Do I Need To Add More Fertilizer?

[denzil1nil]

Could someone plz answer me a couple of questions as my plants are really struggling.



1. At the moment Im doing twice weekley 50% water changes and wanted to know if I should be upping my ferts due to this.

2. How long after a water change should I add the ferts?

3. Am I Using enough fertilizer? Im currentley dosing 15ml of Nutrafin Plant Gro per week, the day after a water change in my 30 gallon tank.

 

[m_attt]

what do your plants tell you, are they looking healthy. personally i would be adding the ferts right after both changes.

 

[denzil1nil]

Should I do a full dose after each change or 50% like the water changes? also does dechlorinator affect the fertilizer? thats why im doing it the day after at the moment as im not sure.

I dont know what there telling me as this is a new problem. I only have a few Java fern and another plant im not sure of but I had them thriving for a year until i put them in this setup.

The biggest Javas are around 4''tall and deep green but the leaves dont last long going brown nearly black around the edges then dying they are spawning the odd new plant but these dont allways take off. The roots are dark and hairy like.

The other plant was also thriving with bright oval green leaves and bright white roots growing down the stems now theres only a few new leaves at the tops as Ive nearly sripped them bare removing dying leaves (they go brown around the edge first then the rest of the leaf and die). Also the stems that were once nice and green are also going brown with hardly any new roots growing out of them the roots that do come from the stem go brown soon after. The roots under the gravel are nice and white tho'. When the lights are off the leaves are reaching up and when the lights are on they sometimes droop tho' this is usually after a water change.

I had more plants until I made the mistake of buying a couple of crabs.

 

[denzil1nil]

More help plz

 

[SO19Firearms]

Dose everyday if possible (by splitting up the weekly dose) If you're doing large water changes do a full day's dose straight after. No point in taking half their ferts away and making them wait.
If you're plants are consistently dying and you're happy it isn't emmersed/submersed melt then you need to start thinking about...

- your light - Is it too much for the amount of CO2 and ferts you're supplying
- your CO2 - How much are you giving them, if any and how does that relate to your light levels (high light needs high CO2) although 2x weekly 50% water changes will be helping if you're not dosing CO2 or liquid carbon.
- your ferts - I've got a chart I made that shows the rough make up of Nutrafin Plant Gro - The only good thing about it is that it contains some Nitrate so you might want to look at investing in a better product or making your own
- Flow - If all the above is ticking along and you still have problems it's probably a lack of flow to spread all the love around.

IMO





I realise they're all questions and not answers..but still

 

[denzil1nil]

Thanks it helps to know what questions to ask to get the right answers i suppose.

So Ill answer the above and see what you people think.

1. My lighting is 1x 18" 15w Arcadia original tropical lamp and 1x 18" Arcadia 15w fresh water lamp thest are on 11hrs a day.

2. I have no co2 system.

3. Listend to the lfs owner as I had no idea what to use(what would you recommend and how do you mean make my own?).

4. My flow is produced from my Fluval u4 Internal filter(set to oxygen flow) and a fluval 2 filter (set on high).

 

[denzil1nil]

bump

 

[SO19Firearms]

t5's or t8's will might make a difference, but 11hrs a day with no CO2 is probably too long. 6 might be a better start
This tells you how to make your own ferts if you fancy a go

 

[denzil1nil]

Im using t5s and thanks SO19 appreciate the link

 

[Noahs ark6]

A whole litre for just £14, i use it and it works well

Here

If you look at the chart (one of the pics) you can see how little nutrients nutrafin plant grow has

 

[denzil1nil]

thanks noah