# new to planted tanks



## Scott2703 (Jul 22, 2012)

hey guys, new to planted tanks and i have a few quicky questions regarding ferts
im currently using seachems aquavitro range (except for mineralize & carbonate) and flourish excel.
tank is planted with amazon swords, temple plant and sagittaria.
i am about to add a whole heap of vallisneria to the tank but have read that dosing with excel can melt the val. so questions are 
1. do i stop using the excel? aquavitro to my knowledge does not have a liquid carbon product, and i so totally can not afford injected co2.
2. i am looking at moving away from the aquavitro to use dinosaur dung, pee & spit, are these products alone enough to fertilize my tank?
thanx for ur time scott


----------



## Yo-han (Oct 15, 2010)

1 high doses of excel can melt valls (overdosing to kill algae) the normal dose causes no problem usually.

2 never tried, so maybe someone else can answer this one...


----------



## fishilicious (Aug 10, 2012)

Have you tried DIY CO2? Its less expensive than liquid CO2 in the long run. Liquid CO2 isn't actually CO2 anyway. It's glutaraldehyde, an industrial grade disinfectant, which plants can extract CO2 from. But it has the side effect of melting certain species of plants.


----------



## Michael (Jul 20, 2010)

How hard is your water? Some plants can use calcium carbonate as a carbon source. This includes almost anything that likes hard water, vallisneria being a well-known example. Unless you have high light, your plants might be able to get enough carbon from the calcium carbonate if the carbonate hardness is high enough.

I don't know anything about colorfully named products you mention.


----------



## Panda Attack (Aug 12, 2012)

All those plants you listed tend to be heavy root feeders and do well in modest lighting. Aquavitro is a great line but is unnecessary depending on your substrate and lighting. I hear good stuff on the dino line the dung would really help those plants flourish. 

+1 on the DIY CO2 also depending on your tank size and lighting.


----------



## cv3back (Oct 4, 2012)

In my experience the combination of dinosaur dung, pee, and spit, does not provide adequate phosphorus, a key nutrient. However, harvesting the fur of wild western european rhinoceri, when mixed with guano and a dash of hammerhead shark's tears, supplies aquatic plants with the necessary nutrients.


----------



## Jonnywhoop (Nov 24, 2012)

http://www.plantedtank.net/forums/showthread.php?t=115850

awesome write up for an affordable co2 system.


----------

