Substrate For Plants

[Biulu]

Look for Seachem Flourish, but make sure you get the TPN+ version, otherwise you will have only micro and no macro nutrients. Seachem also sells the 3 major nutrients in the so-called Plant Pack. I am not sure though whether they only have 100 ml. bottles or also bigger ones. The bottles state how much to dose for your size tank. The normal seachem flourish you can dose then 1x week.

 

[BIGT]

whats the seachem tpn plus version called? i seen a seachem called floursh etc irom excel nitrogen potassium phosphorus and trace for liquids then another one called just flourish

 

[RadaR]

whats the seachem tpn plus version called? i seen a seachem called floursh etc irom excel nitrogen potassium phosphorus and trace for liquids then another one called just flourish

Seachem dont do an all in one. You'd have to get the seachem nitrogen, seachem potassium, seachem phosphorus and the seachem flourish.

One thing though.....


No one has mentioned how much light you have. You might not need to dose any macro nutrients if your lighting is low enough.

So to clear things up, how large is the tank and what lighting is over it? (Watts, t8s, t5s?)

 

[BIGT]

the light is just a 20 wat light dont say how any wps its a floraglo t8 36g tank bow front

 

[RadaR]

Just 20W over 36gallon tank...

The short answer.....you don't need to dose macros. The fish and the substrate will provide enough nutrients. No need for any carbon addition either. The fish will respire enough CO2 for the plants. Maybe add some micro nutrients (trace elements) at the start of the week (boron, magnesium, copper, iron etc)
Just plants up more and make sure the filter and substrate dont get clogged up with debris. Dont gravel vac the substrate though.
Carry out 10% water change every week before or after the photoperiod.

 

[jonnyuk]

Dont gravel vac the substrate though.

i assume because you want all the poo and uneaten food etc to rot into the substrate and provide abit of nutrition.

sorry for the hijack but do you still have to move the substrate around though to release the trapped gases? i've got a fert substrate with gravel on top, do i just create a few holes and let the gases out that way?

 

[RadaR]

No. I don't want anything to rot. Rotting waste or vegetation leaches ammonia which causes algae.
Rather, hoover over the top of the gravel to suck up the waste. Digging into the gravel might damage roots. Trapped gas isnt a problem either. If it does rise out of the gravel, it reacts with the oxygen and becomes harmless. Too many people worry about gas pockets. Plant roots also give out oxygen to the surroundings. In low energy tanks (low light, no carbon addition) flow it's not as important, however generally for planted tanks we do reccomend good flow and circulation. This benefits us three ways. One, nutrients and CO2 are delivered to the plants at good rates to avoid starvation. Two it eliminates dead spots which algae love. And three, any waste in the water column has a greater chance of being sucked into the filter instead of being allowed to sink to the bottom. It then gets trapped in the filter floss and can be removed weekly/bi-weekly.

 

[jonnyuk]

glad i asked the question now, thanks for the advice radar. i always assumed i needed to release the gases and also let the waste dissolve into the substrate as i'm heavily planted (as long as my water levels were ok), i know you need to vac all the rubbish up in a non planted tank because it produces ammonia etc.

cheers

 

[RadaR]

No worries. 80% of ammonia comes out of the fishes gills anyway. This in turn will be converted to nitrite then nitrate. So no worries about the plants starving if you vaccuum up a lot of waste. Plants can utilize the nitrogen in anyway one of these three compounds (ammonia, nitrite, or nitrate). Us hobbyists would rather dose nitrates as these DONT cause algae.

 

[BIGT]

that was a big help radar. but i dont no what photo period is im new to this stuff so try not to get to aggrivated as of right now my echo complete was sent monday via ups ground from dr foster and smith they sai 7-10 days but i thought at most in th eus was 4 days usually 2-3 depending on location but anyway when that comes ill set that up ill stop using plantgro and the othr carbon stuff from seachem and im going to try and find a place that will sell that tropic plant nutrition to th eus since all i can find it in is th euk hopefully someone can ship to me for reasonable price. meand while is there any other checmical that u would recomment if i cant find that stuff? thankyou for all the help i really do appreciate it, gets frstrating asking fish store for help and seems all they do is tell u what by this because i have so much of it i wan tit sold pretty much if u no what i mean they sell u what they have no whta u need.

 

[RadaR]

Photoperiod is the period of time when the lights are on.

im going to try and find a place that will sell that tropic plant nutrition

Are you talking about the TPN+ version? The one that contains micro and MACRO nutrients? If so, then you don't need this. Your light is low enough. There is a "non+" version that just contains micro nutrients and it is good however there are alternatives in the US. Even Seachem do one called "Floruish".
Until you can get a micro nutrient fert then small water changes a day will help. These will introduce some minerals. Luckily your tank has low light, which makes things very easy.

 

[BIGT]

i cant find tropica plant nutrition plus by anywere i found tropica plant nutritioon from one site bt it wasnt plus and i seen a thing on the samr thing that said plus but they looked like pills not liquid. only stuff i really find that most people use in the us is theflourish stuff if i buy that other 2 nitro poshpuros or potassium? or i know american money is different then uk money. but iid there a forum were people sell stuff liek tpnplus or anyone here willing to buy it for me an di pay through paypal? thats all i head from here and all over when i googles that tropica plant nutrition is the best

 

[RadaR]

BIGT, I don't understand why you keep pursuing this. You DON'T NEED MACRO NUTRIENTS. Your lighting is so low that the fish will produce enough N+P for you.
You will only need to dose MICRO NUTRIENTS. For this you can simply buy the usual Seachem Flourish

 

[BIGT]

o sorry i have no idea what th enutrients u keep talking about are so i dont no what peopel talking about when the say micro and macro nutrients

and for th eseachem flourish is that better then thenutrafin plantgro when i compared the 2 nutriets in them flourish had mre but seemed liek less in some then plantgro had

 

[RadaR]

Macro nutrients are NPK. (nitrogen, phosphorus, potassium).
Micro nutrients are trace elements. For example, magnesium, boron, copper, iron, zinc.

I've just looked up the ingrediants, and Seachem FLourish has way more different minerals than Plantgro.