More fertilizer questions!!

[hartgirl]

So for a little over a week now I have had a new fertilizer routine. In both my 87 gallon and 29 gallon I am dosing Flourish Comprehensive (full dose) twice weekly like the directions say. I am dosing at the same time a half Leaf Zone twice a week, and Excel daily per directions. Plus root tabs under the crypts. I have low/medium lighting with an aqueon 48" light strip on for 12 hrs. My questions:

1. How long do I need to wait to see if this dose works? I am seeing SOME more growth with my water sprite but not so much with the hornwort. The crypts and java fern aren't dead or anything....but I know they grow slowly anyway...

2. How much more Leaf Zone could I safely use? I'm thinking of going to a full dose twice per week (basically doubling it)

3. Would dosing more excel or flourish comprehensive help growth?

4. If I do a major water change after I dose ferts, should I do another full dose of the leaf zone and flourish comprehensive after? (I know excel has specific directions for this) ...


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[BBradbury]

Tank Fertilizers

Hello hart...

You're putting a lot of chemicals into the tank water. This will cause water chemistry problems for your fish and plants. One light strip for a tank isn't enough to grow most plants. I keep low to medium light plants and use a 2 or 3 bulb fixture. If you're not providing a minimum of 1.5 watts of light per gallon of tank volume for the slow growing plants, most won't do well long term.

The easy to grow, low to medium light plants will do fine with the fertilizer the fish produce, a 2 or 3 florescent bulb set up and regular water changes. They don't require a lot of extra fertilizers.

It seems we have fairly similar tank sizes. I dose a little Seachem's Comprehensive on rare occasions, right after the weekly water change and nothing more. Plants are no different than fish. If they get too much to eat, they aren't very healthy.

B

 

[Fresh2o]

So for a little over a week now I have had a new fertilizer routine. In both my 87 gallon and 29 gallon I am dosing Flourish Comprehensive (full dose) twice weekly like the directions say. I am dosing at the same time a half Leaf Zone twice a week, and Excel daily per directions. Plus root tabs under the crypts. I have low/medium lighting with an aqueon 48" light strip on for 12 hrs. My questions:

1. How long do I need to wait to see if this dose works? I am seeing SOME more growth with my water sprite but not so much with the hornwort. The crypts and java fern aren't dead or anything....but I know they grow slowly anyway...

2. How much more Leaf Zone could I safely use? I'm thinking of going to a full dose twice per week (basically doubling it)

3. Would dosing more excel or flourish comprehensive help growth?

4. If I do a major water change after I dose ferts, should I do another full dose of the leaf zone and flourish comprehensive after? (I know excel has specific directions for this) ...


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1. It could take weeks. Some may report positive results in less time. For example, when I started with DYI CO2 it took a good 4-6 weeks before things started rolling. Oddly enough, things can go downhill rather quickly.

2 & 3. You could do extra dosing but as B pointed out, the light appears to be the limiting factor so the extra ferts might not be utilized. Those are not cheap.

4. Yes IMO

I know this is B's line but don't skimp on water changes. If you add ferts you should test the nitrate and phosphate levels. Things can get out of hand quickly. I use PPS dry ferts but skip the nitrate as the fish and substrate supply that.


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[hartgirl]

Thanks guys. I do have three led strips in my single fixture. It produces about 30 PAR according to the manufacturer (sorry I wasn't more specific about that!). That being said, I do at least see growth on the sprite now, just not a ton. My nitrates hover around 20-30 always and we have fairly hard water here (don't know exactly but it's for sure above 4). Does this lighting clarification change anything?


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