# Liquid ferts vs dry



## timewalker03 (Feb 27, 2007)

Right now I am using Seachem liquid ferts in my 55g tank. 

I dose these as follows:

Phosphorus 3x/week
Nitrogen 3X/week
Comprehensice 3x/ week.
Potassium 1x/week 
Iron 1x/every other week.
10 fertilizer tabs in the substrate changed evry 3 months.

It seems to me that many people are using the dry ferts on their tanks and I am just wondering about a product comparison. I know the price on the dry is better and I really just want to know about product. My tank is as follow:

55g located in my basement which is a constant 70degrees in the summer and 67 in the winter

-Lighting: T5 HO Planta 2x54w 12 hrs 2x54w 6700k daylight bulbs 7hrs
-Substrate: Sand base covers my undergravel heater, 3/8" laterite, 2" black onyx sand
-Heating: Substrate heater and inline heater temp 78 degrees F I let the substrate heater keep the water at temp and the inline heater heat the water and is usually only on during changes.
-Filter: Filstar XP2 No carbon filtration just pads
-2 DIY CO2 injection sites. One is a 2L bottle with power head injection and other is a 1L bottle Not sure what to call the delivery device other than an aeration ball. 2L inject about 1 bubble a sec and 
1L = 1 bubble every 5-10 sec.
-Water is R/O with Equalibrium added. PH is usually around 7.0-7.1 much higher now when I made a chemical mistake when trying to buffer the water. Short story is I am an idiot and still learning the water Chemistry.
-GH 8 Degrees cant get it much lower. Well probably could but then I would be dealing with another disaster.
-I currently have 2 test kits other than 6-1 strips for PH, Ammonia, Hardness, Alkalinity, Nitrite and Nitrates. I have GH/KH/ and a PH kit that uses drops. I also have an electronic ph/temp tester

Plant Load:
-Moneywort
-Ludwiga Broad
-2 Amazon Sword
-Wisteria
-Rotala Magenta
-Cabomba only 2 stems right now
-Corkscrew Val
-Microsword
-4 Chainsword
-and three awsome Banana Plants
-May add 1 Ozelot sword and 1 red rubin

Bio Load
-4 Lemon Tetras
-6 Glolight Tetras
-4 Guppy Females. No males. This is not a sexist tank though.
-12 Otos
-and a snail here and there till I catch them

Tank History:

The tank has been up and in operation for about 4 months, but I had a massive algae Plume due to my ignorance on dosing and not understading about nutrient balance. I stripped all the plants out and cleaned them by hand except the Banana plants which had NO algae at all on them, and did a 75% water change and hence screwed up the chemical used to buffer the water. I still have algae in the tank a green hairy stuff on the glass but not much and a brown stringy stuff off the plants. I am still learning about planted aquaria and love the hobby. Hence the investment. I just need to know If the chems I am using are quality or if I should switch to dry. Anyway thanks for any input. I will be very helpful!


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## furballi (Feb 2, 2007)

216 w x 12 hours may be a tad overkill for a 55 gal. The plants should do well even at 5 hours per day.


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## DonaldmBoyer (Aug 18, 2005)

I think that your lighting is fine, especially if you have Rotala magenta. You may want to invest in a heater to keep it at about 77 F.

Anyhoo, dry ferts usually contain high amounts of iron and potassium, but sometimes contains high amounts of phosphate. Tablets tend to dissolve quickly and the plants don't usually get the needed benefit. Which is a shame because most plants tend to absorb their required nutrients through their roots.

Ideally, a slow-release root tablet is the best for the plants if it is low in phosphate. Aquarium.com has a very nice root tab that I have had a lot of success with. This also helps to keep the nutrients in your substrate from being absorbed too quickly by the plants. 

Liquid ferts are also very good, if you have a relatively loose substrate where the ferts can pass through to the roots. Some of the nutrients can be absorbed through the leaves also. I would increase your iron supplementation to at least twice per week (once per week MINIMUM), as it is needed in fairly high quantity.

Ideally, you should use both. Tablet ferts every three to four months, and follow your liquid ferts as normal (except increase your iron!). Increase to temp a bit, and your CO2, and you will have an absolutely gorgeous tank!!


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## Laith (Sep 4, 2004)

donaldmboyer said:


> ...
> Anyhoo, dry ferts usually contain high amounts of iron and potassium, but sometimes contains high amounts of phosphate. Tablets tend to dissolve quickly and the plants don't usually get the needed benefit. Which is a shame because most plants tend to absorb their required nutrients through their roots...


I think by dry ferts the reference was to ferts such as KNO3, KH2PO4 etc and not to root tabs or tablets. And aquatic plants can absorb nutrients perfectly well through both the roots as well as the leaves, which is why you can be successful with only water column dosing. There is some debate as to whether certain plants have a preference for root uptake (swords and crypts) but otherwise water column dosing works fine for many people.

As to the lighting I understood that it was 108w using 2x 54w 6700K tubes?

As to the original question, both the Seachem liquid ferts and the dry powders (KNO3 etc) will provide the needed nutrients to the plants. It comes down to a question of convenience and cost. Dry powders are much cheaper, especially for larger tanks but you need to either mix up your own liquid ferts using them or you can just dose dry directly into the aquarium (some people mix the powder with a bit of aquarium water and then dump it into the aquarium).

So from a product quality point of view, both will do the job well.


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## DonaldmBoyer (Aug 18, 2005)

Laith, if he's using a soil based substrate and his fertilizers are chelated (which they are), then yes, liquid fertilization is adaquet. My only percaution is that if he is using CO2 and high lighting, then some plants are apt to spread very quickly, thus using up most of the available nutrients in the too fast in the substrate and needing some minor form of supplementation. And yes, all plants take up nutrients through their roots, hence, the purpose of having roots.


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## eklikewhoa (Jul 24, 2006)

I don't know if it's just me but I have noticed that my plants didn't look too good after switching from Seachem to GregWatson dry. I got a really bad Iron diffienciency with the dry stuff and had to resort to liquids to get it all back on track.


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## Jookie (Sep 30, 2003)

I like the control of the dry ferts. When you buy the commercial stuff, the company decides what is in the bottle. They also charge more. Plus with dry ferts you can decide if you want to mix it in solution or just keep it dry. I do a combination. I have a pump for all but phosphate. Check out Grigg's ferts and you will see how much you can save vs going with the stuff sold at the LFS.


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## timewalker03 (Feb 27, 2007)

TY all very much. The one thing I forgot in my original post was that I use root tabs also. I have ten in the soil at a time and replace every 3 months. Also an omission was that the 6700k daylight bulbs are on for 7hrs and the Planta bulbs are on for 12. its only 216w for 7hrs a day and 108 for the other 5. All is on a timer. Thanks again.

Donaldmboyer I have an inline heater and a substrate heater in the tank. I keep the tank at 78degrees. The substrate controls temp and does very well doing it. Inline is set at 77 to heat water when I do water changes.


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