Plant Ferts.

[cichlidicted]

Hey ..
is seachem flourish enough for a planted 90 gallon low-tech. twice a week.

or should i add more N.P.K ?

[pminister]

First and foremost welcome to the green side ! 

Not an expert, but since i have started in planted setup especially on a low tech. And based on my experience on couple things, there would be few things that come into play as to what type of setup you have and the look you are trying to achieve.

If you have low tech setup meaning low light, slow growing plants, and no c02 well by adding Seachem: Flourish should be fine in small dosage twice per week.

But if you like to take it one step further, take some time to read up on some of these links. It sure helped me a lot, and i am continuously learning. It is easier to start slow, then go all wild with expensive setup and later to realize it was a mistake.

http://ovas.ca/index.php?topic=35307.0

But to give you a basic idea of my setup:
- 20 Gallon Tank
- 20 Watt Lighting
- Regular gravel (i.e non inert)
- Slow Growing Plants: Java Fern, Anubias Nana, Hornwort, Java Moss <- Less Demanding
- Medium/Fast Growing Plants: Water Wisteria, Ludwigia Repens, <- More Demanding
- Dosing: 1 Cap full x 2 per week of Seachem: Flourish
             3 Cap full/ per day of Seachem: Excel

I will post pics if upon request, but other then that. This setup works for me, on the basis that I have worked up to it by reading and bit of slow progression of trial and error.

[charlie]

I would suggest having a better understanding of what nutrients all plants need to grow , regardless if it`s low light or high light they all need the same types of nutrients.These are commonly broke down in 2 groups - Macro nutrients ( NPK) & Micro nutrients ( Trace elements).
The amount & frequency will be dictated by the tank conditions ( naturally available nutrients , light, growth etc.) .

[exv152]

is seachem flourish enough for a planted 90 gallon low-tech. twice a week.
or should i add more N.P.K ?

Seachem flourish is excellent for trace elements.  As for macronutrients, I would test the water to ensure nitrates are at 10-20 ppm max, and phosphates at 1-2 ppm, but with a low tech tank you may not need to do that.  If you do need to adjust NPK then go with dry ferts (B&B hydroponics). Much, much cheaper than the seachem stuff, and lasts way longer. 

[charlie]

First and foremost welcome to the green side ! 

Not an expert, but since i have started in planted setup especially on a low tech. And based on my experience on couple things, there would be few things that come into play as to what type of setup you have and the look you are trying to achieve.

If you have low tech setup meaning low light, slow growing plants, and no c02 well by adding Seachem: Flourish should be fine in small dosage twice per week.

But if you like to take it one step further, take some time to read up on some of these links. It sure helped me a lot, and i am continuously learning. It is easier to start slow, then go all wild with expensive setup and later to realize it was a mistake.

http://ovas.ca/index.php?topic=35307.0

But to give you a basic idea of my setup:
- 20 Gallon Tank
- 20 Watt Lighting
- Regular gravel (i.e non inert)
- Slow Growing Plants: Java Fern, Anubias Nana, Hornwort, Java Moss <- Less Demanding
- Medium/Fast Growing Plants: Water Wisteria, Ludwigia Repens, <- More Demanding
- Dosing: 1 Cap full x 2 per week of Seachem: Flourish
             3 Cap full/ per day of Seachem: Excel

I will post pics if upon request, but other then that. This setup works for me, on the basis that I have worked up to it by reading and bit of slow progression of trial and error.

Sorry for the thread jack.
pminster i noticed you are really heavy on the dosing of Excel in a 1 WPG tank with slow growing/undemanding plants,"3capful per day"=15mls per day in a 20 Gallon, i think Seachem recommends 5 ml per 50 gallons daily, what is the reasoning of your approach?

[cichlidicted]

Hello ... thanks pminister, exv and charlie ... and yes am starting slowly.
well my tank is a low-tech meaning the following :

1.5w per gallon
no Co2
Eco-complete gravel 3"
java ferns, vals, narrow leaf, amazon swords, and some moss on a driftwood

i've read a report about dosing strategies recommended by charlie i guess, it was a good description in terms of macro, micro and trace elements ... but i'd like to have some more info when it comes to dosing for my tank..

for now am using seachem flourish twice a week, dosing as directed on the bottle. i've noticed that the flourish includes many of the elements needed, iron, phost., etc..

advices please.

[pminister]

Sorry for the thread jack

Sorry for the thread jack.
pminster i noticed you are really heavy on the dosing of Excel in a 1 WPG tank with slow growing/undemanding plants,"3capful per day"=15mls per day in a 20 Gallon, i think Seachem recommends 5 ml per 50 gallons daily, what is the reasoning of your approach?

Well my good man !   The reasoning behind my approach is that, at first these plants: Water Wisteria, Ludwigia Repen, and one particular type of Sword plant which I sitll don't remember the name. But they had very slow growth, as well if there was any growth they would end up turning yellow or curl up to shrivel away. So I started dosing "1 Capfull" per day over a period of two weeks. Slowly I started to notice that the following plants I mentioned showed some good growth over 1-2(1/2) days, where about 1-3 new leaves would grow out over those days.

So far the Wisteria showed no signs of leaves thining, and starting to get more leaves on it as opposed to looking very leggy. The Ludwigia Repen has been growing alot quicker with alot more red shades, as opposed to full green leaves plus the plan not looking to leggy as well. Last but not least this Sword plant, would come out wtih 2-3 new plantlets over a period of 2-3 weeks though it still requires few more nutrients/ light. But is managing quiet well, under this setup. *Knock On Wood*.

Hence I am up at 3 Capfull for dosing, though I havent had any major algae issues. Apart from minor algae dust appearing on the glass, and a very very light fuzz of black algae. Other then that all is gravy.......  

[charlie]

Hello ... thanks pminister, exv and charlie ... and yes am starting slowly.
well my tank is a low-tech meaning the following :

1.5w per gallon
no Co2
Eco-complete gravel 3"
java ferns, vals, narrow leaf, amazon swords, and some moss on a driftwood i've read a report about dosing strategies recommended by charlie i guess, it was a good description in terms of macro, micro and trace elements ... but i'd like to have some more info when it comes to dosing for my tank..

for now am using seachem flourish twice a week, dosing as directed on the bottle. i've noticed that the flourish includes many of the elements needed, iron, phost., etc..

advices please.

In my opinion,with that set up & the plants you have listed , i won`t worry too much on dosing, of the list of plants you mentioned , the only nutrient demanding plant,is your sword. The sword plants are heavy root feeders, meaning they uptake most of their nutrients via their root structure, as such i would encourage you to just place a root tab under the sword plant/plants every 3 mths or so.
The Flourish does contain some nitrogen & phosphates, but it is very very minimal & will not support a heavy plant mass which requires larger qty of macro nutrients, in this instant with your system the way it is now i don`think you will need to do any NPK dosing, this will change if you increase your plant types & mass.
Just my 2 cents 

[charlie]

Some more info to help you understand the requirement of dosing,
(1) Light intensity drives plant growth - more light faster growth( in a nutshell)
(2) As plants grow, they require more carbon to sustain the growth( large % of plant tissue is carbon) hence it needs to be supplemented when growth rate is good.
(3)When the above 2 are balanced ( compliment each other), the next  important requirement is Macro nutrients ( N P K )- these are readily available in any tank, but needs to be supplemented if the growth rate is demanding more than the tank environment can produce.
( 4) Next in this chain of requirement when all the above is met, is the Micro nutrients AKA as trace elements ( iron, cobalt, zinc etc)

As you can tell from this chain of requirement, Light is the single most important nutrient, if your light is low intensity, then everything else down the line is reduced in requirement.
Micro ( traces) in a low light set up low growth plants ( Java ferns, moss, etc) can sometimes be replenished by simple water changes, again it`s when you have fast growing plants & set ups , that supplementing by dosing is critical
This is my understanding of it & subject to correction-Hope this helps

[exv152]

I totally agree with that, and for my swords I use flourish tabs, once every 3-4 mths.  And as you mention later, if you increase the lighting & plant mass then you'll need to balance all the nutrients. At that point I would suggest EI dosing.  But with your set-up I think the micronutrients are good enough.  You can also find dry trace elements, which go a long long way, but they don't have all the elements found in flourish. 

[cichlidicted]

charlie thanks for the informative summary... it helped. exv152, i wont be upgrading anything before 2-3 months.

So i understand that water change is needed ?!! cause i was hoping not to do any water changes except for topoffs.