lyndatu

Hello

I have been using Tetra FloraPride liquid fertilizer on my 20 gallon plant tank and my plants have been doing great, but I might have been overdosing in the past few months because of the algae outbreaks in my tank. On the fertilizer bottle, the written dosage is "5 mL of fertilizer for every 10 liters of aquarium water for a newly set up aquarium" and the same dosage every partial water change(5 mL per 10 liters). I change 25% of the water every week(about 16 liters) so I add 8 mL of fertilizer after every water change. Should I add less or more fertilizer? How much fertilizer do you add to your tank? Your replies are appreciated.

Thanks in advance!

Nick G

I use a product called Ferropol, and I don't even measure it. I do the water changes and just squirt a slosh into each tank, probably more than the recommended dose. The only tank I have algae problems with is the Cichlid tank, which is also the only tank that doesn't get any as it has no live plants!

Butterfly

That sounds about right per your instructions.
when I use a fert I use Flourish excel and I put in a cap(5ml) every other day.
And dose however much water I put back in at water changes.
Carol

lyndatu

Hello and thanks for the replies! So the fertilizer might not be the culprit to my algae problem - perhaps I have overfed my tank too much. I'll fix it right away. But, I followed a certain article on how to help combat the existing algae by reducing light time, cutting of fertilizer dosage and more frequent water changes for two weeks. I just did a 50% water change. Should I add fertilizer, or should I not for the whole two weeks? I read an article about aquatic plant care and it says that if one of the plant's requirements(either light, nutrition or CO2) is reduced and becomes imbalanced, it will damage the plant and it will cause it to leach nutrients back to the water, which is fatal to plants. Should I still add only a small dosage of fertilizer for the two weeks?

Thanks in advance!