To Use Or Not To Use Fertilizers

[hakova]

Hi all,

I have a 10 gallon tank, which is heavily planted with HC, java fern, Sagitaria subulatum and anubias barteri v nana. I have 1 cm layer of laterite at the bottom and 2-5 cm of Eco Complete on top as substrate. I have a yeast-based CO2 running during light periods of 6.5 hours (light duration is increased 15 min.s every day), drop checker indicates a CO2 level around 30 ppm. The light is around 4.8 watts/gallon currently, therefore I think there is plenty of demand for nutrition. Now, do you think I should use fertilizers (NPK and CSM+B I have) for this set up? Or will this be an overkill, considering the substrate?

I also plan adding ghost shrimp to the tank and I am concerned about the 0.1% cupper content in CSM+B. I posted this question under the invertebrates topic as well, but I would appreciate some input from the plant gurus, too. Do you think CSM+B may harm the shrimp?

 

[lljdma06]

Hi all,

I have a 10 gallon tank, which is heavily planted with HC, java fern, Sagitaria subulatum and anubias barteri v nana. I have 1 cm layer of laterite at the bottom and 2-5 cm of Eco Complete on top as substrate. I have a yeast-based CO2 running during light periods of 6.5 hours (light duration is increased 15 min.s every day), drop checker indicates a CO2 level around 30 ppm. The light is around 4.8 watts/gallon currently, therefore I think there is plenty of demand for nutrition. Now, do you think I should use fertilizers (NPK and CSM+B I have) for this set up? Or will this be an overkill, considering the substrate?

I also plan adding ghost shrimp to the tank and I am concerned about the 0.1% cupper content in CSM+B. I posted this question under the invertebrates topic as well, but I would appreciate some input from the plant gurus, too. Do you think CSM+B may harm the shrimp?

First, how old is the tank? I wouldn't be raising the photoperiod past 6 hours just yet, so just keep it stable for now.

I am not an invert expert, so I do not know if 0.1% copper is enough to have an adverse effect on shrimp. Excess nutrients do not cause algae. You do have to make sure, however, that your CO2 is stable. With your lighting, this is a must. I'm going to ask a silly question. Have you thought about lowering your light levels some? All of your plants do not really need especially high light levels. The limiting factor for HC is CO2, not light. If you are taking care of HC's CO2 needs, the lighting is secondary and HC can be grown with much less. I grew my HC with 2.8WPG over my 10g and probably could have gotten away with less in the 10g if I injected CO2. The other plants on your list do not require much with regard to CO2 or lighting. What you have to do, though, is to make sure that all your plants have their CO2 needs met. With so much light, your other plants may outcompete your HC for CO2, because plants consume at different rates.

I would lower your lighting.

 

[hakova]

Thanks for the response. The tank is one month old and just completed a fishless cycling (which probably was not necessary). I will keep the light at 6 hours then. Would you please advise on a schedule though, like when or if I should consider increasing the duration?

You are not the first one who recommended me to lower the lighting, so I guess I should comply . The main reason for me to get that much of lighting was to get a carpeting effect from HC, and since HC was listed to have high light demands I opted for that. This was before I started reading this forum (sigh). I will try and see leaving only one tube attached to halve the lighting. I have a feeling this would not work though.

Today, I saw 2 small bunches of HC rotting . Since the rest of the HC (~90%) looks green and healthy, I will assume that this was due to some trauma during planting of these bunches and hope for the best. I will wait for the weekend to root these guys, since part of both bunches still look healthy, my ammonia level is zero and there is no fish or shrimp in the tank at the moment.

 

[aaronnorth]

you definatley need a fertiliser to cover all the nutrient that you have listed. the 0.1% Cu shouldnt be worried about,
Substrate cannot provide all the nutrients required for healthy plants growth, they just dont contain enough. It is there for more of a back up, or as an alternative to plants such as crypts which prefer to feed through the roots.

 

[hakova]

Thanks aaronnorth. I will mix and prepare my fertilizers and start dosing on Monday then.

 

[aaronnorth]

Substrate cannot provide all the nutrients required for healthy plants growth, they just dont contain enough

Just before llj picks my post apart i am going to cover myself first lol

The statement i made above was for your tank, due to it being high tech, in a low tech system a nutrient rich substrate will more than likley be enough on its own, along with fish waste.

 

[lljdma06]

Substrate cannot provide all the nutrients required for healthy plants growth, they just dont contain enough

Just before llj picks my post apart i am going to cover myself first lol

The statement i made above was for your tank, due to it being high tech, in a low tech system a nutrient rich substrate will more than likley be enough on its own, along with fish waste.

I'm not an ogre. I wasn't going to pick you apart any more than you would pick me apart if I had said the same thing.

Glad you're thinking about losing some light. I think that'll be a step in the right direction and your life will be a bit easier.

 

[aaronnorth]

Substrate cannot provide all the nutrients required for healthy plants growth, they just dont contain enough

Just before llj picks my post apart i am going to cover myself first lol

The statement i made above was for your tank, due to it being high tech, in a low tech system a nutrient rich substrate will more than likley be enough on its own, along with fish waste.

I'm not an ogre. I wasn't going to pick you apart any more than you would pick me apart if I had said the same thing.

Glad you're thinking about losing some light. I think that'll be a step in the right direction and your life will be a bit easier.

sorry didnt mean to offend you, i just know you like to spread the low tech side around more, which im all for.
Thanks, Aaron

 

[hakova]

Had I known more about low tech tanks earlier, I would have tried that, although it sounds like it needs more expertise. Alas, now I have the tech I should utilise it, right .

 

[lljdma06]

Substrate cannot provide all the nutrients required for healthy plants growth, they just dont contain enough

Just before llj picks my post apart i am going to cover myself first lol

The statement i made above was for your tank, due to it being high tech, in a low tech system a nutrient rich substrate will more than likley be enough on its own, along with fish waste.

I'm not an ogre. I wasn't going to pick you apart any more than you would pick me apart if I had said the same thing.

Glad you're thinking about losing some light. I think that'll be a step in the right direction and your life will be a bit easier.

sorry didnt mean to offend you, i just know you like to spread the low tech side around more, which im all for.
Thanks, Aaron

Not offended. "I'm not an ogre" is just an expression. An exagaration meant to designate that I'm not mean about these sort of things. You probably know this already. Of course, I'm not an ogre.

 

[lljdma06]

Had I known more about low tech tanks earlier, I would have tried that, although it sounds like it needs more expertise. Alas, now I have the tech I should utilise it, right .

No, it doesn't need more expertise per se. Just different. You have to know more about the plants you plant to keep because not every plant will do well. Takes a little bit more flora and fauna research, less gadget research. And you have to be able to see how things will progress over time as things move much slower, so your scaping skills are used differently.

Just two paths diverging from the same road.