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Are these fertilizers good enough for my tank?

1280 Views 6 Replies 5 Participants Last post by  DiegoBedoyaVision
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I'm gonna be fairly honest. I am recently getting involved into live plants, I haven't done as much research as I'd hope, and I know there is a wealth of knowledge within the forums to seek for. I was just hoping some of you plant experts could point me in the right direction. In other words... "Help, I'm new and I don't want my plants to die!" Lol

Here's some pics of my plants (yeah I don't know the names of them except some are Anubis and Amazon Swords) that I have right now. I bought this 3-1 plant kit from Amazon for like $15.

Tips and advice much appreciated, as always! Thanks!









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Your plants look like they are healthy and growing. The root tabs are probably helping with that. They have a balanced mix of Nitrates, Phosphates, and Potassium. Some plants will do better with those than others though. The Leaf Zone only has Potassium in it. While you will probably get some Nitrates and Phosphates from your fish food and fish waste, it may or may not be enough. The Co2 booster provides some carbon, which is also needed by plants. It's good to add some of this if you are not planning on adding true Co2.

My advice would be to keep doing what you are doing for now, as everything looks like it is doing well. In the meantime do some research about diy dry ferts and a dosing method like EI or PPS. There are lots of posts and resources here about them. Dry ferts are by far the most economical way to fertilize a tank. Then when you run out of what you have, you can try switching if you feel comfortable. And if you have any questions about anything, just create a thread and ask.
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@elusive77: Thanks, I haven't added the tabs yet, I just got them in the mail today. I've had the plants for about 3 weeks and I've been dosing Flourish and CO2 Booster. As of now, I don't have plans on getting a co2 system, but not ruling out of the picture for the future.
@dcutl002: Will do, thanks!
API makes good products and the three you have will go a long way to keeping your plants healthy. However, as elusive77 there are both cheaper and easier ways to do it. As dcutl002 stated I find NilocG EI to be a cheaper & easier way to go in the long run. Using your API for now though you can put your root tabs around your stem plants per the instructions. With the Leaf Zone & CO2 booster I would start out very slow and closely watch my tank for signs of Algae. Depending on your lighting there is a thin line between healthy plants and algae and that is the sweet spot you are looking for.
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Others here have given you good advice. Check out the fertilizer stickies. What you've got will work somewhat but not the most efficient.

You might as well remove the plant with the white strip along the edge of the leaf. It is not a fully aquatic plant and will eventually (might be several weeks) rot and cause issues. Those can only be grown immersed.
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@Kubla Yup I realized about that plant. It's been removed. Thanks.

Also here's an update on my plants. I took a step back of regular daily dosing due to my O2 incident I had a few days ago (Which I posted a thread on that as well). Not sure if I should start dosing again or just slow down to once a week or something... either way check out these pics.

P.s. I've noticed my java ferns are getting kinda whiteish color?










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