What fertilizer????

There isn't enough info here to give you any kind of meaningful answer. I suggest you read the stickies in the fertilizer section and try and absorb a lot of that info. I'm trying to say this as unoffensive as possible (not my strong suit), but this looks like a question from someone that's brand new here and you have over 400 posts.

Your plants need light, CO2, nitrates, phosphorous, potassium and an assortment of trace elements and iron. (The trace elements typically come mixed and are dose together) Plants will only grow to the level of the least available of these. You have to provide all of them at acceptable levels.

In order for someone to give you a meaningful and accurate answer they are going to need more info like; How much light, tank depth, general types of plants, how heavily planted, substrate, water parameters, livestock, frequency and amount of water changes, how many root tabs, how often.

Kubla said:

There isn't enough info here to give you any kind of meaningful answer. I suggest you read the stickies in the fertilizer section and try and absorb a lot of that info. I'm trying to say this as unoffensive as possible (not my strong suit), but this looks like a question from someone that's brand new here and you have over 400 posts.

Your plants need light, CO2, nitrates, phosphorous, potassium and an assortment of trace elements and iron. (The trace elements typically come mixed and are dose together) Plants will only grow to the level of the least available of these. You have to provide all of them at acceptable levels.

In order for someone to give you a meaningful and accurate answer they are going to need more info like; How much light, tank depth, general types of plants, how heavily planted, substrate, water parameters, livestock, frequency and amount of water changes, how many root tabs, how often.

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Just because i have 400 posts doesn't mean i know everything lol.
I am always trying to learn new things to help me keep my animals healthy and thriving.
I am new to CO2.
My tank is a 65 gallon with a 20 gallon sump and its 24 inches tall with a fluval 2.0 planted tank light on it.
I have only low light easy plants right now. Just crypts, anubias, and dwarf sag. I want to get the CO2 down before i spend a bunch of money on the high end plants.
My tank has one little red eye puffer in it and about 10 cory cats.
I have put osmocoat tabs in it one time since its been up for the past like 2 months.
I dose florish excel almost every day.
I would like to know whats the best ferts out there. Should i do dry and liquid?
Is liquid good for all plants or just for plants that take most of there nutrients from there leaves?
Now have anything to add?


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jboone82590 said:

Just because i have 400 posts doesn't mean i know everything lol.
I am always trying to learn new things to help me keep my animals healthy and thriving.
I am new to CO2.
My tank is a 65 gallon with a 20 gallon sump and its 24 inches tall with a fluval 2.0 planted tank light on it.
I have only low light easy plants right now. Just crypts, anubias, and dwarf sag. I want to get the CO2 down before i spend a bunch of money on the high end plants.
My tank has one little red eye puffer in it and about 10 cory cats.
I have put osmocoat tabs in it one time since its been up for the past like 2 months.
I dose florish excel almost every day.
I would like to know whats the best ferts out there. Should i do dry and liquid?
Is liquid good for all plants or just for plants that take most of there nutrients from there leaves?
Now have anything to add?


Sent from my SAMSUNG-SM-G890A using Tapatalk

Click to expand...

I would still recommend reading the fertilizer sticky but will also offer some advice. Think about your willingness to do water changes. If your ok doing a weekly 50% you could go with a lowered version of estimated index (a method of dosing that over fertilizes to ensure nutrients are not the limiting factor). If you want to do a partial water change every couple of weeks you could look at the pps-pro dosing method. This method wants you to add fertilizer alternating micros and macros every other day only adding what will be consumed by the next time you add fertilizer, 48hours. Dwarf sag can grow quick where as anubias and crypts typically grow slower so you need to make sure the dwarf sag has what it needs. Liquid ferts are just powder and water in a bottle. You could buy a dry fert package from someone on here in the for sale section that would last years and prob be cheap. Get a plan and stick to it no matter what. Don't every once in a while with almost everything in this hobby. Consistency is key


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The fertilizer section isn't the most fun read and it can get a little confusing, but it usually gives you enough knowledge to ask the right questions. It looks like you've got some great advice here already. If you decide to go EI your tank size is kind of between the sizes on the sticky page. There's a dosing amounts for 40-60 gal and 60-80. It seems like you have a pretty light plant load (a picture would be useful too) I'd start with about 3/4 of the 40-60 dosage and see how things respond. When I hit my crypts and chain swords with EI dosing, CO2 and root tabs they really took off. Keep on top of the chain swords or they'll take over the tank!
I prefer the dry ferts, cheaper to buy, cheaper to ship, easier to store, longer shelf life. Every week I measure the daily doses into a pill dispenser. Macros on MWF, micros on T-Th-S. I open the appropriate day and dump it in the tank in the morning. I dump the powder directly in the water but I have a heavily planted 92g corner tank. I dump in the bank corner behind a mass of java ferns by the 2 filter intakes. I know some keep a coffee cup nearby dump the ferts in and swirl with a little tank water before adding it to the tank. Not pre-mixing with water makes it much easier to adjust dosing levels on individual ferts.
Plants will absorb nutrients through roots and leaves. If you have a proper healthy substrate, water should be flowing to the roots. This will distribute water column ferts to the roots and root tab ferts to the water column.

What kind of CO2 system are you adding?