Plants, Co2 Injection And Fertilizers

[kylealastairlove]

hi there,
just wanted to ask as i have a planted aquarium and i have read on the internet and in magazines and it seems as if everybody has gone Co2 crazy, i do like the idea of it, although i dont have the money. at the moment im just using a liquid fertilizer for my plant, dosing it once a week. and that seems to be burning my money too. i was just wondering is any of this necessary for plant growth, if i use neither Co2 or fertilizer would my plants still be able to grow healthy ? i wanted to know if there was an alternative to using Co2 or fertilizers. or would my plants eventually die off if i didnt use fertilizer or Co2 injection?

 

[Million]

CO2 doesn't have to be expensive - you can use an old coke bottle, some cheap tubing, sugar and yeast, and buy a cheap diffuser from ebay, and you have a DIY CO2 solution which will provide your plants with extra carbon to fix.
Fertilizer doesn't have to be expensive - get dry powder ferts from the net e.g. fluidsensoronline, make your own, and it'll cost about £15 for a year or so's supply for a 100L tank. Plants need to get their N, P, K and trace elements from somewhere.
Of course some plants are more demanding than others, you can grow undemanding plants like anubias and crypts without any of these 'extras', but virtually all plants will benefit from them.

 

[Dan-CR4]

im just using a liquid fertilizer for my plant, dosing it once a week. and that seems to be burning my money too. i wanted to know if there was an alternative to or fertilizers.

I was buying expensive dosing liquid ferts, then I got myself the kit in the link below and make up my own ferts now, its real easy to do and the kit has loads of stuff to keep you going for a good while. Quite a few people use this.

http/www.aquariumplantfood.co.uk/fertilisers/dry-chemicals/starter-kits/ei-starter-kit.html

I use co2 but use a fire ext setup. theres a guide on this forum

 

[kylealastairlove]

thanks for the info guys very helpful

 

[mike455555]

there is problems with the yeast method though. it can allow algae to get a hold in the tank
variations in co2 levels means variations in the plants N, P, K and trace elements uptakes go up and down a bit this can let algae get a hold

personally i would go for the FE method it works out the same price as the yeast method (give or take) once its up and running. but the initial set up cost is more


ohh also thissite is cheaper than fluidsensoronline and you get dosing bottles (i bought from theses)

your plant might survive... it depends on your light levels how many WPG are you on?, if its low the fish can provide most of the minerals and water changes and provide the rest. although its best to add ferts

 

[kylealastairlove]

im new to all that kind of stuff, like im not sure what the specific nutrients are that the plants need, i have a 64 L tank and i have 15W lighting bulbs, how do i work out watts per gallon ? as you can tell im not the most knowledgeable person on this subject i would like to find out more about keeping my plants healthy via dosing nutrients and maybe using Co2 if i can come to understand it better and of course if i can find some money to put into it