# Best option for fertilising eco complete in dry start



## luckyjim (26 Jan 2015)

Hi,

I've been searching the net for an answer to this question and I have tried searching this forum, but I haven't found an answer that fills me with confidence yet! I am hoping you guys can help.

I am starting up (what will end up as) a mid-tech nano aquarium and I've decided to go for a dry start to see if I can at least partly establish a carpet. 

My question largely concerns the substrate I have on hand (eco complete) but I would be grateful for any other words of advice. Full specs to follow.

*My understanding is that eco complete (new out of the bag) is inert. It does not actually have any source of nitrogen (i.e. ammonia, nitrates, etc) although it does contain necessary micronutrients. Given I want to dry start (i.e. no fish waste), what is my best option to "fertilise" the eco complete so the carpet plants actually have macro-nutrients to feed on whilst growing in?*

I have plants arriving tomorrow so am in a bit of a panic as to what to do! I've bought 20 osmocote root tabs on ebay which should be arriving tomorrow. Other than that, my options seem to be:
1) When moistening the substrate prior to putting the plans in, use some water from the tank I'm already running (little planted nano that is currently cycling). I'm skeptical as to whether this will last the 6 - 8 weeks I plan for the dry start though.
2) Add a thin layer of compost under the eco complete. I'd really rather avoid this as I'd prefer not to have a "dirty" tank.
3) Dose the eco-complete with KNO3 in powder form.

Tank specs:

Tank: eheim aquastyle 35 litres
Lighting: eheim LED (3100 lux, 6.500 Kelvin)
Filter: Stock internal eheim filter
Heater: Interpet Aquatic Heater - 100W Deltatherm Heater
Substrate: eco complete (20lb new bag, should give 3 inches across tank)
Hardscape: Dry driftwood that looks like a kind of root system
CO2: I plan to get a CO2 injection system from CO2art to arrive before I end the emersive start and fill up the tank

As a supplementary question; it is quite cold at the moment. Should I think about using my heater inside a bottle of water inside the tank (at say 22C) to keep heat / humidity up inside?


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## luckyjim (26 Jan 2015)

Forgot to add the plants I've ordered:
Staurogyne repens (mid-ground/next to driftwood)
Hemianthus callitrichoides for front carpet (gulp)
Lilaeopsis brasiliensis (Brazilian Micro Sword) for variety around the driftwood
Dwarf hair grass for more variety around driftwood
Christmas moss (for the driftwood)
And randomly some Micranthemum 'Monte Carlo', not sure what to do with this! Guess just add it as a blended divider between Stauro and HC?

Most of this stuff is coming from "in vitro" cultures, if this makes a difference.

I plan to get some nice stem plants for the background before filling the tank.

I have essentially taken this as the inspiration / basis for the tank, obviously mine would be half size:
http://www.ukaps.org/forum/threads/...a-retrospective-journal-iaplc-2013-158.28745/


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## alto (26 Jan 2015)

My preference would be to use a specialized aquatic plant fertilizer such as Tropica  & just add it to the EC at 10- 20X normal dose (you won't need much water volume to "wet" the EC, so this really is not that much liquid fertilizer), then carry on using this fertilizer for water column dosing after the tank is flooded ... I'm lazy  

If you're intending to use dry powders & mix your own EI type fertilizer, you might do the same with these - be sure to supply macro & micro nutrients, again just apply at a 10X dose etc.

When you flood the tank, follow the usual method of frequent water changes (in case there is excess nutrient entering the water column).

You do want to be careful with concentrations of nutrients as you can "burn" the roots etc re I'd not dose the EC with dry KNO3, instead make up a solution of "known" concentration & go from there.

Do check that the plants you've chosen tend to respond well to the dry start method.
If the chosen plants are coming from a given supplier, you might call up their tech support & discuss recommendations, eg what are the plants currently receiving as nutrient supplementation.

As the plants are in vitro, there's no reason why you can't leave them in their mini-greenhouse (cups) for a few days (add some light but be careful of heat - look at the local shop displays for an idea of how much light etc).


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