Fertilizer?

[CrashingWaves]

I hear all kinds of things from people at the fish stores, or books, and I was wondering what is the best type of fertilizer I should get? I have good lighting in my tank, but unfortunately have never had much luck with plants. I would like to make a greater effort because I've always enjoyed heavily planted tanks.

God Bless,
Joshua

 

[garuf]

You say you have good lighting but this may not be the case, post up all of your tank's details and we'll see if people can help better.

 

[CrashingWaves]

Water Temp: 78
PH: 7
Amonia: 0
Tank Size: 55 Gallon Standard Shape
Filter: Penguin Bio-Wheel 350
Substrate: Sand mixed with small gravel
Light Bulb Type: Tropic Sun 5500K Daylight 15 Watts

 

[SuperColey1]

You actually have very poor lighting for the size of tank. I am guessing it is a T8 lamp meaning you are at about .25WPG!!!! (this is also assuming you have reflectrs as without it is much less)

You really want around the 1WPG mark to progress with easy plants and a little more for some other plants.

Ferts wise if you have any fish in there you will have plenty of natural ferts for the light you have.

Andy

 

[garuf]

And theres your problem
read this article by rex grigg http/www.rexgrigg.com/mlt.html it should help.
15watts over 55 gallons is below the minimum light thresh hold and that could be why your plants are not working.

DAMN ninja'd
To add to what supercoley said co2 injection is/could be necessary at much over 1wpg and co2 injection at what ever lighting level will help to get stronger growth.

 

[CrashingWaves]

So two 15 watt bulbs isn't enough? How come that's as powerful lighting as I can find then?


God Bless,
Joshua

 

[garuf]

that's just the nature of the game. If your serious about planted tank's then an upgrade to t5 lighting is money well spent, if not you could try t6 replacements that would give better light intensity but this would still not address your problems and you would still need to double your existing lighting to hit the low light range.

 

[CrashingWaves]

Is there a good website I can order from?

God Bless,
Joshua

 

[garuf]

I notice your stateside, email these kids and tell them what your aim is and what the dimensions of your tank are. http/www.ahsupply.com/
They're widely regarded as the best lighting kit's.
You may however need to know what light range you wish to be in, this will dictate whether or not you will need co2 injection.
If you do go for co2 injection I strongly suggest you go pressurised.
If you join www.plantedtank.net they can help since it's a predominantly US forum and has lots of experts.
Hope this helps.

 

[ICEEGRL]

I got mine from aquatraders. It has 4 54w T6 lights and night lighting built in. (I only run 2 of the bulbs at a time unless I want a mid day burst) It was only about $80.00 I think, and it is works great. Sometimes you can get some really good deals there if you keep an eye on what they are getting in.

 

[garuf]

Check out A H supplies sight ice girl there's a lovely little article on really good deals

 

[CrashingWaves]

Thanks guys for the help. I'm going to begin researching

God Bless,
Joshua

 

[garuf]

A good place to start is plant geek then rexx grigg then its a matter of filtering through peoples journals and asking questions.
good luck.

 

[Neo8223]

i use 30watts in my 15 gall tank that 15 watt tube would just about do my tank. I am guessing you havnt got a reflector either, meaning that you are only getting half of the performance of the bulb.

You are probably wandering. BUT WHY! it seems sooo over the top. I'm sure theres an easier way. These people are just being fanatical about it. The simple answer is:

Its not over the top, its necessary, the easier way is to just get more lights, and yes, we are fanatical about plants too, so we've tried it all (well sam, super coley, nry, George... and the list goes on) and thats the way the cookie crumbles.

If it was me, i would use:
arcadia deflectors,
100w tubes in total, (on for 8-9 hours)
tetra complete substrate,
either 2 ways of adding CO2 which are cheap:
1) easy life carbo or seachem excel(i use this 1 but it costs more) These are liquid CO2
2) DIY CO2 (just look it up on the forums)
(3) Pressurised CO2 cannisters, but are very expensive in the short run. So first see if growing the plants is for you.
either 2 ways of adding fertiliser imo
1) Estimative Index (EI) see the pinned topic. This is about 6 times the price of the bottled stuff, but about 2,000 times the quantity (no joke!!!) but you need to make it yourself
2) Buy flora boost.
I do both of these methods. I mainly use EI, but when i go on holiday, i give my dad a botle of flora boost to use as its easier for him.

Thats about it.

Your research is complete.

 

[SuperColey1]

I would use reflectors instead of deflectors. lol

and to keep the cost down I would just get 1.5WPG of T8s, pressurised CO2 and Tropica PN+/Sechem Flourish. Follow the George Farmer low light method.

http/www.fishforums.net/index.php?showtopic=208540

I personally think this is the way to go these days rather than the high light and high ferts we've all got carried away with over recent times.

Andy