Tropical Fish Forum
Tropical Fish Keeping Help and Advice => Fish Tank Plant Advice => Topic started by: Sue on March 05, 2013, 08:37:23 AM
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Following on from something in Jesnon's cycling thread, I need a bit of help on the subject of fertilisers.
Jesnon was asking about how to feed non-rooted plants like java fern and moss balls. I am in the same situation, I have java fern, anubias, hornwort that is weighted down by an ornament rather than planted, Salvinia and now duckweed.
On the recommendation of a shop (yes, I know...........) I bought Seachem Flourish. I have just looked at the bottle to see how much it cost (Jesnon asked about prices) and realised for the first time that Flourish just doses micro elements. I didn't read the label properly when I first got it, I saw the words micro elements and macro elements and completely missed the fact that it says you have to use other products for the macro elements. On closer reading it says that N P and K are in their own bottles so that means three extra bottles of fertiliser.
What should I be feeding to a tank that has non-rooted plants. Obviously root tabs won't work (no roots) so it has to be dosed into the water column.
The tank is lightly planted and very low tech (T8 bulbs, no CO2)
Since I already have micro elements in the Flourish, is there something that contains just NPK and no trace elements? Preferably in one bottle rather than N in one, P in another and K in a third like Seachem, which sounds quite expensive! Or would the fish provide enough macro elements for a lightly planted tank?
Help!!!!
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I'm sure that you know this being a biochemist, but for our other readers, NPK is an acronym for Nitrogen Phosphorous Potassium. These elements are the basic constituents of any chemical fertiliser.
For a low-tech tank you will probably not need to add these. Nitrogen comes from the nitrates or ammonia in our tanks. Potassium and Phosphorous will be present in the food we feed our fish; this will find its way into the water column.
So, your fish shop was right in your case, adding micro-nutrients is the right way to go. The one thing I would add, is Flourish Excel. This provides a source of Carbon if you are not using CO2.
For those of you with banks of carbon-arc lights and industrial CO2 plants attached to your tanks, you will need to add a bit more. The easiest thing to do is to read up about Estimative Index on Google (http://"http://www.google.co.uk/search?client=ubuntu&channel=fs&q=estimative+index&ie=utf-8&oe=utf-8&gl=uk&redir_esc=&ei=4O01UdnUOcLDPKumgeAD"). Here is a basic introduction (http://"http://www.theplantedtank.co.uk/EI.htm")
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Thanks for the reassurance Steve. I do actually have a bottle of Flourish Excel but have been apprehensive of using it after reading it can cause problems with shrimps (I have amanos in my 125 litre) and I've had problems with the hornwort in the 50 litre when using it. I suppose the answer it to use it but at a smaller dose than it recommends?
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I have used Excel with Amano shrimps and have had no problems at the recommended dose. But it can cause problems with some plants. I would try it and see. You could start off with a smaller dose and work upwards if you have concerns.
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Thanks, I'll try that.