good aquarium plant fertilizer?

Question

whats a good aquarium plant fertilizer? Is a substrate or liquid fertilizer better? Do i need CO2?(im getting easy lowlight plants)





much appriciated

I dont know the names of teh plants im getting because i dont know what Petsmart will have......! So just in general. The petsmart guy told me that they only have plants that are low light and easy to grow because tehy just have them in a tank with flowing water..........so for like those plants you see in eth plant tank at petsmart!

Answer 1

um define easy low light plants? i use java fern java moss and anubias and they don't need anything other than to be tied down and sunk in the tank. you don't even want to bury them in the substrate or they won't grow as well. i used to use liquid fertilizer by api. co2 injections are generally for more difficult plants in heavily planted tanks. i suggest you research the plants you get individually -- you don't grow a orchid the same way you grow an oak tree. same with aquarium plants.

Answer 2

I personally prefer the tablet fertilizers that you bury near the plant roots - this way the plants you want get the benefit of the fertilizer, not the algae in your tank!

Below is an article about using a pond tablet for aquarium use (cheaper!) http://www.hallman.org/plant/fertilizer.html

Here are some other products available: http://www.aquatichobbyaquariumsupply.com/Plant_Food_s/423.htm

You don't absolutely need CO2. If you have fish in the tank, the only thing typically lacking is iron (get something with chelated iron, it lasts longer). Also, if you get one of the products with "CO2 fizz", you need to have a CO2 reactor - it will put too much CO2 in the water otherwise and kill your fish!

For info on "easy-to-care-for-plants" & light requirements, see :
http://www.fishlore.com/Plants.htm
http://faq.thekrib.com/plant-list.html
http://www.aquariumconnection.com/freshsol/fwsoln11.html

Answer 3

Substrate fertilizer is for plants with roots, who also suck up a lot of iron. A stick of this shoud be by every plant with big roots (like an amazon sword for instance). It will not help floating plants like java moss or anchored plants like java fern much.

Liquid fertilizer is for plants who can draw stuff from the water column (like floating plants, anchored plants, or plants with roots that grow in the water), or to add trace minerals. It also benefits rooted plants in the substrate, but not as efficiently as a stick would. Most fertilizer is delivered in liquid a few drops a day. It will eventually find its way to all plants.

In all honesty, most low light plants do not need any fertilizer other than co2 & light. Nearly all plants benefit from some co2 injection. With low light plants, you will probalbly never use up all of the nutrients in the water column.

Answer 4

I wouldn't get plants from those stores. They look very unhealthy and the workers there have no idea what the plants are called. A lot of the plants at Petsmart and Petco aren't even aquatic plants. I would go to a good petstore to get them. They will be healthier.