Hey Irene! Quick question; I don’t use easy green, I use seachem flourish. Could I increase dosage to increase my nitrates because they are pretty much non existent 😅
@@micahlovesjesus3437 yep! Looks like Seachem Flourish contains nitrogen but not as much as Easy Green, so I probably wouldn't shoot for 50 ppm nitrate with that fertilizer. You might have to do a little research online to see how much measurable nitrate is appropriate for Flourish.
I just squirt easy green like crazy, and a root tab every so often, and that has worked great! I think part of my success is definitely luck with my tap water, its pretty good!
Ok, I finally get it!!!! I understand the barrel analogy… that the plants were missing the lowest nutrient. BUT, when you said you added potassium and the nitrates went down, it finally made sense. It’s like the plants were on hold, until they had everything they needed and were not missing anything. Thank you.
You absolutely read my mind… I was fed up this morning with my constant BBA struggle (almost no other algae) in all my moderately planted, 20 ppm nitrate, 6-8h light-limited tanks, and I was just about to reopen your Balanced Tank video to watch for the dozenth time, when this popped up. Thanks for reminding me to consider any “rate limiting” micronutrients that might be contributing to my issues.
General rules. Planted tanks with a decent bio-load make plenty of nitrates all on its own and all that fish fish food covers the plants phosphate needs for most plants. Just keep an eye out for deficiencies with testing. Potassium and micro nutrient dosing is usually all that is needed in the water column. I'm not a fan of All-in-One liquid ferts at all. Rooted plants definitely benefit from a nutrient rich substrate where they get most of their nutrient needs from. The substrate or the plant tabs you use should have iron in it as well. Dosing the water column with too much iron can lead to algae problems , especially hair/filamentous algae. The most important tip for whatever type of plants you have is "Feed the roots". Remember, any source of soft water needs to be remineralized.
How about for those with with bare bottom and using mainly pothos plants to create a garden? Only the root submerged. Which fertilizer would you recommend
@@condorX2 Feed the roots where the roots feed. If you have plants like pothos with their roots in the water, dose the water column. If you have a bio-load that keeps the nitrates and phosphates high, the same applies here too. Dose micro nutrients and potassium. If your nitrates and phosphates get too low then and all in one is fine or you can dose all ferts seperately.
Remember, a well balanced amount of nutrients kept at a lower level but still consistent in the water column allows the plants to grow. Maybe at a slower pace but still healthy. Adding too many ferts in the water column just makes for a nice bowl of highly nutritious soup for algae to consume! This is because the plants can only utilize so much, so fast and the excess feeds the algae.
Great advice. One thing to remember though is a water change is about not only removing excess, but it also adds in minerals, so this is why I always do water changes, even it is only monthly. My schedule runs 7-10days on the water changes.
One tip: Seachem Equilibrium contains mostly potassium, plus calcium and magnesium. I use just this + Easy Green + root tabs/aquasoil in all my tanks. You can totally bypass the expensive single-nutrient ferts like Seachem Potassium, etc. Just use Easy Green for trace elements and Seachem Equilibrium for as needed for extra K, Ca, and Mg.
I started down this fert rabbit hole and just couldn’t. It was too much, but I did learn about my water and what plants were easier to grow in it. I have easy green and extra potassium for the tank that’s almost all Java fern. Plus root tabs for the big root feeders.
Thank you so much. I have a bit high nitrate and ph. My easy plant do grow, but the rest not so much good. So I will try the potassium and your schedule at once. 👍👍👍
Umm...I don't know that I believe that you're a lazy person after this video...you put a lot of work into finding the right balance!! :) Great video...I learned a lot that I'll use!!
I considered trying the lean dosing route because I have a old tank with high nitrates and my tap water is too high for water changes to keep it below 10. I was going to buy the Flourish but then found LCA had a NP Free version which has high potassium and zero Nitrates and Phosphates so that it's safe to have more fish. All going well the high iron substrate and some nutrient balls for the root feeders should keep things stable for quite a while. - fingers crossed! One thing I loved was getting a aquarium light with a dimmer - currently I only run it for a few hours at low strength while the plants are small so that I can ramp it up in future.
Thank you so much for this video! When I first got my two 5 gallons about 4yrs ago, I binged watched all of your videos. I had two bettas in vases and then found out it wasn’t good for them, so I bought the two five gallons and slowly began adding plants. As of right now, I’m suddenly having issues with my plants turning yellow, slow growth, and melting of my floating plants. This has never happened before. All plants live in the water column. Because my tanks are so small, I don’t really think I can add nitrogen or phosphorus. I contacted Seachem and they said the nitrogen isn’t really made to dose that small. I use Flourish, flourish excel, Flourish advance, and the seachem trace, potassium, and iron. I just went ahead and ordered the fertilizer that you suggested, to see if it makes any difference. I’ve seen several videos and forums where people say that Flourish isn’t the greatest. So, I’ll put it on hold while I try out the one that you suggested. Fingers crossed and thank you for all of your informative videos! They have helped me SO much!
Very good video. The reason you found such varying advice for recommended nutrients, is thee fold: 1. Very few horticultural trials have been conducted on aquatic plants. If this were an agronomic crop like corn, or a significant floriculture crop like a rose or poinsettia. Then, I could tell you how much the plant needs based off it's growth stage and weight. These are not those plants... 2. It varies wildly by species. An Anubias nana has a different nutrient requirement than a Cryptocoryne wendtii; they need the same number of elements, but the concentrations vary. So unless your keeping a species only planted tank, as in one plant species only; you will only have general guidelines. It also vary according to life cycle, adding to variance. A flowering plant needs a different ration of certain elements vice a juvenile plant of the same species just starting to establish it's roots and shoots. 3. Liebig's law of the minimum has been a corner stone of horticulture and agronomy for the better part of 200 years. It's fantastic to see planted tank enthusiast's starting to understand and use it. However, understanding it shows the third reason: what is your most limiting rate nutrient? You eluded to it yourself, the limiting rate in a "low tech" tank is likely Carbon. While the limiting rate in a "high tech" tank is likely nitrogen, potassium, or on rare occasions a micro nutrient (sometimes effected by pH). Different environments influence plants to uptake nutrients at different rates, throwing even more variance into reason #2. But really, speaking as a trained horticulturalist and conservationist: Your videos on this topic were never bad, but you've certainly taken the time to dive into this topic and improve. The information your putting out is great. I specifically like how you contrasted estimated index and lean dosing, certainly hobby specific terms, but important distinctions. Great video. The only tip I would add is that: you need to remember that the food is a fertilizer. Especially with two macro nutrients. Nitrogen and Phosphorous are readily available in a wide number of tanks, simply from feeding. Either it is metabolized by the fish and excreted, it is broken down inverts, or it's acted on by micro organisms (or any combination). N & P will enter your water column simply from fish food. I'm a large advocate for lean dosing myself, and love all-in-ones due to there ease of use; but, using an all-in-one with N & P (like Easy Green) OR using an all-in-one without N & P (like Florin Multi) comes down to how many fish, how much you feed, and what your plants uptake. I err on the side of an all-in-one without N & P until the plant deficiencies show a lack of either N or P. If you do the opposite, and go with a N & P laced all-in-one: you're likely to create eutrophic water conditions and increase your level of required maintenance (unless you have an equally sufficient plant demand, ya balance... It never ends).
I am mentally challenged when it comes to all the balancing act of fertilizing etc., I guess I am more of an intuitive being. I know I can learn but do it best in a classroom setting where the information is put forward in small "doses" week after week concentrated learning though. I am very interested in exploring why my success with water plants is so terrible though. I'm hoping I can continue to tackle the subject in time. For now I focus on preventing fish disease by watching what might cause toxic conditions.
Thanks for posting this, Irene. I knew about the rate-limiting paradigm, but had never applied it to planted aquaria. In my case, nitrates have always been low (never more than 5 ppm). I originally had issues with BBA, but cutting down the light has reduced this to a manageable level. What I'm now having trouble with, is extensive black spots on some of my plants (black spot algae?) in another aquarium with relatively low pH (~6.5). This is my betta tank (plus cardinal tetras and Endlers), kept at 25C (78F). The plants with the problems include crypts, java ferns and Rotala, but only some of the leaves get it and it doesn't seem to always be those that are tallest. I'm already down to 6 hours of artificial light, so I don't think light reduction is my answer. I'm thinking of cutting off all of the affected leaves and seeing what happens then.
I had sludgy algae on my plants. I had to take them out and gently clean each leaf with a soft tooth brush. I sprayed hydrogen peroxide on them, rinsed them off and put them back in the aquarium. It has helped a lot. Water changes helped but not without a lot of work on the plants that I clean up.
I do 30% water changes each week as my platies and guppies tank ends up around 40ppm. If I was to add Potassium to reduce Nitrates, how long after adding it will I see a result in the nitrate levels (to determine if I added enough)? If I get phosphate and potassium test kits, what levels should the results be to be optimal? Thanks in advance.
Hi! So I've been looking for the potassium test kit and it seems either it's discontinued or out of stock everywhere. Any ideas or general guidelines on how I can gauge his much potassium to dose and how frequently?
Same. I have considered that the same “problem” is true outside macronutrients. Test what we can, dose according to label, witness uptake for current schedule by continuing to log dosing and test results. If company says x amount nitrogen and/or x amount phosphate we do this for whatever schedule they insist. Before we continue their schedule we can test in order to witness uptake of nitrogen, phosphorus. We have much better idea what our box needed now and we make adjustments. I assume their suggestion for potassium will relate. It is good to understand that limited micronutrients or trace elements will inhibit uptake of macros. We see this vid monitors GH. Folks are more concerned about excess iron or phosphorus in water column than they seem about potassium.
Great video, YES you needed all those kits, you would not guess what was the problem without them. I am in the same bote, my GH is 25ppm i know that i need that but i do not know how much Ca or Mg i need to add.
Cute powder blue gourami! I have a flame gourami with my corydoras and it's adorable. On topic, I do estimative index on my tank and so far, so good. The plants are relatively algae free but I do get some spot algae on the glass but my bristlenose pleco can keep it check. I do two water changes weekly, each at 20-25%.
@girltalksfish Truly appreciate the honesty of all your videos. Glad to see experts go through growing pains too. And also really appreciate how thorough you always are. You always end up answering the questions that come to mind.
I'm going to try this method out for my 5 gallon tank for a betta. I have hard water in my area. Hoping it will work. Cause the less I have to do a water change the better for me. Thanks for the help and tips.
Thank you for this video. It helped me a lot. My nitrates and nitrites are 0 ppm. Are you saying I should have higher levels for plant growth? I had my planted 20 gallon tank for 8 months now and the plants are doing okay. I did have some with holes in the leaves, so now I know why by your video. I have some plants where the leaves have dying black spots on them. Not sure what causing this yet. I started putting Flourish plant fertilizer in my tank. It recommends two times a week. I will have to get some plant tabs too. Some of my plants per the chart show yellowing leaves.
the way you started out with your tank really had me going no no no; but you seemed to throw out all that garbage and got on the right track; if you do it right you dont need all that junk; the plants will tell you what they need if you study and learn, my tank runs itself with minimal dosing . i luv it
I loved the last video on this and really this one. I sware you're like a few steps ahead of me with the same problems, same water and very similar tank setup. So good to hear how much and how often you dose stuff and more importantly to hear that in the context of your tank with all its parameters.
So I have a question about Java fern. I got a reg Java fern as a 1st plant and it didn't do well at all. I went and got the fertz needed from my lfs and I guess it was to late. Now fast forward a few months and I have a 55g half full of diff plants that are THRIVING other than Java Fern Windelov. It's starting to get the tiny holes in it so should I get the potassium as well as the easy green(already have along w/ root tabs) or should I get an all in 1 micro nutrient fertilizer?? I'm trimming other plant once a month so things are growing. Water parameters are good. Nitrate 50 Nitrite 0/1 GH 300+ its more purple that the chart KH between 40 maybe a bit higher PH 7.2 chlorine 0 ammonia 0. African Cichlid tank with 12 Cichlids 3 Corydoras 1 highfin pletco. Thanks for any advice. 🐠🌱🐟🌿
THIS is the video I've been searching for!! Thank you!! I want to figure out how to get a balanced tank with lots of healthy plants and not a ton of algae. So here's an idea: Could you start a brand new tank with RO water and the most popular (easy/low-tech) plants so that you could give an exact formula for everyone (me =) to follow: how you mineralize the RO water and fertilize for a zero-water-change setup?
this is really cool! I wish I could just top off my water but my tap water is really hard (like 8ish gh) and whenever I do that, the minerals in the water build up way too much! I only have one 10gal tank so I don't really want to spend the money on an RO system right now either. If you have any suggestion, I would love to hear them!
my main planted tank has seachem flourite as substrate and my other tanks i used either sand or black gravel for. its cool seeing the growing differences and how everything effects plants growth. almost all the plants in the main tank propagated like crazy! i have 2 tanks that share a light. one is planted the other has just some decorations and the difference is night and day. the planted one has algae all over and different types while the one with no plants has barely any algae. their light is a normal shop led light and the main tank has the nicrew skyled plus light so i can change the brightness or colors a little bit.
Ive been using Seachem Flourish Freshwater Plant Supplement in my 3 gal and 5.5 gal tanks. We have a betta in each with a snail and lots of plants. I noticed recently that my fern seems to be Browning. My plants have been multiplying, and I noticed lately that some of them seem to be falling apart and separating at the roots. After watching your videos, maybe I’m putting them too much into the gravel. I was thinking of getting your. All in one fertilizer can I put this in in addition to The flourish I’m already using? For contexts only happening in my larger tank. before use flourish my plants weren’t doing the best and they seem to be doing better and only recently in my larger tank having issues.
I just did my very first planted tank about a month ago, and I made the mistake of blasting it with too much light. Now I am fighting the algae. Hopefully the snails and otos will take care of most of it. I was expecting this lush green tank, and now I've got brown stringy algae everywhere. lol
Can i get some help? I have some algea issue with the plants. I dont use any firtiliser in my water and the algea killing my plants, how do i fix it? Thank you for the feature helps!
Would you mind sharing your “overview” screen information from your fluval app? Just so I have a starting point and can tweak from there. Want to know your percentages for each color please.
That was really helpful. Thank you for sharing your experiences. It will help me a lot as I was experiencing the same things with my plants and got all these supplements to help. Testing the water is the best way to start.
Awesome video. I’m a decent gardener and have returned to this hobby after a long hiatus. I work as an industrial chemist so its hard for me to just buy stuff and I thought the science or optimization seemed more than adequate. Aquariums are not going to probably ever going to be my day job again but i hope to use organic gardening ideas: im looking at rock phosphate and greensand as slow release agents that I think might be part of some aquasoils. the test kits you used successfully were a great tip, and the range table. i figure i can get N from fish. micro are probably present in our water, in fact algae blooms and a phosphate ban on the Spokane seem to prove this. In a lake upstream high copper holds algae back. you can learn a lot from observation.
Wow that's a whole nother skill set what happened to dirt sunlight and water like we used to do back in the backyard I think I'll stick to the fish for now anyway I am a subscriber love your show 👍
My nitrate is 40 or better ppm i dont use co2 but i have alot of fish mostly low bioload guppies neons and neocardia shrimps tank is 40gal breeder with 2 hygger light bars im not sure the plant names but i have a video of the tank on youtube and i notice they are long stemmed which i believe is a result of possably low co2 or potassium any advice is welcomed
Okay I watched several videos and this is great of explaining more in depth and science about it but I also found much simpler vids and excuse me because I skimmed through here quick but I have seen where you can put the plants in no substrate at all you still have to feed the plant but if you have enough fish as well the wast build up helps feed the plant and take the toxic nitrites out and make the water better , I seen that the soil isn’t even needed and you can start a planted tank with no soil you just have to feed the roots give it good lighting I also seen where someone said that when you run your light turn it off for a few hours to prevent algae growth then turn back on again , till back off .
That's what I found to be true for my specific tap water, the plants I keep, fish food I feed, fertilizer I use, etc. Each person will have to find out what the limiting factor is for their tanks.
Hello I have a lot of stem plant which pose there own problems I used seachem products not so gd for me then I changed to NILOCG macro and micro nutrients as well as root tabs plant growth is great just by changing ferts and I don't have to buy so many products I have grow various plants with NILOCG before I changed to stem plant
Great vid as usual. I had heard that plants were easier to keep than fish. 100% inaccurate. I have 8 tanks but just 2 are planted. The planted tanks have been MUCH more work for me, contrary to some of the "best advice" out there.
4:30 This is what I don't understand. Everyone says "healthy plants means no algae", but these plants weren't healthy and yet you still didn't have algae. You having higher nitrate killed the algae, the plants were still unhealthy because they didn't have enough phosphorous/potassium.
Thanks for this video! It was really helpful to me as I am experiencing black thumb syndrome also...lol... At a different residence, I had no issues with plants in my low tech tanks. Fast forward to new home with different well water and bam.... Never met a plant that wouldn't languish and die.. Clearly deficiencies are at play.
Dear Irene, in Germany we get all the information about the ingredients in tap water, except phosphate, from the local waterworks! Iam lazy too and so I no longer use fertilizer.
Oddly enough, about five minutes before I watched this video, I noticed that the newest tiny baby leaves on my pogostemon stellatus were crinkly and I was trying to decide if one of the fish was the culprit!! Our water has lots of calcium, though, but it has been a while since I put root tabs in, so maybe I'll start there and go to more calcium if that doesn't fix it...
I don't understand why Pottasium would lower nitrate. Or is it because your plants grow better after dosing it? My nitrate is always very low, but I still have to do weekly water changes, because my phosphate gets higher than 2 ppm if I don't. And I vacuum too. Doing water changes is not only for your nitarate levels, isn't it?
Potassium was the limiting factor in my tanks. Once I provided more potassium, then the plants were able to eat more of all the other nutrients as well, including nitrate. This is only true for my specific tanks, plants I keep, fish food I feed, tap water I use, etc. Each person will have to find what their limiting factor is in their tanks.
I'm having issues with my guppy grass... i know... its guppy grass it just grows... well mine stopped doing that and I dont know whats wrong with it, its basically all melted away but just a few little sprigs
Proof positive God provided what we need! I’ve been having some nutrient issues recently and was trying to figure out what to do. I have a bit of a better grasp and appreciate all your tips Irene!!
Poke a small hole in one end with a safety pin. Then squeeze the capsule slightly with planting tweezers to get the air out before placing deep into the substrate:)
Wow! I am not a very good house plant person. Just starting to try plants first time in tank. I can't afford a ton of products, yikes! Crossing my fingers! Might have to watch this repeatedly lol.
Thank you for discussing Equalibrium. And as for the platy fish go, I think they are so beautiful but their number one hobby is pooping, so I haven't gotten any. Darn it!
This video helps me a lot Irene!! I've just bought a number of Cryptos and now I have a better idea on how to care for them! thanks for your very informative video 🙂
If it's any consolation, people learn more from black thumbs than green thumbs because science requires failure. Good tip about the potash; My javas have been going downhill like crazy, and rather than getting test kits, I'll probably just get a some potassium and see if that helps.
the things you use are really costly from seachem and flourish or tropica Or ada.. and we can just buy these salts individualy and make a solution and add them in the required manner.. 🤔
*How do you figure out how much and what kind of fertilizers to use when balancing a planted aquarium?*
Hey Irene! Quick question; I don’t use easy green, I use seachem flourish. Could I increase dosage to increase my nitrates because they are pretty much non existent 😅
@@micahlovesjesus3437 yep! Looks like Seachem Flourish contains nitrogen but not as much as Easy Green, so I probably wouldn't shoot for 50 ppm nitrate with that fertilizer. You might have to do a little research online to see how much measurable nitrate is appropriate for Flourish.
Thanks!
I just squirt easy green like crazy, and a root tab every so often, and that has worked great! I think part of my success is definitely luck with my tap water, its pretty good!
@@micahlovesjesus3437 hello, I would say depending on your tank size. Bc sachem is very rich in other nutrients and can cause algea to appear
Ok, I finally get it!!!! I understand the barrel analogy… that the plants were missing the lowest nutrient. BUT, when you said you added potassium and the nitrates went down, it finally made sense. It’s like the plants were on hold, until they had everything they needed and were not missing anything. Thank you.
You absolutely read my mind… I was fed up this morning with my constant BBA struggle (almost no other algae) in all my moderately planted, 20 ppm nitrate, 6-8h light-limited tanks, and I was just about to reopen your Balanced Tank video to watch for the dozenth time, when this popped up. Thanks for reminding me to consider any “rate limiting” micronutrients that might be contributing to my issues.
General rules. Planted tanks with a decent bio-load make plenty of nitrates all on its own and all that fish fish food covers the plants phosphate needs for most plants. Just keep an eye out for deficiencies with testing. Potassium and micro nutrient dosing is usually all that is needed in the water column. I'm not a fan of All-in-One liquid ferts at all. Rooted plants definitely benefit from a nutrient rich substrate where they get most of their nutrient needs from. The substrate or the plant tabs you use should have iron in it as well. Dosing the water column with too much iron can lead to algae problems , especially hair/filamentous algae. The most important tip for whatever type of plants you have is "Feed the roots". Remember, any source of soft water needs to be remineralized.
How about for those with with bare bottom and using mainly pothos plants to create a garden? Only the root submerged.
Which fertilizer would you recommend
@@condorX2 Feed the roots where the roots feed. If you have plants like pothos with their roots in the water, dose the water column. If you have a bio-load that keeps the nitrates and phosphates high, the same applies here too. Dose micro nutrients and potassium. If your nitrates and phosphates get too low then and all in one is fine or you can dose all ferts seperately.
Remember, a well balanced amount of nutrients kept at a lower level but still consistent in the water column allows the plants to grow. Maybe at a slower pace but still healthy. Adding too many ferts in the water column just makes for a nice bowl of highly nutritious soup for algae to consume! This is because the plants can only utilize so much, so fast and the excess feeds the algae.
@@cloudivaporz952 💚
@@cloudivaporz952 a ,and
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Great advice. One thing to remember though is a water change is about not only removing excess, but it also adds in minerals, so this is why I always do water changes, even it is only monthly. My schedule runs 7-10days on the water changes.
One tip: Seachem Equilibrium contains mostly potassium, plus calcium and magnesium. I use just this + Easy Green + root tabs/aquasoil in all my tanks. You can totally bypass the expensive single-nutrient ferts like Seachem Potassium, etc. Just use Easy Green for trace elements and Seachem Equilibrium for as needed for extra K, Ca, and Mg.
I’m extremely lucky as I am starting my own planted aquarium and you have helped so much, this video is right on time.
I started down this fert rabbit hole and just couldn’t. It was too much, but I did learn about my water and what plants were easier to grow in it. I have easy green and extra potassium for the tank that’s almost all Java fern. Plus root tabs for the big root feeders.
Thank you so much. I have a bit high nitrate and ph. My easy plant do grow, but the rest not so much good. So I will try the potassium and your schedule at once. 👍👍👍
This was a wealth of information!! Thank you so much!!!! Easy to understand!
Umm...I don't know that I believe that you're a lazy person after this video...you put a lot of work into finding the right balance!! :) Great video...I learned a lot that I'll use!!
Same.
I feel like she's a veteran, but love role playing the forever newbie.
Lol I spent a lot more time in my aquariums when I first started this hobby, but now I'm all about the low maintenance lifestyle!
I considered trying the lean dosing route because I have a old tank with high nitrates and my tap water is too high for water changes to keep it below 10. I was going to buy the Flourish but then found LCA had a NP Free version which has high potassium and zero Nitrates and Phosphates so that it's safe to have more fish. All going well the high iron substrate and some nutrient balls for the root feeders should keep things stable for quite a while. - fingers crossed! One thing I loved was getting a aquarium light with a dimmer - currently I only run it for a few hours at low strength while the plants are small so that I can ramp it up in future.
Best EASY straight forward video I’ve seen! I keep coming back to this video!
I see your Seachem Potassium has an easy pump dispenser. HOW?? Where'd you get that? I don't want to deal with messy cap measuring...
Thank you so much for this video! When I first got my two 5 gallons about 4yrs ago, I binged watched all of your videos. I had two bettas in vases and then found out it wasn’t good for them, so I bought the two five gallons and slowly began adding plants. As of right now, I’m suddenly having issues with my plants turning yellow, slow growth, and melting of my floating plants. This has never happened before. All plants live in the water column. Because my tanks are so small, I don’t really think I can add nitrogen or phosphorus. I contacted Seachem and they said the nitrogen isn’t really made to dose that small. I use Flourish, flourish excel, Flourish advance, and the seachem trace, potassium, and iron. I just went ahead and ordered the fertilizer that you suggested, to see if it makes any difference. I’ve seen several videos and forums where people say that Flourish isn’t the greatest. So, I’ll put it on hold while I try out the one that you suggested. Fingers crossed and thank you for all of your informative videos! They have helped me SO much!
Very good video.
The reason you found such varying advice for recommended nutrients, is thee fold:
1. Very few horticultural trials have been conducted on aquatic plants. If this were an agronomic crop like corn, or a significant floriculture crop like a rose or poinsettia. Then, I could tell you how much the plant needs based off it's growth stage and weight. These are not those plants...
2. It varies wildly by species. An Anubias nana has a different nutrient requirement than a Cryptocoryne wendtii; they need the same number of elements, but the concentrations vary. So unless your keeping a species only planted tank, as in one plant species only; you will only have general guidelines. It also vary according to life cycle, adding to variance. A flowering plant needs a different ration of certain elements vice a juvenile plant of the same species just starting to establish it's roots and shoots.
3. Liebig's law of the minimum has been a corner stone of horticulture and agronomy for the better part of 200 years. It's fantastic to see planted tank enthusiast's starting to understand and use it. However, understanding it shows the third reason: what is your most limiting rate nutrient?
You eluded to it yourself, the limiting rate in a "low tech" tank is likely Carbon. While the limiting rate in a "high tech" tank is likely nitrogen, potassium, or on rare occasions a micro nutrient (sometimes effected by pH). Different environments influence plants to uptake nutrients at different rates, throwing even more variance into reason #2.
But really, speaking as a trained horticulturalist and conservationist: Your videos on this topic were never bad, but you've certainly taken the time to dive into this topic and improve. The information your putting out is great. I specifically like how you contrasted estimated index and lean dosing, certainly hobby specific terms, but important distinctions. Great video.
The only tip I would add is that: you need to remember that the food is a fertilizer. Especially with two macro nutrients. Nitrogen and Phosphorous are readily available in a wide number of tanks, simply from feeding. Either it is metabolized by the fish and excreted, it is broken down inverts, or it's acted on by micro organisms (or any combination). N & P will enter your water column simply from fish food. I'm a large advocate for lean dosing myself, and love all-in-ones due to there ease of use; but, using an all-in-one with N & P (like Easy Green) OR using an all-in-one without N & P (like Florin Multi) comes down to how many fish, how much you feed, and what your plants uptake. I err on the side of an all-in-one without N & P until the plant deficiencies show a lack of either N or P. If you do the opposite, and go with a N & P laced all-in-one: you're likely to create eutrophic water conditions and increase your level of required maintenance (unless you have an equally sufficient plant demand, ya balance... It never ends).
I am mentally challenged when it comes to all the balancing act of fertilizing etc., I guess I am more of an intuitive being. I know I can learn but do it best in a classroom setting where the information is put forward in small "doses" week after week concentrated learning though.
I am very interested in exploring why my success with water plants is so terrible though. I'm hoping I can continue to tackle the subject in time. For now I focus on preventing fish disease by watching what might cause toxic conditions.
Thanks for posting this, Irene. I knew about the rate-limiting paradigm, but had never applied it to planted aquaria. In my case, nitrates have always been low (never more than 5 ppm). I originally had issues with BBA, but cutting down the light has reduced this to a manageable level. What I'm now having trouble with, is extensive black spots on some of my plants (black spot algae?) in another aquarium with relatively low pH (~6.5). This is my betta tank (plus cardinal tetras and Endlers), kept at 25C (78F). The plants with the problems include crypts, java ferns and Rotala, but only some of the leaves get it and it doesn't seem to always be those that are tallest. I'm already down to 6 hours of artificial light, so I don't think light reduction is my answer. I'm thinking of cutting off all of the affected leaves and seeing what happens then.
I had sludgy algae on my plants. I had to take them out and gently clean each leaf with a soft tooth brush. I sprayed hydrogen peroxide on them, rinsed them off and put them back in the aquarium. It has helped a lot. Water changes helped but not without a lot of work on the plants that I clean up.
I really love your tank with those orangey-red platys , they're SO striking against all that green!!
I do 30% water changes each week as my platies and guppies tank ends up around 40ppm.
If I was to add Potassium to reduce Nitrates, how long after adding it will I see a result in the nitrate levels (to determine if I added enough)?
If I get phosphate and potassium test kits, what levels should the results be to be optimal?
Thanks in advance.
This is an incredible and very helpful video Irene!! Thank you for sharing your plant journey
Hi! So I've been looking for the potassium test kit and it seems either it's discontinued or out of stock everywhere. Any ideas or general guidelines on how I can gauge his much potassium to dose and how frequently?
Same.
I have considered that the same “problem” is true outside macronutrients.
Test what we can, dose according to label, witness uptake for current schedule by continuing to log dosing and test results.
If company says x amount nitrogen and/or x amount phosphate we do this for whatever schedule they insist. Before we continue their schedule we can test in order to witness uptake of nitrogen, phosphorus. We have much better idea what our box needed now and we make adjustments.
I assume their suggestion for potassium will relate.
It is good to understand that limited micronutrients or trace elements will inhibit uptake of macros. We see this vid monitors GH.
Folks are more concerned about excess iron or phosphorus in water column than they seem about potassium.
You’re a wealth of knowledge, this video in particular helped me so much 😊 Thank you for sharing
Great video, YES you needed all those kits, you would not guess what was the problem without them. I am in the same bote, my GH is 25ppm i know that i need that but i do not know how much Ca or Mg i need to add.
Cute powder blue gourami! I have a flame gourami with my corydoras and it's adorable.
On topic, I do estimative index on my tank and so far, so good. The plants are relatively algae free but I do get some spot algae on the glass but my bristlenose pleco can keep it check. I do two water changes weekly, each at 20-25%.
Also how likely are you to need the other trace elements like iron and mag
@girltalksfish Truly appreciate the honesty of all your videos. Glad to see experts go through growing pains too. And also really appreciate how thorough you always are. You always end up answering the questions that come to mind.
I'm going to try this method out for my 5 gallon tank for a betta. I have hard water in my area. Hoping it will work. Cause the less I have to do a water change the better for me. Thanks for the help and tips.
Thank you for this video. It helped me a lot. My nitrates and nitrites are 0 ppm. Are you saying I should have higher levels for plant growth? I had my planted 20 gallon tank for 8 months now and the plants are doing okay. I did have some with holes in the leaves, so now I know why by your video. I have some plants where the leaves have dying black spots on them. Not sure what causing this yet. I started putting Flourish plant fertilizer in my tank. It recommends two times a week. I will have to get some plant tabs too. Some of my plants per the chart show yellowing leaves.
You are awesome! Thank you. I am also a" lazy person. " I am struggling so much getting my plants to thrive and not me covered in algea!
Do you often fertilize water right after you change water 30% every week?
Super helpful tips, thank you! :D
the way you started out with your tank really had me going no no no; but you seemed to throw out all that garbage and got on the right track; if you do it right you dont need all that junk; the plants will tell you what they need if you study and learn, my tank runs itself with minimal dosing . i luv it
I loved the last video on this and really this one. I sware you're like a few steps ahead of me with the same problems, same water and very similar tank setup. So good to hear how much and how often you dose stuff and more importantly to hear that in the context of your tank with all its parameters.
great way to condense this subject into 4 or 5 simple steps that are easy to understand.
Really nice video and I was able to learn a lot about plant nutrients.
How the heck do I make my java fern grow so nice like hers at 2:57???
So I have a question about Java fern. I got a reg Java fern as a 1st plant and it didn't do well at all. I went and got the fertz needed from my lfs and I guess it was to late. Now fast forward a few months and I have a 55g half full of diff plants that are THRIVING other than Java Fern Windelov. It's starting to get the tiny holes in it so should I get the potassium as well as the easy green(already have along w/ root tabs) or should I get an all in 1 micro nutrient fertilizer?? I'm trimming other plant once a month so things are growing. Water parameters are good. Nitrate 50 Nitrite 0/1 GH 300+ its more purple that the chart KH between 40 maybe a bit higher PH 7.2 chlorine 0 ammonia 0. African Cichlid tank with 12 Cichlids 3 Corydoras 1 highfin pletco. Thanks for any advice. 🐠🌱🐟🌿
THIS is the video I've been searching for!! Thank you!! I want to figure out how to get a balanced tank with lots of healthy plants and not a ton of algae. So here's an idea: Could you start a brand new tank with RO water and the most popular (easy/low-tech) plants so that you could give an exact formula for everyone (me =) to follow: how you mineralize the RO water and fertilize for a zero-water-change setup?
this is really cool! I wish I could just top off my water but my tap water is really hard (like 8ish gh) and whenever I do that, the minerals in the water build up way too much! I only have one 10gal tank so I don't really want to spend the money on an RO system right now either. If you have any suggestion, I would love to hear them!
I'm curious what your tds is? I use RO water and use minerals. Tds hovers around 180 including my fertilizer and nitrate.
my main planted tank has seachem flourite as substrate and my other tanks i used either sand or black gravel for. its cool seeing the growing differences and how everything effects plants growth. almost all the plants in the main tank propagated like crazy! i have 2 tanks that share a light. one is planted the other has just some decorations and the difference is night and day. the planted one has algae all over and different types while the one with no plants has barely any algae. their light is a normal shop led light and the main tank has the nicrew skyled plus light so i can change the brightness or colors a little bit.
Ive been using Seachem Flourish Freshwater Plant Supplement in my 3 gal and 5.5 gal tanks. We have a betta in each with a snail and lots of plants. I noticed recently that my fern seems to be Browning. My plants have been multiplying, and I noticed lately that some of them seem to be falling apart and separating at the roots. After watching your videos, maybe I’m putting them too much into the gravel. I was thinking of getting your. All in one fertilizer can I put this in in addition to The flourish I’m already using? For contexts only happening in my larger tank. before use flourish my plants weren’t doing the best and they seem to be doing better and only recently in my larger tank having issues.
I just did my very first planted tank about a month ago, and I made the mistake of blasting it with too much light. Now I am fighting the algae. Hopefully the snails and otos will take care of most of it. I was expecting this lush green tank, and now I've got brown stringy algae everywhere. lol
Irene I can’t find the potassium test kit you have or any for that matter. Can you share your supplier?
Can i get some help?
I have some algea issue with the plants. I dont use any firtiliser in my water and the algea killing my plants, how do i fix it?
Thank you for the feature helps!
Would you mind sharing your “overview” screen information from your fluval app? Just so I have a starting point and can tweak from there. Want to know your percentages for each color please.
Where did you find the pumps for the seachem bottles? I've tried a few and nothing fits the thread.
That was really helpful. Thank you for sharing your experiences. It will help me a lot as I was experiencing the same things with my plants and got all these supplements to help. Testing the water is the best way to start.
Awesome video. I’m a decent gardener and have returned to this hobby after a long hiatus. I work as an industrial chemist so its hard for me to just buy stuff and I thought the science or optimization seemed more than adequate. Aquariums are not going to probably ever going to be my day job again but i hope to use organic gardening ideas: im looking at rock phosphate and greensand as slow release agents that I think might be part of some aquasoils. the test kits you used successfully were a great tip, and the range table. i figure i can get N from fish. micro are probably present in our water, in fact algae blooms and a phosphate ban on the Spokane seem to prove this. In a lake upstream high copper holds algae back. you can learn a lot from observation.
What squirt cap did you buy to attach to your Seachem bottles?
Excellent video and very informative. What time the fish tank light turn on/off? Thank you
Love this. I was hoping for more explanation on balancing a tank. Thank you!
Wow that's a whole nother skill set what happened to dirt sunlight and water like we used to do back in the backyard I think I'll stick to the fish for now anyway I am a subscriber love your show 👍
My nitrate is 40 or better ppm i dont use co2 but i have alot of fish mostly low bioload guppies neons and neocardia shrimps tank is 40gal breeder with 2 hygger light bars im not sure the plant names but i have a video of the tank on youtube and i notice they are long stemmed which i believe is a result of possably low co2 or potassium any advice is welcomed
Okay I watched several videos and this is great of explaining more in depth and science about it but I also found much simpler vids and excuse me because I skimmed through here quick but I have seen where you can put the plants in no substrate at all you still have to feed the plant but if you have enough fish as well the wast build up helps feed the plant and take the toxic nitrites out and make the water better , I seen that the soil isn’t even needed and you can start a planted tank with no soil you just have to feed the roots give it good lighting I also seen where someone said that when you run your light turn it off for a few hours to prevent algae growth then turn back on again , till back off .
Nice amount of information, easy to understand.
👍❤👍
So the potassium will lower the nitrates instead of doing a water change?
That's what I found to be true for my specific tap water, the plants I keep, fish food I feed, fertilizer I use, etc. Each person will have to find out what the limiting factor is for their tanks.
@@GirlTalksFish thanks for replying... I have a 60 gallon heavily planted tank so I was just curious
Hello I have a lot of stem plant which pose there own problems I used seachem products not so gd for me then I changed to NILOCG macro and micro nutrients as well as root tabs plant growth is great just by changing ferts and I don't have to buy so many products I have grow various plants with NILOCG before I changed to stem plant
Great vid as usual. I had heard that plants were easier to keep than fish. 100% inaccurate. I have 8 tanks but just 2 are planted. The planted tanks have been MUCH more work for me, contrary to some of the "best advice" out there.
So when you top off with tap water do you use any thing like frost complete?
Yup I use dechlorinator.
This aquarium is awesome!
4:30 This is what I don't understand. Everyone says "healthy plants means no algae", but these plants weren't healthy and yet you still didn't have algae. You having higher nitrate killed the algae, the plants were still unhealthy because they didn't have enough phosphorous/potassium.
Thanks for this video! It was really helpful to me as I am experiencing black thumb syndrome also...lol... At a different residence, I had no issues with plants in my low tech tanks. Fast forward to new home with different well water and bam.... Never met a plant that wouldn't languish and die.. Clearly deficiencies are at play.
Dear Irene, in Germany we get all the information about the ingredients in tap water, except phosphate, from the local waterworks! Iam lazy too and so I no longer use fertilizer.
This was very helpful and will be used as a great reference
lol
my GH is so high, i never see a chart that even has it. but so far, its been no trouble...
I feel like you're a veteran, but love role playing the forever newbie 😁
Oddly enough, about five minutes before I watched this video, I noticed that the newest tiny baby leaves on my pogostemon stellatus were crinkly and I was trying to decide if one of the fish was the culprit!! Our water has lots of calcium, though, but it has been a while since I put root tabs in, so maybe I'll start there and go to more calcium if that doesn't fix it...
I remember reading an article which say "This hobby is downright pricy"
This was rlly helpful
Thank you so much!
i love this woman thankyou 🎉
Fantastic guide! Thanks for doing all the experimenting so we don't have to.
I don't understand why Pottasium would lower nitrate. Or is it because your plants grow better after dosing it?
My nitrate is always very low, but I still have to do weekly water changes, because my phosphate gets higher than 2 ppm if I don't. And I vacuum too. Doing water changes is not only for your nitarate levels, isn't it?
Potassium was the limiting factor in my tanks. Once I provided more potassium, then the plants were able to eat more of all the other nutrients as well, including nitrate. This is only true for my specific tanks, plants I keep, fish food I feed, tap water I use, etc. Each person will have to find what their limiting factor is in their tanks.
I'm having issues with my guppy grass... i know... its guppy grass it just grows... well mine stopped doing that and I dont know whats wrong with it, its basically all melted away but just a few little sprigs
Thank you
This has been my main issue. Finding a balance.
Proof positive God provided what we need! I’ve been having some nutrient issues recently and was trying to figure out what to do. I have a bit of a better grasp and appreciate all your tips Irene!!
Those root tabs keep floating up out of the substrate. Any tips?
Poke a small hole in one end with a safety pin. Then squeeze the capsule slightly with planting tweezers to get the air out before placing deep into the substrate:)
Another great one!
Wow! I am not a very good house plant person. Just starting to try plants first time in tank. I can't afford a ton of products, yikes! Crossing my fingers! Might have to watch this repeatedly lol.
My plants are melting and there’s white fluffy stuff on one of my plants. I don’t know what to do 😭
Great video!
Irene...as always, I learn so much from your videos. I am slowly learning and appreciate you sharing your experiences and knowledge. 😊 Thanks
Thank you for discussing Equalibrium. And as for the platy fish go, I think they are so beautiful but their number one hobby is pooping, so I haven't gotten any. Darn it!
With all of those test kit's, it a good thing you have one or two more tank's. ( Lol )
Is there a all in one I can use? This video gave me anxiety 😬
Guess I'm buying more fish stuff. Thanks Irene!!
nice informative video
This video helps me a lot Irene!! I've just bought a number of Cryptos and now I have a better idea on how to care for them! thanks for your very informative video 🙂
Great video
If it's any consolation, people learn more from black thumbs than green thumbs because science requires failure. Good tip about the potash; My javas have been going downhill like crazy, and rather than getting test kits, I'll probably just get a some potassium and see if that helps.
Very good video
No shout out to Bentley for his Day Sim Red Late profile?
I am literally obsessed with how this is a really complicated and educated way to be lazy. My ADHD hyperfixation dream. :P
Oh my that is more work than water changes...
Yeah I definitely went down the rabbit hole... But I was so frustrated with dying plants at that point that I was willing to try anything!
Typical Aquarium Coop, buy, buy, buy! And you will be happy.
Pretty sure she works for aquarium co-op that sells the easy green
What about the CO2? You never need to dose your tank with it?
I have one tank with very low CO2 injection, but the rest of my tanks are all low tech with no extra CO2.
I wish I saw this when I first started 😂
the things you use are really costly from seachem and flourish or tropica Or ada.. and we can just buy these salts individualy and make a solution and add them in the required manner.. 🤔