WHY BOTHER?

ROOT or WATER?

HOW TO DOSE

DOSING CHEMISTRY

WHERE TO BUY

WHAT TO USE

I covered the reasons behind 'why bother to add fertilisers?' in this section. If you are looking to support good plant growth, the minimum combination that one should add into a tank on a regular basis is Potassium, Iron & Trace elements. (K, Fe + Traces), as these elements are fundamentally missing or insufficient in most tanks. 

A far better, more comprehensive combination would include Nitrogen, Phosphorus, Potassium, Magnesium, Iron & Trace elements (NPK, Mg, Fe + Traces).

​For many years, I bought a combination of off-the-shelf ferts to meet this ideal combination. This formula, "APT Complete" is now available for sale, details here. 

I supplement APT Complete with root tabs from the following brands. ​If you do buy the products through the Amazon links below, I do earn a small commission (at no extra cost to you), which helps in the running of this website. 

I highly recommend approaching fertilisation from both angles: root and water. Root tabs such as these from API and Osmocote are easy enough to implement in any tank;  a few minutes of work to enrich the substrate is something we should not pass up on. 

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THE 2HR AQUARIST GUIDE TO FERTILISERS & DOSING

dosing
​101

Why bother? What fertilisers should I dose and why?

GO

root or
​water?

Which should I provide? How are they different?

GO

how to
​dose

What is the EI approach? ADA? What works?

GO

dosing
​chemistry

How to read fertiliser labels? How much to dose?

GO

where
to buy

My recommendation on commercial choices.

GO