Great For Using In Your Planted Aquariums Substrate
I have been using Seachem Flourish plant tabs in my planted aquarium for the past few years, in conjunction with T-5 linear fluourescent lighting and CO2 injection, and the results have been impressive. Dwarf Hairgrass and Microsword not only carpet quickly, but maintain a lush green color that really highlights these aquaria. I have several planted aquariums and add a few plant tabs to each one - every three or four months or so - after the tabs planted earlier dissolve into the substrate. So it's cheaper for me to purchase these tabs in a larger size box when possible. Seachem's 40 tab box is about three times the price of Seachem's 10 tab box, which means that you get about 10 free plant tabs per box with the larger version. I go through a few of these boxes each year, and consider plant tabs a necessity for planted aquaria that use an inert sand substrate. I also use Seachem Flourish liquid fertilizer once a week in my planted tanks, which works well in conjunction with the plant tabs. However, a word to the wise here. If you are using a high-tech lighting system which also includes injected CO2 and fertilizer supplementation of some kind, you should also consider adding a uv sterilizer to your aquarium to keep the algae and bacteria growth to a minimum. If you don't, you are probably going to find that your water is always going to be cloudy, regardless of how often you do water changes, and whatever filter media you use - including a micron filter. The reason for this is that when one uses these high tech lighting systems with CO2 and fertilizer enhancement, it usually results in far more nutrients being available in an aquarium's water column. This in turn can result in an exponential growth of bacteria, parasites, viruses and other pathogens in the water table, as well as algae, which will cause your water to become cloudy. A bad algae bloom will also result in green water so thick, that the fishkeeper will have a difficult time even seeing their fish or plants. This author has found that the best way to avoid this scenario is to use an ultra violet sterilizer, in order to remove these organisms before they can reproduce. The added benefit in doing so is that your fish will remain healthier, because there will be far fewer pathogens in your aquarium's water table. Moreover, plant growth will improve as well, because your plants will not have to compete for the nutrients in your aquarium's water column, in the way that they would if a larger number of pathogens and algae spores were present. Given that there are many UV sterilizers available for under $100 these days, this is great news for the fishkeeper. In fact, AquaTop (the only aquarium filter manufacturer on the market to do so) sells three different power filters with UV sterilizers built into them (PF-15UV, PF-25UV, PF-40UV), which are capable of uv sterilizing aquariums ranging from 15 to 40 gallons. I own one of each of these UV sterilizer/power filters, for various aquaria, and have found them to work quite well at keeping the water tables in my planted aquariums crystal clear - something I could not say prior to installing them on my tanks. UV sterilizers are no longer just for marine aquariums, since many freshwater fishkeepers are finding tremendous benefits to using them in their planted aquariums. And fortunately, there are now many affordable uv sterilizers on the market, each of which will ensure that your aquarium's water stays crystal clear, and safe for your fish and plants. Read more
