Gravel or fertilizer

[Lieggi26]

Today I went to a fish club meeting and I was talking to a guy about me starting a planted tank. I told him I'm using a 55 gallon fish tank and was going to buy low light plants. He said not to use fertilizer because I would have plenty of fish and uneaten food would be enough to keep. The plants alive. Is this true? Or do I need fertilizer? If I need fertilizer how much would I need?

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[rcsguy]

In a low light setup you should be ok without ferts. If you start to increase the lighting or plant load, however, you probably want to start dosing atleast Seachem Flourish. You'd benefit from it in low light as well, though.

 

[Lieggi26]

I'm going to use a duel t5ho lights. And I plan to have quite a few plans. As the fish I'm getting needs hiding places

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[Caliban07]

It really depends. No two tanks are the same. Generally, low light plants are pretty robust but T5HO might be edging towards medium light depending on the depth of your aquarium. In short, the more photons falling on to the plant the higher the need for fertilisers and carbon.

Carbon is the biggie and often gets overlooked as people become more and more focused on adding more and more light. Species will differ in their requirements too so you just have to figure out what works on your aquarium.



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[Lieggi26]

My 55 gallon tank is 20 inches deep

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