# What do you use?



## Sir_BlackhOle (Jan 25, 2004)

I would like to hear from others about their fertilizing technique. I'll go first.

I have a 10 gallon tank and have only had it for a couple of months. It started with plastic plants but I obtained some local plants from a fellow aquarist here in town. He also gave me instructions on what I could use to fertilze the tank with. It has been working great so far. I use 1.7mL of Flourish twice a week, .37 grams KNO3 (Greenlight Stump Remover) twice a week, and .18mL monobasic/dibasic sodium phosphate (Fleet type enema) twice a week. 

Any thoughts/comments?


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## MiamiAG (Jan 13, 2004)

AHHHH! He used the "plastic" word! :lol: Just kidding.

Glad you moved on to the real thing.

The point of fertilization is the provide the plants you have in your aquarium with the amount of fertilizer they need to be healthy and grow. As you know, this mean providing them with the right amount of light and fertilization.

Assuming you have the light correct, fertilization is the focus. The ratios that have developed that seem to work are an NPK of 10:1:10. Fe should be maintained between .1 - .3 ppm. Trace elements are typically adequate if you provide a full-spectrum trace fertilizer mix. I assume Ca and Mg are covered with adequate GH/KH.

How you choose to get to those numbers is up to you. Fluctuations from those numbers will impact the health of your plants. Therefore, you can either invest in a good set of test kits (my preferred method) or do the math in order to ensure you are providing your plants with the required amounts.

As to what to dose, it is up to you. If you are not economically minded, buy the commercial products (I like TMG and Flourish). If you prefer to roll your own, follow the PMDD instructions and look at the sticky on this page for where to buy the ingredients.


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## Sir_BlackhOle (Jan 25, 2004)

Lighting is 30 watts incandescent Colormax i think. Our water is pretty hard here in south texas. I got the numbers from Steve Pituch for the fertilizers. All the plants are really taking off. I have been trying to add CO2 but it seems to have stopped bubbling and its only been about 4 days. This is all in preperation for my next tank, a 75 gallon. I am trying learn as much as I can with the little tank for practice. Thanks for the info!


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## MiamiAG (Jan 13, 2004)

Hey, any time. That's what we are here for.

I see you are using the yeast CO2 method. This can be tricky. Really need to be careful with fluctuations as they will affect your pH. I think panaque posted a link to an excellent website on the DIY forum for a DIY yeast set up that seemed pretty good. I would check it out.

Also, keep up with current fertilizing regimes on this forum. I would also invest in a NO3, PO4 and Fe test kits.


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## Sir_BlackhOle (Jan 25, 2004)

We have really hard water here so I think that means it is buffered well and pH wont fluctuate too widly. Is this correct? I'll keep trying with the CO2 though.


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## Sir_BlackhOle (Jan 25, 2004)

One more question....has anyone ever had problems with their fish when fertilizing? Is it possible to add too much and kill the fish?


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## bms (Feb 19, 2004)

*Yeast CO2*

There are 10 pages worth of hits on google for "yeast co2" any guidance on a good setup would be appreciated.

Art mentioned that panaque had posted a link to a good setup, but I did a search on yeast here on the forums and nothing came up.

thanks in advance,
~Benicio


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## Sir_BlackhOle (Jan 25, 2004)

http://www.aquaticplantcentral.com/forum/viewtopic.php?t=7&highlight=

that should take you to the co2 post


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