# Adding Caribsea Floramax to help my plants out, do I still need to fertilize?



## whiteboye (Nov 1, 2011)

This is my first planted aquarium. I bought some Caribsea Floramax crushed volcanic rock to give my plants (moneywort, wisteria, dwarf lilly and mermaid weed) a better substrate then just gravel, even thought they are rooted firmly already. 

Will this substrate alone provide enough minerals/elements to the tank or will I still need to add liquid ferts? I haven't ever used fertilizers other than the root tabs I put on each plant when I first planted them...about 2 months ago. The plants are getting well established but they are suffering in in yellow color and leaf density, and my mermaid weed only has a few algae covered leaves left on it not to mention my moneywort is turning black at each node and looks like it might start to die even though there is new growth on top.

The root tabs really spiked a lot of algae growth, but with 1-2 25% water changes a week, I keep it mildly undercontrol that's why I would prefer not to over fertilize my water again but my plants are starving for nutrients. 

I have a feeling the substrate alone isn't enough of an addition to the plants. Can anyone please help this noob out


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## whiteboye (Nov 1, 2011)

50 views and not one reply...I thought this was a place where the elite planted aquarium people hang out and nobody has any advise for me? 

I bought API Leaf Zone liquid ferts to go with the 20 lbs of Floramax substrate I purchased....I started fertilizing even though I plan to break the tank down this weekend to replace the gravel for the Floramax...will using the fertilizers in conjunction with the new substrate create too plentiful of nutrients for my plants allowing algae to bloom out of control, or will I be ok?

Any advise would be greatly appreciated. Thank you!

Edit: I haven't used a CO2 setup and the plants are doing alright, should I consider it even though I have fish in the tank and am fertilizing now?


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## Silvering (Jun 10, 2011)

I don't have any experience with Floramax so I can't tell you how it performs in-tank, but since you'll be swapping substrates on already-stressed plants, I would probably fertilize very lightly if at all at first. 

Info we need to have about your tank: lighting parameters, water parameters, fish load. Can't advise you properly without the whole picture!


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## whiteboye (Nov 1, 2011)

The tank is a 20 gallon [24''W, 18"H, 13"D] and I have a 65 watt 10K bulb (has 4 male connection pins, not sure of the 'T' rating of the bulb, this was a 48" light hood that held 4 of these bulbs but 2 ballasts had blown and my neighbor was throwing it away so I cut in half and now only use one ballast/one bulb along with 4 LED blue moon lights) that is sitting directly on top of the hood.

Livestock in tank:
1 platy (mature female)
1 dwarf gourami (full grown male)
1 pictus (2.5")
1 chinese algae eater (small)
1 lyre-tail molly (mature male)
3 fancy tail guppies (2 mature females, one male)
3 small guppies (mature male)
1 killiefish (mature male)

I hope this helps....my hodge-podge of fish collected is from un-wanted species from my brothers fish tank. I am either going to have to promote some of the fish to my outdoor fish pond, or eventually get a larger tank, but this is the setup my wife will let me have for the time being.

Not using CO2, keep tank at 80 degrees and have 2 Hang-on-back filters, a Topfin 10 and an AquaTech 5-15.

PH 6.5 (only thing I have had tested)

My wisteria is exploding, the dwarf lilly is shooting off larger and larger leaves but my moneywort and mermaid weed look like crap. I also have bright green algae growth appearing on glass and rocks in a spotty form that just started happening....as I have been reading through here it appears I may have too much light also??

Like I said, this is my first tank and I greatly appreciate any help given, I will provide as much information as humanly possible...tonight i will try to upload a current picture of my tank.

Edit: i have kept fish in this tank for a long time, I used to have Largemouth Bass fingerlings, but they outgrew the tank in only one year. cool fish tho, they have lots of personality. When my neighbor threw away his light hood, since he was moving, he also gave me the plants I have and thus sparked this new hobby. I grow a lot of plants outdoors, landscaping was my super-hobby but now aquatic landscaping is unbeatable. I am in love. HAHA


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## vetassistant (Apr 8, 2014)

I use floramax in a 20 gallon planted aquarium without adding co2,fertilizers or additives and the plants are thriving. Not to say you shouldn't use supplemental stuff for your plants but in my tank just the floramax seems to work well in conjunction with a good light on the tank.


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## Diana K (Dec 20, 2007)

Substrate by itself does not provide fertilizer. It is like the plates and bowls on your table. No food unless you add it, and it gets used up. 

When you use fertilizer tablets press them all the way down to the bottom of the substrate. Touch the tank bottom when you add them. The low water movement through the substrate is enough to move fertilizer into the water column when the substrate is just gravel. Now that you have added the finer material it should help keep the ferts out of the water column. 

All the fish food you add also contributes some nutrients to the plants. 
Fish food is high in N, P, traces. It is low in K, Ca and Fe. 

If you wanted to add fertilizer to the plants I would start with K and Fe. Tap water usually has Ca in it, as long as the GH is over about 3 degrees.


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