aaronfeeney
Active Member
What do you use to supplement the water for your planted aquariums?
What Water Supplements Do You Use? CO2?
- Thread starter aaronfeeney
- Start date
censeoflife
New Member
liquid fert
Right now I am using Kent marine Pro-Plant only in both my tanks. They are heavily planted and I just keep adding more. For this exciting experiment in plant care I am just plain old following the directions. I have noticed an 1" of growth per week. It was the most complete all in one liq fert I could find at my LFS and has worked pretty good considering I haven't done anything else. This weekend I am gonna build a CO2 Gen and then we'll see where that gets me. And my plants look great. I am intending to grow my communities nice territories and have been soaking up the info like crazy.
Right now I am using Kent marine Pro-Plant only in both my tanks. They are heavily planted and I just keep adding more. For this exciting experiment in plant care I am just plain old following the directions. I have noticed an 1" of growth per week. It was the most complete all in one liq fert I could find at my LFS and has worked pretty good considering I haven't done anything else. This weekend I am gonna build a CO2 Gen and then we'll see where that gets me. And my plants look great. I am intending to grow my communities nice territories and have been soaking up the info like crazy.
CrashSmAshley
New Member
API makes great products and you can find them virtually anywhere.
censeoflife
New Member
I was just reading up on the estimative index the other day. Thought I might want to go that route considering it fits well into my current methods of caring for my communities.
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Anonymous
Guest
For drys I use the EI method as well, and it works great and for liquid ferts I use half of the recomended ammount of seachems flourish and seachems root tabs every month in my 29 there is a diy co2 system and 110 watts of ligting for 12 hours a day. For my 10 I use seachems excell twice a week at the recomended dosage for the size of the tank and nothing else it gets some direct sunlight for around 3 hours a day and I turn on the 27 watt light for 6 hours a day. I don't use any other ferts because I do water changes only 2 times a year. So fish poo makes up all the nutrients for the plants. And in my barebottom 20 I use excell every other day at the recomended amount flourish every day at the recomended amount and dry ferts after each water change. I do water changes in this tank every other day because I grow out fry in it. It has 28 watts of light on it for 10 hours a day. Every thing works well in all of these tanks.
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Anonymous
Guest
Re: water supplements
Wher did you get all your dry fertilizers?Digsy said:
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Anonymous
Guest
Re: water suppliments
ThanksDigsy said:
What do/have you use[ed] for C02?
Well... i've never kept any plants but sort of want to. I saw lilydog's post about dirt under the gravel.... I don't think that's a great option for me at this time. So i was just curious about other ideas, setups, tips, etc everyone uses or have used in the past.
Well... i've never kept any plants but sort of want to. I saw lilydog's post about dirt under the gravel.... I don't think that's a great option for me at this time. So i was just curious about other ideas, setups, tips, etc everyone uses or have used in the past.
When I had my first planted tank, I used Hagen's bubble ladder with a DIY yeast mix. I eventually went pressurized and have a paintball regulator setup on my small tank and a 15lb CO2 tank/regulator on my 105 gallon. I'd never go back to DIY CO2 again. Going pressurized requires so much less maintenance, even if it's more expensive initially.
I use a Red Sea paintball regulator on my nano with 20oz refillable bottles and my big regulator is from aquariumplants.com. I later upgraded my needle valve on the large regulator as the one that came with it was pretty cheap and flimsy. There are several other places online that I would probably go with instead were I to purchase another regulator.
Clogstonian
New Member
i tried the DIY set up myself and quickly got annoyed/frustrated with the learning curve/maintenance aspect. I picked up a regulator/solenoid,needle valve from Rex Griggs, maybe alittle more expensive than some other options but it's been running for 3 yrs without anything other than a CO2 tank switch out.
I use a 20lber, lasts about 12-14 months (on a timer, not 24/7), 2x 65watt CF's, and a 50/50 fluorite/gravel mix, IE dry ferts.
I use a 20lber, lasts about 12-14 months (on a timer, not 24/7), 2x 65watt CF's, and a 50/50 fluorite/gravel mix, IE dry ferts.
CrashSmAshley
New Member
Merged "What supplements do you use" and "what types of co2 have/do you use(d)" together and made a sticky :cheers:
I use pressurized co2 with a regulator, metering valve and solenoid I bought on ebay for around $100. However, I need a new solenoid since the one I have isn't rated for continual use. Trial and error is part of the DIY process I suppose.
I'm debating on whether to go with the EI or PPS system. They both have their pros and cons. I'd be interested to know what people using Seattle city water add in the way of elements.
I'm debating on whether to go with the EI or PPS system. They both have their pros and cons. I'd be interested to know what people using Seattle city water add in the way of elements.
Clogstonian
New Member
glad you posted this, I'm interested to hear what other planted tank folk have to say about the subjectgillt said:
I use EI with dry fertilizers(KNO3, KHPO4,K2SO4, Plantex CSM+B), weekly water change(sometimes when I'm too lazy I may skip some water changes) with water from 164th ST well. Depending on the fish tank I may increase KH with baking soda and GH with Cacl2 and epsom salt or both with CaCO3 or cuttlefish bone.
I use presurized CO2 systems controled either by a pH controler or by timer. For small tank(s) I use Excel instead of CO2.
I use presurized CO2 systems controled either by a pH controler or by timer. For small tank(s) I use Excel instead of CO2.