Dry fert help

[DirtyTankMan]

I am looking into dry ferts for my high light and co2 injected 45g planted tank. I will most likely be going with green leaf aquarium ferts but I have a few questions first.

I see they sell some ferts that are not in their fert package, are any of these required/better? If so why/how?

Is it worth spending the money for iron chelate if I have laterite under fluorite as a substrate, I am leaning towards it to bring out more reds in my ludwigia, lotus, camboda, and red root floaters.

Are the fertilizer dispensers worth getting?

Any other additional advice is welcome

 

[Rivercats]

I use the PPS-Pro and get my ferts from there. I love the dispenser bottles. They make dosing so easy and are worth buying in my opinion. I also buy the Iron Chelate along with the macro/micro mix package. I test my water for Chelated Iron (use Seachem test kit) and only add extra when my level drops below .02. I also have alot of non-green plants in my 220g.

 

[aqua_chem]

A lot of the other fertilizers available on that site have niche uses in aquarium and aren't necessarily better or worse. Some are better under certain circumstances, such as DTPA iron chelate, but the package deal has everything you need in it. The CSM+B actually has a large component of cheated iron.

I generally don't recommend using an iron test kit, as regular dosing should be fine to maintain iron levels. You'll drive yourself insane with trying to maintain specific levels. This isn't rocket science after all.