Good fertilizer?

[mfdrookie516]

Let's keep this on topic... which is putting this fertilizer below the substrate, not a discussion on dosing it in to the water column. If you wish to discuss this method, please start a new thread.

 

[TankMan]

Let's keep this on topic... which is putting this fertilizer below the substrate, not a discussion on dosing it in to the water column. If you wish to discuss this method, please start a new thread.

Correct. So mdf... Would it be overkill to add ferts in addition to the stuff underneath the substrate?

 

[aqua_chem]

I personally think that a well rounder fertilization regimen is best, including water column and root fertilization. The two techniques are complementary to each other.

 

[CorallineAlgae]

Correct. So mdf... Would it be overkill to add ferts in addition to the stuff underneath the substrate?

Substrate ferts mostly benefit plants that root into the sand to feed. Plants like mosses, ferns or anubias tied to wood or rocks, rooting plants that root more to attach themselves than to feed, and floating plants rely on nutrients in the water column. These plants have to get what they need to grow new plant matter from the water directly. So ferts in the substrate aid some plants and ferts in the water help nearly everything (and are the only ferts many plants use).

So knowing that, most people rely on both substrate and direct water fertilization. Hit em high and hit em low!

 

[cyris69]

I thought a read somewhere that plants have adapted to taking in 40-400% more nutrients from their leaves than roots.

 

[aqua_chem]

Depends on the plant. Plants represent an extremely diverse group of species, many of which have adapted in different ways to gather resources. Some are substrate focused (crypts and swords) while others are focused on water column ferts (most stems). Some even have unique adaptations like utriculata graminifolia, which is carnivorous.

 

[cyris69]

So will fertilizers help get rid of algae? I just added a ton of new pants to suck up the nutrients to out compete the algae. But will dry fertilizers increase algae?

 

[aqua_chem]

Algae is an opportunist. It swoops in when an ecosystem is out of balance because if it were competing on fair terms with plants, plants would crush it. In order to grow and out compete algae, plants need two things, nutrients and light. Algae, on the other hand, only needs one: light. Because algae is actually a single celled organism with significantly lower demands than plants in terms of both resources and energy, algae can survive in significantly lower levels of nutrients without being limited ('running out', if you will). Plants, on the other hand, can fairly easily be limited by not supplying enough nitrogen or CO2 or whathaveyou, thereby limiting their potential and opening the playing field for algae to run amok.

One of the best examples of this can be seen with Green Spot Algae (or GSA). GSA will grow well when either phosphates or CO2 are low (ie, out-of-balance ecosystem). Increasing phosphates (and/or CO2) is the most common and effective cure for this algae.

So, to paraphrase, increasing ferts will help your plants and help quash algae. That being said, always follow a good dosing regimen, as poor dosing strategies can also cause problems in a tank.

 

[cyris69]

Awesome thank you for your reply, I am doing diy co2 in a gallon jug around 1.5 bubbles per second. ~170 Watts of appropriate lighting on my 40b, but waiting in my dry fertilizer to come in so it might be phosphates that are lacking.

Sorry about hijacking the thread