Nutrients for these plants?

[agp]

Hey everyone,

I'm going to have the following plants in my tank sometime this week. It's a 10G tank with 17W florescent light at 6700K. What type of nutrients do I need?

1 x Bacopa Australis
2 x Hornwort (Ceratophyllum Demersum)
2 x Cryptocoryne Wendtii Red
1 x Cryptocoryne Wendtii Green
1 x Anacharis (Egeria Densa)
1 x Water Wisteria (Hygrophila Difformis)
5 x Sagittaria Subulata (Dwarf)
1 x Vallisneria Spiralis (Italian Val)

Thanks

Hunter

 

[taylorodw]

You need:

N (nitrogen)
P (phosphorous)
K (potassium)

N & K you can get from KNO3, P from KH2PO4. You can also look into liquid ferts but IMO the benefits of dry fertilization far outweigh the amount of research you need.

Plus trace minerals (found in Seachem Flourish or plantex CSM+B).

Also, for Dwarf Sags, you'll need CO2.

 

[neilanh]

In general what taylorodw said is true, however in your case, since you're doing a low light tank and some very easy plants, you can probably get away with a much simpler process.

The dwarf sag and maybe the vals won't do well like this, but the others will be fine.

I'd use root tabs under the crypts and not dose anything if it were me. Weekly water changes will provide plenty for those other plants. You can give the Val and/or the sag a try, but you may not have great results with those. The rest of the plants, however, will be fine without an intensive dosing regime or CO2.

That being said, all plants will benefit from added nutrients, light and CO2, so if you're willing to do it (and deal with the side effects of it) then by all means you can go forward with a full on dosing regime. It's just not necessary for a majority of the plants you've listed.

 

[HN1]

I agree with Neilan. We have several tanks with similar plants and lighting. We've had good luck with root tabs and occasional flourish dosing. The fish and PWCs supply everything else.

 

[JustOneMore20]

I also agree with Neilan. Why dose when you really don't have to. My low-tech tank gets the occasional Flourish and Flourish excel dosing....but nothing consistent and my low light plants grow well (slow, but well).

 

[mommytron]

i agree, i have a low light set up with anubias (barteri and nana), a wendtii, java fern, italian vals, and red jungle vals. the vals were not doing so well at first, but it was only because i ordered them the worst possible time, heat was at 85* plus, so they suffered a little. the roots looked great still though, so i planted them, and i already have a bunch of new leaves shooting up. the only thing i do is add flourish excel once weekly after a PWC. other than that all they have is 15w of light over a 20H, and every plant looks awesome and are all sprouting new leaves all the time.

 

[HN1]

Slightly off-topic, but worthy of at least the text IMO is that vals and some crypts tend to take awhile to adjust. I've seen them completely melt away to come back strong as can be. As far as I'm aware, nobody has definitively addressed the causes of "crypt melt".