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Fert Confusion!

Lee4004

New Member
Joined
14 May 2022
Messages
2
Location
United Kingdom
Hi Guys,

I’m new to the hobby and trying to soak up all the information needed to make this a successful start but there’s certainly a lot to take in! I’m hoping with the wealth of knowledge on this site you guys could help steer me in the right direction! 😆

I currently have a 190L tank with both plants and fish and I’m at a loss as to what I’m supposed to be feeding my plants in terms of volume and brands as each seem to have wildly different things in them. Currently using JBl Ferropol once a week with Seachem Excel and Propel every other day or so.

So my 1st headache was what brands to use as this is just what the store sold me but it seems to be a bit on the dearer side. Is there a Seachem fertiliser I could use to replace the JBL one? Is there any benefit to sticking with one brand? The Seachem Flourish line confused the hell outta me as there seems to be loads of variants to it.

The 2nd headache I gave myself was when I was trying to read up to answer the above questions. How much of the stuff is the right amount to be adding to my tank for the amount of plants I have? Can the volume and types of ferts and supplements negatively effect my fish in anyway?

I have about 11 plants in there at the moment ( is that enough to even call it a planted tank? 😂) but not sure what the names of them are. Hopefully the attached image of my tank helps identify what’s in there. Oh and I used some sort of fertiliser soil under my substrate (bet the salesman has a whale of time when I entered the store lol).

Sorry for the ramble and thanks in advance for any help and replies! Hope that all made sense!!

Cheers
 

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Hi. Check out some of the articles on ferts for the info you need.
Personally I use dry ferts cos it works out a lot cheaper.
Good calculators on here which will help you work out what you need for your tank.
Always someone willing to help and advise. We are all learning all the time.
Welcome aboard 😀 👍
 
Welcome to the best forum with the nicest experts.

Looks like you are doing OK. The plants look healthy. You don't have lots of plant mass so the amount of ferts they use would be lower anyway.
What filter do you have? The flow rate matters so much, gets the nutrients to all the plants.

One of the FERT GODS will answer better than I can.
How much of what and how often are you dosing? You might find that the Gods say you can up the dose or even mix your own.
 
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TNC compete is a complete All In One (AIO) fert which gives the best value for money here in the UK. Even TNC can soon get expensive with your 190L tank, which looks like its doing well :thumbup:. DIY ferts is much cheaper and for tanks over 100litre it is a good choice IMO and isn't that hard once you get your head round it.
 
If you can add a powder to a jug or tub and add water to it and shake, or get a spoon and sprinkle powder into your tank then you can use diy ferts, its that simple.
There are lots of threads on here explaining which ferts to buy and where from, it really is that simple, if i can do it then anybody can do it and saves a fortune.
 
It depends, if you want simple then an all in one liquid fert is the easiest. It will cost you more than the dry fertiliser mentioned but you don't have to mix powders which may feel like too much if you are just starting. The TNC Complete has everything and is one of the cheaper options. Just dose what the bottle says. That would replace the JBL and Propel. The Excel is something different - usually called liquid CO2. It's not really a fertiliser more of an algae inhibitor.

That said, if what you are doing works you could stick to it.

Seachem have everything in individual bottles, a bit like a liquid version of the dry powders but it adds up expensive and a lot of bottles to get everything. I don't think many on here use it. For what you are doing it's probably very over complicated/expensive.
 
Welcome to the best forum with the nicest experts.

Looks like you are doing OK. The plants look healthy. You don't have lots of plant mass so the amount of ferts they use would be lower anyway.
What filter do you have? The flow rate matters so much, gets the nutrients to all the plants.

One of the FERT GODS will answer better than I can.
How much of what and how often are you dosing? You might find that the Gods say you can up the dose or even mix your own.
Thank you all for your replies. My filter is the Fluval 207 and dosage wise it’s 5ml of propel and excel every other day and the jbl ferropol is once a week at 20ml

Certainly going to look at the TNC complete in the short term if that works out cheaper and then I’ll probably look into dry ferts and diy. Will I still need to add the liquid co2 if switching to the TNC complete?

Thank you again for all your replies! 😄
 
With my 30l plants only (well bladder snails, ramshorn snails, worms and a host of other tiny wildlife), I use 3ml of TNC complete and 0.5ml of Carbo Elixier Bio daily.
I like Carbo Elixier Bio as it does not contain "glutaraldehyde", nasty stuff.
Day258.JPG

My tank after 258 days.

So to dose the same as mine every day, you would have to use:
19ml/day of TNC complete; @ £54.99 for 5l = 21p per dose.
Better getting dry chemicals and mixing your own all in one fert. I have seen the recipe on here somewhere for all in one fert.
3.166ml/day of Carbo Elixier Bio; @ £12.99 for 500ml = 9p per dose.
I don't think anyone has a recipe for mix your own.
That's apparently is something something EI dosing???? (The GODS will know, as they told me what to dose).
 
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