[Sinful]

So, I'm using a sand Substrate, what form of dosing should I use for it? Water colum fert or root tabs? And if I'm using Root tabs, how many should I use in a 65gl tank and how often? Will it not leach into the water and kill the fish? What brand should I use? If I'm using water colum fert, wont it just instantly kill the fish due to ammonia and such spiking? If not, then, how often should I dose and how much SHOULD I dose? what brand should I use? Thank you!

 

[minorhero]

So, I'm using a sand Substrate, what form of dosing should I use for it? Water colum fert or root tabs? And if I'm using Root tabs, how many should I use in a 65gl tank and how often? Will it not leach into the water and kill the fish? What brand should I use? If I'm using water colum fert, wont it just instantly kill the fish due to ammonia and such spiking? If not, then, how often should I dose and how much SHOULD I dose? what brand should I use? Thank you!

Aquarium fertilizer properly dosed be it root tabs or liquid will not kill fish/shrimp/snails. The answer to your question though of which to use is either will work. I prefer liquid fertilizer dosing because it is an easily tracked way to fertilize plants whereas root tabs will run out or some plants won't have access to it and since its buried in the substrate you won't know.

What brand of fertilizer? There are many options, probably the most popular on this site for folks in the states is Nicolg Thrive. They sell both liquid fertilizer and root tabs. Keep in mind that many folks who are new want a carpet of plants like dwarf hair grass but that carpet will not grow in very quickly without either 1) a dry start method tank (google this if not familiar) or 2) injected co2. Dwarf hair grass will live just fine without co2 but it won't spread very fast without injected co2. And by not fast, I mean years not weeks or months.

Hopefully this is helpful.

 

[Fat Guy]

So, I'm using a sand Substrate, what form of dosing should I use for it? Water colum fert or root tabs? And if I'm using Root tabs, how many should I use in a 65gl tank and how often? Will it not leach into the water and kill the fish? What brand should I use? If I'm using water colum fert, wont it just instantly kill the fish due to ammonia and such spiking? If not, then, how often should I dose and how much SHOULD I dose? what brand should I use? Thank you!

Adding on to the above, your water water column ferts aren’t going to be adding ammonia to the tank, unless you were dosing NH3 specifically or dosing the substrate with capsules that release NH4 and NH3 like osmocote. I’d stick with water column dosing as mentioned above but before you dose, how much light are you putting on your tank, how many/what type of plants do you have and do you have an additional source of carbon you plan on adding? The thrive product line is fine. I prefer dry dosing as I can adjust my fertilizers to suit the needs of my tank. I think it’s very easy to get higher Nitrates when dosing thrive depending on the Nitrate levels that already exist in your aquarium from the organic matter in the tank. In my high light tank I don’t supply any additional Nitrate and dose P and K and Micros accordingly With co2 injection (and excel sometimes if I’m trying to spot treat Any type of red algae). Anyway, good luck. When you fertilize be sure you have a good amount of healthy plants in the tank to begin with that will use the nutrients you introduce. It’s easy after reading all of the info out there to go overboard and add too much in the beginning when your plants have yet to establish. That’s why it‘s important to plant as much as you can in the beginning so your plants can take advantage of the nutrients in the after column.

 

[Sinful]

Aquarium fertilizer properly dosed be it root tabs or liquid will not kill fish/shrimp/snails. The answer to your question though of which to use is either will work. I prefer liquid fertilizer dosing because it is an easily tracked way to fertilize plants whereas root tabs will run out or some plants won't have access to it and since its buried in the substrate you won't know.

What brand of fertilizer? There are many options, probably the most popular on this site for folks in the states is Nicolg Thrive. They sell both liquid fertilizer and root tabs. Keep in mind that many folks who are new want a carpet of plants like dwarf hair grass but that carpet will not grow in very quickly without either 1) a dry start method tank (google this if not familiar) or 2) injected co2. Dwarf hair grass will live just fine without co2 but it won't spread very fast without injected co2. And by not fast, I mean years not weeks or months.

Hopefully this is helpful.

I am fine with it taking a little while for it to grow, i just want to make sure it will live. This is my first time ever growing plants in an aquarium. Also to go back to the dry start thing, If the plants already fully grown, should i really put it into a dry start tank? I have one currently thats getting blue LED light but thats about it.

 

[Sinful]

Adding on to the above, your water water column ferts aren’t going to be adding ammonia to the tank, unless you were dosing NH3 specifically or dosing the substrate with capsules that release NH4 and NH3 like osmocote. I’d stick with water column dosing as mentioned above but before you dose, how much light are you putting on your tank, how many/what type of plants do you have and do you have an additional source of carbon you plan on adding? The thrive product line is fine. I prefer dry dosing as I can adjust my fertilizers to suit the needs of my tank. I think it’s very easy to get higher Nitrates when dosing thrive depending on the Nitrate levels that already exist in your aquarium from the organic matter in the tank. In my high light tank I don’t supply any additional Nitrate and dose P and K and Micros accordingly With co2 injection (and excel sometimes if I’m trying to spot treat Any type of red algae). Anyway, good luck. When you fertilize be sure you have a good amount of healthy plants in the tank to begin with that will use the nutrients you introduce. It’s easy after reading all of the info out there to go overboard and add too much in the beginning when your plants have yet to establish. That’s why it‘s important to plant as much as you can in the beginning so your plants can take advantage of the nutrients in the after column.

My tank receives medium amounts of lightning to high amounts, i have no plants at all at the moment, and the only plant i plan on placing in my tank is DHG, i have no additional source of carbon im going to introduce, but my tank does get dosed once per Water change with GH and KH supplements as i have a water softener. What is P and K and what is Mircros? Also, The water column method is okay? How often would i dose a 65gl tank with 13 small fish and a snail?

 

[minorhero]

If you are seriously considering the dry start method definitely look up videos of how to do it on youtube. At a minimum you need a tank that is empty of water and is going to stay that way for month or two.

Blue leds alone are not going to grow plants very well, you need more then blue leds, your lighting should when all combined, look like normal white daylight in the 5000 to 7000k range of the temperature spectrum. Easiest way to achieve this is through aquarium specific lighting but there are MANY ways to do this if you have a more DIY centric mindset.

When you say medium to high lighting levels, is this based on par/ppfd? If so, what are the par/ppfd levels? If not based on par/ppfd what is it based on? The terms low/medium/high have very specific meanings in a planted tank and advice changes dramatically based on what lighting level you have.

For fertilizer since you are new to the whole planted tank thing I'd highly suggest using an all in one fertilizer like Thrive. There are specific directions on the bottle that tells you how much to add and how big a water change you need etc.

N,P,K, and Micros are different parts of aquarium fertilizer, nitrogen, phosphate and potassium, plus trace nutrients.

What are your GH/KH readings out of the tap?

 

[Sinful]

If you are seriously considering the dry start method definitely look up videos of how to do it on youtube. At a minimum you need a tank that is empty of water and is going to stay that way for month or two.

Blue leds alone are not going to grow plants very well, you need more then blue leds, your lighting should when all combined, look like normal white daylight in the 5000 to 7000k range of the temperature spectrum. Easiest way to achieve this is through aquarium specific lighting but there are MANY ways to do this if you have a more DIY centric mindset.

When you say medium to high lighting levels, is this based on par/ppfd? If so, what are the par/ppfd levels? If not based on par/ppfd what is it based on? The terms low/medium/high have very specific meanings in a planted tank and advice changes dramatically based on what lighting level you have.

For fertilizer since you are new to the whole planted tank thing I'd highly suggest using an all in one fertilizer like Thrive. There are specific directions on the bottle that tells you how much to add and how big a water change you need etc.

N,P,K, and Micros are different parts of aquarium fertilizer, nitrogen, phosphate and potassium, plus trace nutrients.

What are your GH/KH readings out of the tap?

Oh i have no idea what par/ppfd is, but my Lighting setup is currently one of these CURRENT USA Satellite Freshwater Plus Aquarium LED Light, 24 - 36 in - Chewy.com also, what is in Thrive? And, out of the tap, my KH and GH are both 0ppm, hence why i have to add it myself. My water has absolutely no trace chemicals in it without the additive.

 

[minorhero]

Oh i have no idea what par/ppfd is, but my Lighting setup is currently one of these CURRENT USA Satellite Freshwater Plus Aquarium LED Light, 24 - 36 in - Chewy.com also, what is in Thrive? And, out of the tap, my KH and GH are both 0ppm, hence why i have to add it myself. My water has absolutely no trace chemicals in it without the additive.

There is a list of what is in Thrive on their website. Unless your tank is one of the shallow models, Current is likely providing low light levels, their lights are just not known for being very powerful. This is good for your purposes, you wouldn't want a powerful light in a low tech tank (no co2 injected) only growing dwarf hair grass.

 

[Sinful]

There is a list of what is in Thrive on their website. Unless your tank is one of the shallow models, Current is likely providing low light levels, their lights are just not known for being very powerful. This is good for your purposes, you wouldn't want a powerful light in a low tech tank (no co2 injected) only growing dwarf hair grass.

Okay then thats perfect then, would you mind sending me a link to the exact product i should buy? There seems to be alot of them

 

[minorhero]

Okay then thats perfect then, would you mind sending me a link to the exact product i should buy? There seems to be alot of them

Thrive C All in One Liquid Fertilizer for Aquarium Plants | NilocG Aquatic Labs

Thrive C aquarium fertilizer is a supplement for low tech planted tanks with a non-glut-based, bio-available carbon source providing all necessary macro/micronutrients.

www.nilocg.com

ThriveC for low tech tank.

 

[Sinful]

Thrive C All in One Liquid Fertilizer for Aquarium Plants | NilocG Aquatic Labs

Thrive C aquarium fertilizer is a supplement for low tech planted tanks with a non-glut-based, bio-available carbon source providing all necessary macro/micronutrients.

www.nilocg.com

ThriveC for low tech tank.

Thank you, youve been an amazing help!

 

[minorhero]

Thank you, youve been an amazing help!

Glad it's been helpful!

 

[Sinful]

Glad it's been helpful!

Ive ordered what you sent, and my DHG will be here in 2 days, since i ordered the Stuff you sent a bit later, it might not come in within 2 days, so hopefully the DHG will be okay for a couple extra days without that stuff, the Substrate is full of fish poop after all

 

[minorhero]

Ive ordered what you sent, and my DHG will be here in 2 days, since i ordered the Stuff you sent a bit later, it might not come in within 2 days, so hopefully the DHG will be okay for a couple extra days without that stuff, the Substrate is full of fish poop after all

Should be fine.

 

[Plinkploop]

Let me know how you make out. I've never been able to get DHG to do anything in low tech tanks, wound up giving up and using cyperus (sic) helfieri instead. Would be amazing if I could add it to my tank using the suggestions here!!