mate ...

and thanks for the tip about getting co2 sorted first. Would dropping my ph by 1 mean I get that magic 30 mark ?

Joel

 

[George Farmer]

No worries. Use a CO2 table to work out your required pH. http/www.floridadriftwood.com/page.asp?id=16