Phosphate Level/Dosing Question

[IwantToScubaInMyTank]

Hmm, interesting article.. Learned a little German as well.. From what I gathered from the article though, one can limit Co2 or light to minimize growth (light having a larger impact). It explains the relationship between Co2 uptake and light utilization in an understandable way. Now... They touched on how nutrients, iron/micros, can be harvested in other ways if low amount is present by the plant using one to make the other. So what is the major downfall with not keeping a ton of nutrients available (solely intended to minimize the need for a weekly water change)? The plants are biologically cleaning the water for the fish, but the WC is to reset the ferts, correct? Co2 is starting to look better just trying to cover all my bases here.

[Jeff5614]

I find this part of the Tropica article interesting:

" Starting with the nutrients, an average plant aquarium with a decent fish population usually has sufficient nitrogen and phosphorus. When it comes to iron, potassium, manganese and other micronutrients it is often a trickier thing. Some aquaria are well planned from the beginning with, for example, laterite and other fertilizers in the substrate whereas others are not. In most cases, however, an aquarium plant fertilizer without nitrogen and phosphorus may safely be added to maintain healthy growth. It is often a much more difficult and expensive task to provide adequate light over the plant aquarium. Both fluorescent light and highpressure-quicksilver lamps may produce sufficient light if supplied with effective reflectors but in deep aquaria (more than 50 cm) is very difficult to offer enough light to small light demanding foreground plants. Based on our experiments, we suggest commencing CO2 addition before any other action is taken! We believe that even at very modest light intensities you will experience a conspicuous change in plant performance in your aquarium. The exact amount CO2 may always be discussed but if you do not have very sensitive fishes in your fish stock, concentrations from 25 and up to 50 mg/l will only improve plant growth. You will probably see that plants, which were barely able to survive before now, thrive in the presence of CO2."

Am I wrong or does is it say that there are usually sufficient levels of N and P in the typical planted tank without the need for supplementation and that light, CO2 and micros are the areas that need more attention?

[VeeSe]

Originally Posted by Jeff5614

I find this part of the Tropica article interesting:

Am I wrong or does is it say that there are usually sufficient levels of N and P in the typical planted tank without the need for supplementation and that light, CO2 and micros are the areas that need more attention?

Yes it does say that but I don't think they accounted for everybody here having high light disease and the variations from tank to tank etc.