GH, plants and supplements

[TimboS]

Hi All,

I have a number of plants in my tank and they seem to grow quite fine without any fertiliser or CO2, etc.

About the only thing that tells me I should look at using something like Flourish is that my Amazon sword does not grow out long slender arms with paddles anymore - the leaves are basically shaped like canoes now and do not grow out from the base very far at all.

Anyway, I can't help but wonder why things still seem to grow well in the absence of supplements of sort. I was thinking my GH of 8 degrees and nitrates of 15ppm may just be doing the job? Does this sound plausible?

With something like Flourish, are there any no-no's with respect to filtration that will suck the nutrients out of the water, i.e. carbon?

Thanks,

Timbo

[rwel4809]

carbon will such out the fertz. but if you have water clarity issues you can use seachem purigen in your filter instead.

How long has your tank been running?

IME plants that are bought in good condition can do fine without fertz for a few months, but soon show sighns of deficiency such as waxy leaves, brown spots, yellowing etc.

The amount of fertz and CO2 depends on the striking a balance between lighting, types of plants etc.

If you have a low light tank (<2watts per gallon) you may not need fertz or CO2 at all.

If you have 2 WPG or more you willl eventually need fertz and C02 to get lush growth and good colour.

try adding some flourish complete and see what happens...

HTH :)

Robert

[TimboS]

G'Day Robert,

Thanks for the confirmation on carbon and fertiliser. I suspected as much. Do you recommend purigen as a replacement rather than hypersorb or nitrasorb, etc?

OK - I have two 18W lights over the tank but use only one to ensure one section of the tank is not as well lit for the discus to hide in a bit better. The tank is 124L which equates to 32.76 gallon. So, 18W over 33 gallon is 0.55ish W/G, so I guess I fall into the low light category alright ! Even with both lights on I am still in the low light category. (Mind you, I am about to put in new 24W globes).

What would be better for trial in this case do you think - flourish or flourish excel (since the latter gets rave reviews)?

Thanks,

Timbo

[ILLUSN]

the long stems are a result of emersed growth,

submersed leaves are sword shaped (or canoe shapped), hence the name sword plant.

if you want emersed growth under water you'll need around 6wpg.

if your going to fertilize dont use chemical filtration.

[TimboS]

wpg = watts per gallon?

In that case I'm stuffed !

Perhaps in my case it would be better to not use an air-stone during the day and up the lights to 24W as anticipated.

It's a shame I can't choose from much of a range for my AquaOne light hood (it's one of those that comes with the Euroview tank). I also would rather something a bit lower in colour temp since my globes (and the replacements) are 7100K.

[JamezMan]

I think if most of your plants are sword plants which are majority root feeders, that you would probably see the most benefit in a fertilizer that can be put into the gravel and provide the roots with nourishment rather than a liquid fertilizer put into the water column. Also when I first began with plants used Flourish Excel as a source of carbon for all my varities of plants so I would recommend its use when you upgrade your lights or even now.

Luke.