SO LFS guy says "column fert = waste" ??

[drewsuf82]

So I was at the LFS today getting some stuff to replace the plants that I melted with excel in my war on BBA (woot I beat the BBA though.....) so while I was there he asked how I was feeding and I told him that I had root ferts for my vals and my swords and that I was using liquid ferts for the rest and he told me that all of those ferts are a waste and that it was all for algae.....

Now I'm thinking hmmmm hes tryin to sell me something but he didn't....

Correct me if I'm wrong but I was under the assumption that java fern, xmas moss, flame moss, and others feed from the water since there's nothing in the line of a root system there?

My other reason for asking this is I'm getting close to being ready to re-up my ferts here in about a month.

For those of you wondering the last batch I got from colin and I felt that they have done a wonderful job (much better than the leaf zone I was using) I just want to make sure I'm on the right path here with the high tech setup

[freph]

Plants absorb nutrients from both their leaves and their roots. That worker appears to be uneducated as far as plant nutrient uptake is concerned. You should show him some of Tom's tanks and blow his mind that they're fertilized via dosing the water column and using aquasoil.

[Hoppy]

It isn't a mystery, nor a theoretical idea, that plants can gain nutrients from both their leaves and their roots. You can grow aquatic plants with either substrate nutrients or water column nutrients, and better still, if you fertilize either the substrate or the water, both will have nutrients. But, you can get a higher concentration in the water by fertilizing the water and a higher concentration in the substrate by fertilizing the substrate. It does no harm to fertilize both, and it gives the plants two good sources of nutrients.

[JeffHerr]

Wait, how did you beat BBA?!?!?? Help!!!

[drewsuf82]

Freph, Hoppy, thanks for confirming what I thought was true xD

Hoppy The Rooted plants are the only ones which benefit from this am I correct (the water column and rooted ferts) or would there be a sizeable benefit from throwing a few root tabs on that side?

Jeff - Whew I had a time of it there for a while, I battled it when the tank was lo-tech and when I started transitioning to high tech it really took off >< after a lot of research I did a MASSIVE trim and anything which was covered in it leaf wise i trimmed off, anything with some light remnants there I left. I then took the affected driftwood and rocks out of the tank and put them into a large pot with de-chlorinated water and took out a baby dosing syringe and started dosing anything with algae on it...let it sit for 30 min, returned it to tank and rinse and repeat. After about 24 hours any left algae turned bright red/pink to white and is now gone. I noticed a few small spots tonight in my xmas moss that I had missed so it's going to be getting the excel treatment again here pretty soon if it doesn't turn around. Then for about a week I double dosed with the excel in the tank every day (which will kill your vals so if you have them don't dose so heavily I found out the hard way). I was having some light green algae on the glass as well but thanks to an awesome RAOK a week or so back those little bristlenoses have been very very busy and keeping the tank spotless!

I did one more heavy trim tonight to make sure all of the affected plants were bba free and will excel dose the xmas moss again tonight but so far I'm out of the woods. I have also adjusted my fert dosing to a slightly modified (smaller) amount because of the reduced plant mass and changed the photo period to 4h on, 4h off, 4h on, 8h off and it's seemed to be doing alright

[nilocg]

There are tons of things that induce algae, but I believe that tom has shown that excess ferts by themselves do not induce algae.

[Sotty]

LFS Guy = uninformed windbag.

Some plants are heavy root feeders and benefit specifically from root tabs otherwise they are likely, at best, of secondary importance if not wholly unnecessary.

The plants that do benefit from them crypts, swords, vals, etc will definitely do much much better with root tabs than without.

[Sotty]

Originally Posted by nilocg

There are tons of things that induce algae, but I believe that tom has shown that excess ferts by themselves do not induce algae.

his posts on this, and the evidence that he has relayed here and on the barrreport are pretty damn convincing. I don't really have a reason to doubt him. It seems that this is one of those aquarium "truisms" that just refuses to die.

[DogFish]

Originally Posted by drewsuf82

So I was at the LFS today getting .....so while I was there he asked how I was feeding and I told him that I had root ferts for my vals and my swords and that I was using liquid ferts for the rest and he told me that all of those ferts are a waste and that it was all for algae.....I just want to make sure I'm on the right path here with the high tech setup

You are on the right path so don't allow that LFS "expert" to mislead you.

I suggest you give that LFS plant "expert" the link to the TPT Fert and Substrate Sub-Forums and politely suggest those are studied. If for no other reason than respect for the hobby.

Maybe there is Evil Intent, bad advice + dead plants = more plant sales

[Diana]

Maybe there is Evil Intent, bad advice + dead plants = more plant sales

...and fertilizer sales, and fish sales, then meds for the sick fish sales, and upgrade the substrate sales, and new lighting sales...

Definitely Evil Intent!