Fertilisation for a densely-planted low-tech tank??

[olives101]

Hi,

Looking at adding ferts to my new tank. It's low-tech, densely planted and has been running for about a month now. Picture attached.

Plant list

• Java fern, Anubias, Vallisneria, L. brevipes, Amazon sword, Hygrophila, Eriocaulon 'Vietnam', Water sprite, Brazilian Micro Sword, Floating bamboo, Tiger lotus, and a bunch of house plants with their roots in the water.

Stocking

• 14 Harlequin rasboras, 1 adult BN pleco, lots of cherry shrimp

Weekly targets, will make using dry ferts per the DIY-fert IFC calculator
Nitrate (NO₃) : 2 ppm
Phosphate (PO₄) : 0.2 ppm
Potassium (K) : 10 ppm
Magnesium (Mg) : 1 ppm
Iron (Fe) : 0.05 ppm


Two questions:

• Will this fertilising be enough for this tank, with the mixture of fast and slow growing plants? I.e. will my slower growing plants get enough, or will the floating and emergent plants absorb everything
• Should I slowly increase to the recommended dosing regime (to hit the above) to give plants enough time to acclimate? E.g. half doses for the first month or something

Thanks

 

[Jkaliszew]

Hi,

Looking at adding ferts to my new tank. It's low-tech, densely planted and has been running for about a month now. Picture attached.

Plant list

• Java fern, Anubias, Vallisneria, L. brevipes, Amazon sword, Hygrophila, Eriocaulon 'Vietnam', Water sprite, Brazilian Micro Sword, Floating bamboo, Tiger lotus, and a bunch of house plants with their roots in the water.

Stocking

• 14 Harlequin rasboras, 1 adult BN pleco, lots of cherry shrimp

Weekly targets, will make using dry ferts per the DIY-fert IFC calculator
Nitrate (NO₃) : 2 ppm
Phosphate (PO₄) : 0.2 ppm
Potassium (K) : 10 ppm
Magnesium (Mg) : 1 ppm
Iron (Fe) : 0.05 ppm


Two questions:

• Will this fertilising be enough for this tank, with the mixture of fast and slow growing plants? I.e. will my slower growing plants get enough, or will the floating and emergent plants absorb everything
• Should I slowly increase to the recommended dosing regime (to hit the above) to give plants enough time to acclimate? E.g. half doses for the first month or something

Thanks

Hi, first I’m not an expert on this subject as I’m learning. I have a low tech densely planted tank with a thick layer of aquasoil.

I have water lettuce, red root and frog bit floaters. Swords, Scarlet temple and some Anubias. I have the Fluval plant light on this tank.

After 6 months I started noticing the plant leaves were becoming a bit translucent so I started dosing with Aquarium Co-Op easy green and a few drops of iron for the red plants at least once a week and noticed an improvement.

Pothos is a great plant to have as it’s super effective at filtering and sucking up nutrients I don’t know about the bamboo, which I love btw!!! I have never seen it before used as floaters. Because of the Pothos and other plants I don’t think it hurts to lightly dose with liquid ferts but let an expert weigh in.

 

[Mudminnow]

Your weekly targets look good to me. At least, they seem like a good starting point...assuming you'll feed your fish well. There're just too many variables to know for sure. Keep a close eye on your plants. They'll show signs of stress if something's off.

 

[DaveKS]

Been intrigued by that floating bamboo plant!

What’s your take on it so far? Looks healthy and vibrant in picture. Looks like a perfect medium sized specimen floating plant that sill allows a good bit of light penetration into tank.

As far as ferts go I would lean towards the light but more frequent (3x a week) dosing side rather than heavy pump and dump once a week dosing being as this is a low tech setup.

 

[DaveKS]

Any reports in on that floater bamboo?

It looks nice in photo.