New to planted tanks, flourish

[marinefish71]

Hi all, Ok my story goes like this..
I am 50 yrs of age and over the years have kept marine tanks, tropical of all forms, koi ponds etc.
Im quite knowledgable about aquariums but know nothing about a planted freshwater tanks.
Plants in a tank are new to me and im really looking for some anwsers to help me get these plants going and established.

So ill try to attach a pic of my tank for you..
Its a 100 litre tank plus a external filter also running a uv..
all paremetres are good at the mo and it has been running for about 8 months now..
Recently added some plants thinking they would help with nitrates and eat up some badies in the tank..
Well that is not so much the case, even possibly taking too much out of the tank as some plants are melting or disintigrating..

I thought about a Co2 system but after going to LFS i just cant justify buying that set up yet due to monies.

So i was advised that to help the plants to go with the Flourish range of products..
So i bought a triple pack of flourish fundamentals.

Now here comes the questions.
Although i could try and follow the instructions im not sure what my levels are at right now.. so clearly dont want to overdose or underdose.
Is there a real basic way of knowing how to dose these products or should i be going for a different product altogether.. I realise flourish is expensive and there might be other products out there that you guys could point me to.
However this is what ive got now..
All three products seem to have different dose rates and daily/every other day. Its very confusing.
In my head i would like to just dose the same amount each day / bi daily etc..
So from a very basic level how do i move forward with this..
I want the correct product in my cabinet for the plants and want to know in basic terms what i should be doing dosing wise..
Maybe i can move to co2 when i can afford it but right now its not a choice..
Heres hoping you can all help..
Paul

[LookoutTrout]

Hi there.
Flourish is good but can be expensive, after I spent £20 on my first bottle and realised I'd need different ones the expected monthly spend went up to over £100. My experience with all in one fertilisers didn't go well, so I bought an EI starter kit and use a half dose as I don't want to add CO2. It still wasn't that straighforward as I don't want to add extra nitrates so I replaced potassium nitrate with potassium sulphate with daily dosing and it seems to go well.
What you can't do is combine micro and macro ferts as they will react with each other so whatever you do you'll still have at least 2 bottles to tip in, I also use Flourish Excel but I'm not convinced it does much.
It is still a bit of a daily faff so I use an auto doser and just mix up the bottles, 10 minutes every couple of weeks.
What I have found is different plants need different nutrients so the too much approach is simpler but with a 50% water change each week it stops them building up to toxic levels.

[marinefish71]

Can you explain EI to me please? is it a brand?

[fr499y]

Welcome

What ever the bottle says for a weekly dose, split it up into daily dosages. In all fairness, the plants you currently have don't fair the best with liquid co2 ( but all plants get on with co2 gas ), but will certainly enjoy the extra ferts.

Personally I would go with TNC Lite and not bother with the liquid co2 and see how you get on ( Once you have used what you currently have )

[fr499y]

Can you explain EI to me please? is it a brand?

EI = Estimated Index

It's basically everything in seperate bottles that you mix yourself, to control exactly what and how much goes into your tank.

[marinefish71]

Im not using any Co2 liquid or gas at the mo..
I will look at the EI set up, looks quite simple.. Will also look at TNC lite..
Its all a big learning curve for me..
So i think maybe i need to narrow down what ferts to use then start tweaking the doses..
I will get Co2 in the future but am currently not dosing any Co2 whatssoever..
EDIT: sorry im wrong, maybe one of my bottles is carbon so yes i guess that is liquid co2 isnt it?

[Martinspuddle]

Greetings & welcome to




Two points, your water flow may now be enough as I can see BBA (Black bush algae) taking hold which is usually a sign of poor circulation in the aquarium and the plants (of which there doesn't look enough) to out compete the algae for nutrients. Second, your Java ferns, I take it they are attached to just pebbles? Java's are epiphyte plants meaning that they need a large surface area to adhere to grow, your need something larger to attach too and won't last long in their current state.

For a planted aquarium the water circulation needs to be at lease 10 times turn over. Don't include the filter turnover as often the manufacturer flow rates differ from actual turnover volumes per hour due to amount of media dirt and maintenance times. Circulation pumps or power heads much better.

You need to remove a much algae, dead and dying leaves to promote new growth.

Can you explain EI to me please?

Tom Barr is a well respected aquarium plant guru. Here's his report on Ei dosing.

The Estimative Index - What is it? ​

I don't use Ei but use just daily dosing of all-in-one, universal plant food and no Co2. 50% weekly waterchanges and a added weekly small dose of Iron plus Potassium.


Double click to enlarge

[Martinspuddle]

EDIT: sorry im wrong, maybe one of my bottles is carbon so yes i guess that is liquid co2 isnt it?

Liquid Co2 can be used to boost plant growth but it's not a very stable way of adding Co2. If your not careful it can cause fluctuations in the Co2 levels which can cause algae outbreaks and other issues. Co2 gas direct injection is more stable and will produce better results long term.

This stuff is better used to control algae. With the BBA you have, simply apply with new clean small paint brush to the effected leaves when the plant is out of water. The BBA will turn pink and die off.

[Mossyboy]

I am no expert. I have a 125 ltr tank.
I have struggled with plants since I first took up the hobby.
I have tried Flourish and heaven knows what else of expensive treatment and ferts all with no success. Never used CO2.
Over the past couple of months I changed my tactics.
Beleive it or not I have three medium wattage led lights running 12 hours per day (I have 4 Otos and NO ALGAE)
I have started dosing a cheap liquid fert (Pets at Home, I love fish plant fertiliser £4.50 per 100ml) 1ml per day when the lights first come on, as I was advised to on here (thanks Stephen and Ian).
Honestly my plants and tank have never looked better and they are improving daily, maybe I was lucky, but it's not broke so I aint gonna mess with it.
This is just my experience be it right or wrong.

[LookoutTrout]

I've found there are two types of pre-mix fertilisers, those with nitrates and phosphates and those without. It gave me a headache as I had too much nitrate from water and fish food but very little phosphate.