How to Properly Use Aquarium Fertilizer to Beat Algae for Good
- Dec 25, 2022
- Anshika Mishra
- 261 0 0
One of the most annoying things about having planted aquariums is having algae, and our goal is always to balance the lighting and nutrients so that the plants are super happy and out-complete the algae. In this article, we'll focus on this nutrient version.
When it comes to food, we humans have a food pyramid. In the same way, plants need at the bottom of the pyramids eat a lot of macronutrients. It includes things like nitrogen, phosphorus, and potassium. And at the top of the pyramid, you want a trace amount of micronutrients like iron, magnesium, & zinc.
Your plants need these nutrients in the proper ratio to grow big and healthy. But unfortunately, plant growth is limited by scarce resources or the limiting factor and not the total amount of resources available.
We use this principle to figure out how we can ensure that there are enough of these nutrients in the correct ratios that the plants need.
Many believe that fish most waste provides all the nutrients your tank needs, and they grow big & healthy. At the same time, this is maybe true for a minority of people. But for most, it'll not work. This is because the nutrient differs based on the fish and water conditions.
Therefore, we need fertilization to supplement a lot of those missing nutrients that nature typically provides. There are two main methods of fertilization:
EI Dosing Estimated Index
In this, you are flooding the system with tons of nutrients so that you never have a limiting factor for the nutrients cause you have tons of them available.
In that case, you focus on CO2 gas injections. Usually, this method is preferred for heavily planted tanks. It would be best if you had a lot of plants to take up that amount of nutrients, and it will be much higher maintenance because every week, you're going to do a massive water change at the end of the week.
The other method is called lean dosing, which is more suitable for low-light, slower-going plants. In this case, you want to provide just enough fertilizers for the plants to use up.
Fertilizer Dosing Regime
Start with an all-in-one liquid fertilizer and use it as directed on the packaging. Then, to hone in on that mount, you can use multi-test strips and try to keep the nitrate amount between 20-50 ppm based on your dosage of easy green.
Then it is all about waiting and observing. If your plants are not well, go ahead with testing kits and know what your plants & tank need.
If you have a heavy root feeder, they need to feed from the substrate, and in that case, you'll need to either provide a nutrient-rich substrate or, if you quickly sand or lose substrate, give them easy root tabs.
Finally, keeping an aquarium diary or journal is recommended to record the frequency of water changes, fertilization schedules, water tests, etc. This will help you formulate your fertilization routine from week to week.
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