Increasingly, you can notice that the design of an apartment, house or office can not do without an aquarium. And it is especially beautiful when it is decorated with plants. But not every aquarist can boast of living green thickets in his aquarium. After all, this beauty often requires special care for themselves.
Like any other, aquarium plants also need additional soil and fertilizers, tools to care for the aquarium, not to mention exhaustive literature. Fertilizers for aquarium plants must be properly selected and used to achieve the result.
How to choose a fertilizer?
How to choose the right fertilizer and how much is needed for your aquarium? No one can immediately answer this question, since the answer depends on many parameters. Here are some of them:
- the number of aquarium plants (the more the plants themselves, so you need more water for them);
- the amount of carbon dioxide and lighting (the better illuminated and carbonated the aquarium, the more it needs fertilizers);
- water temperature (if the temperature is wrong, the plants grow poorly and fertilizers will not help in their growth).
But all the same, the main thing is what elements are missing for aquarium plants and what fertilizer should be chosen? Each aquarium is individual in its filling. Therefore, one can only give some recommendations to this question.
Potassium can be added more, since it does not allow the excessive development of algae. The lack of iron in the aquarium will provide you with yellow faded leaves in plants, and excessive concentration will allow the algae to expand. Therefore, the amount of iron should be controlled. A large number of these elements leads to the growth of algae.
There are several types of feeding for aquarium plants: liquid fertilizers, granulated, powdered and in the form of tablets. Tablets and powders are mostly used for soil preparation. Liquid fertilizers for aquarium plants are more in demand and more convenient to use. Liquid make-up is especially necessary. the leaves of plants absorb it, forming a constant deficit of potassium in water.
Not so long ago in the design of the aquarium design a new kind of plants was added - the Javanese moss . Mosses, like no other aquarium plants, are acutely responsive to a lack or an overabundance of certain elements. That is why they require special participation of fertilizers for mosses. It is recommended to intensively control the level of phosphates and nitrates in water. And add them as fertilizers for mosses only if necessary.
Fertilizers for the aquarium with their own hands
But the necessary elements are not always enough in factory complex fertilizers for aquarium plants, and the excess of other elements can lead to undesirable results. Therefore, the best option is to make homemade fertilizer for plants in the aquarium.
To make up the iron, you can prepare the following mixture yourself. We take the preparation iron chelate (sold in stores for the garden) and ascorbic acid (it is not difficult to find in the pharmacy). 2.8 g of chelate is mixed with 5 g of ascorbic acid and diluted with water 500 ml.
If there is no desire to tinker with chemistry, there is the simplest and cheapest option-making balls from clay. The advantage of this homemade fertilizer for your plants awakens long-lasting replenishment. From blue clay we make small balls, previously mixed with a mixture of fertilizers. After baking them in the oven so that they do not crumble in the water. Install in the roots of plants in the soil.
If you follow certain recommendations on working with fertilizers for aquarium plants, your underwater world will look like a picture!