Is fertilizer a must?

[1977]

If so, what brand and how much how often? 125g, no co2, sword plants only

[Polar_Bear]

Miracle-Gro plants sticks, once every 2 months

[lillou]

I second Polar Bear's recommendation. Actually even with CO2 you are better off fertilizing swords; and crypts for that matter, with tablets that go in the substrate as both are known to be better root feeders.

Just insert them by the roots of your sword plants. Test every once and a while to make sure they fertilizers aren't leaching back into the water column.

[1977]

What do you mean leaching back into water column, is the fertilizer harmful to fish and water quality?

[lillou]

Depending on which fertilizer tabs you use the makeup of them is different. Seachem is usually the one available in the LFS but they are expensive. To save money you can get other tabs which are cheaper but designed for regular plants not aquarium plants. Although they contain compounds good for plants some of those compunds aren't good for the inhabitants of the aquarium.

So test your water occasionally if you are using a plant tab for regular plants. Usually ammonia is the compound that is leached into the water column.

[Polar_Bear]

All plant sticks have NPK (Nitrogen, Phosphate, Potassium) Nitrogen is in the form of NO3. By burying the sticks the fertilizer is available to the plant but not to the water column. No CO2 and you really don't want or need fertilizer(s) in your water.

[Paula B]

When using root sticks made for house plants and not aquarium plants, I usually cut them in half.

Make sure you bury them deep in the substrate, and the whole stick is well covered. Don't move the plants or dig around in that area of substrate once they are in and it shouldn't leach anything noticeable into the water column. If you start messing with it- thats a different story.

[Derock]

Back when I had a planted tank, I went on some of the planted tank websites and got a rundown of ingredients to make clay balls with jobe's plant food spikes inside them. Never had a problem with using them. Just inserted them under the roots system of the heavy feeders. You'll notice greener healthier plants especially with the bigger swords. Your plants will thank you,Derock.

[lillou]

The Miracle Gro plant tabs are made with a substance called urea formaldehyde. It is mostly water insoluble. It releases ammonium based nitrogen through bacterial/microbial action. Once released if you disturb the tab you will release ammonium or if your pH is above 7 ammonia into the water column

[Ed13]

Call me old fashion but if there are fish, I don't like to experiment.
I also rely solely on the look and growth of plants to decide when to dose.
So laterite(if anything) when setting up and potassium/iron in liquid form(add in the morning for leave absorption and at evening or night for root absorbtion). Always Seachem products when going commercial, root tabs if necessary.

Now when I was growing quarium plants in the pond, vats, and propagation buckets, I did experiment with terrestial plant fertilizers, lilies and lotus tabs and substrates and even soils. But most of the times 1-2 50% water changes a week, a nice size inert gravel and some liquid ferts was enough for stem plants and some echinodorus and crypts as long as they were underwater.

I did grow an emerged Echinodorus muricatus to 36" with nothing but gravel and some root tabs for water lilies every 2-3 months it did had crazy amounts of guppys(literaly hundreds in one swipe of a net) in the water , but one summer some bugs ate it in less than two weeks

[willbldrco]

My experience is similar to Ed's: I use liquid ferts (the type depends on the out come of my water tests) and my swords are thriving. I do inject CO2 and have course gravel with under gravel filtration so the roots see a current.

I tend to dose Fe and K more than NO3 and P04...

Will