Fertilizer questions

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JustOneMore20

Algae Fighter
Joined
May 30, 2006
Messages
3,872
Location
Birmingham, AL
I have a question about using fertilizers in two of my tanks. Neither of them are high light tanks. One may have DIY CO2 soon.

My 55g tank is medium light, 2.4wpg, no CO2. It is light-moderately planted with:
java fern
anubias nana
e. tennellus
rotala rotundifolia
bacopa caroliniana
ambulia
tiger lotus
myriophyllum
crypt wendtii red and green
crypt lutea
crypt retrospiralis

The ferts I use are:
flourish potassium
tropica master grow
flourish iron
flourish excel
flourish nitrogen (not dosing in the 55g)

~I have a high fish load...pretty much at the stocking max. My nitrates are about 15ppm before a water change.
~I try to dose once a week as much as the bottle recommends.
~Should I dose more than once a week? How often? Is using the recommended dose good enough?

My 29g is heavily planted with about 2.2wpg. The plants do much better, even with slightly less light. I hope to add DIY CO2 (Red Sea turbo system) to this tank soon.

~Should I dose more than once a week on this tank? I do add the nitrogen.

The plants are:
taiwon moss
rotala rotundifolia
stargrass
ludwigia repens
alternantha reinekii (sp?)
bacopa caroliniana
e. tennellus
ambulia
crypt wendtii and lutea

*Help me do this right!*
 
Well my first thought is. How are the plants doing? Do you have more than nuisance algae? If things are going well then maybe just leaving it alone is a good idea.
 
My 55g has alot of algae...some staghorn and some fuzzy mess, i'm guessing is some type of thread algae with debri in it. Low light plants do better in this tank, even though it has more light. My Ambulia is covered in some type of fuzzy stuff. Very nasty.
 
Ok then we need to figure this out. You dose potassium and nitrogen do you dose any Phosphorous? Do you know what your phosphourous levels are? I think the biggest problem and the cause of most algae problems is that you dont add any CO2. You need CO2 in both tanks.
 
My phosphorus levels are around 3ppm...so I don't dose it.

Will DIY CO2 be off any help in the 55g tank? Thats all I can do right now. I have 2 empty juice bottles ready for DIY that are a little over 2 liters. Would I need more than that?
 
It would not be able to give you 30ppm, but with an effecient diffuser it should make a difference. I see you are adding Excel how are you putting in?
 
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