Plants plants Plants
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BBradbury
Aquarium Advice Addict
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Planted Tanks w/o CO2
Hello Ans...
If you keep low to moderate light plants, you don't need CO2. I keep plants that require subdued lighting and rarely use commercial fertilizers.
Your plants need macro "high dose" and micro "small dose" fertilizers. The macro ferts are in most public water supplies. So, if you change half the tank water every week or two, your plants get the macros.
The micros come from the waste the fish produce. The fish do their business in the water and it dissolves, providing the "small dose" ferts. If you have a properly stocked tank, then just feed the fish a balanced diet.
Pretty simple, really.
B
Hello Ans...
If you keep low to moderate light plants, you don't need CO2. I keep plants that require subdued lighting and rarely use commercial fertilizers.
Your plants need macro "high dose" and micro "small dose" fertilizers. The macro ferts are in most public water supplies. So, if you change half the tank water every week or two, your plants get the macros.
The micros come from the waste the fish produce. The fish do their business in the water and it dissolves, providing the "small dose" ferts. If you have a properly stocked tank, then just feed the fish a balanced diet.
Pretty simple, really.
B
bettaowner
Aquarium Advice Addict
I love plants in the cryptocoryne genus
jetajockey
come get me tang police!
Not to confuse things further, but Nitrogen (the N in NPK macronutrients) comes directly from fish waste. A few water systems have nitrates in them (well water/agricultural zones especially), but I wouldn't count on it.
For a lower light low tech tank I'd just stick with a basic microfert like Flourish comprehensive, and if you want to see if co2 will help noticeably (it may or may not depending on how much light you are working with), go with either a DIY co2 setup or start dosing excel /glutaraldehyde, which is a co2 supplement. It's often mistakenly called liquid carbon, which can confuse things even more, but either way.
For a lower light low tech tank I'd just stick with a basic microfert like Flourish comprehensive, and if you want to see if co2 will help noticeably (it may or may not depending on how much light you are working with), go with either a DIY co2 setup or start dosing excel /glutaraldehyde, which is a co2 supplement. It's often mistakenly called liquid carbon, which can confuse things even more, but either way.
brennae
Aquarium Advice Addict
I have low tech no CO2 and I have lots of anubias and crypts and swords. Swords are root feeders though and so I use fertilizer tabs with them
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