How I Dose Fertilizer for Planted Aquariums - Master Aquatic Horticulturist Pro Tips

Let's discuss how I dose aquarium plant fertilizer in my planted tanks. Why I do it this way and how you can take my philosophy on dosing fertilizer to your fish tank for long term success with aquatic plants.
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[@Vincent-kx9ze]

Love your spread the dosage advice. Duh. But it’s very helpful to us newbies. Still valuable 2 years later! Tweaks 👍Details 👍👍

[@donjonesjr.3157]

I'm that person you mentioned that would dose according to how my plants looked 😔....Thank you for the awesome explanation of how I should be handling our planted tanks. Looking forward to more great tips sir 👍

[@MikeInNature]

Where I live I haven't found any all-in-one so I have to stick with the seachem line which is readily available. I get it is a lot cumbersome but also I find it to be very "customizable" for each tank not just size but also how many fish and how many plants, with/whithout co2, lights, etc. Now, considering that this is my only good option, making a spreadsheet that can make the dosing calculations and even generate a dosing calendar is really not that complicated. I'd love to have here something I could just give it 1 or 2 pumps every other day :) LOL

[@trevorgregori9667]

Much appreciated advice. I couldn’t agree more consistency is key.

[@xavelhagsd]

Makes sense to dose less in a consistent way. Thank you for your views on this subject

[@simonpidgeon949]

I just love the no bull 💩information you give Keep the great videos coming 💯👍👍

[@TuanCaCanh]

Thank you

[@lyndenbradley4513]

Great info mate .I live in London and have started watching you content I like that you go a little deeper into your subject matter and also easy to understand keep it up.

[@alygroup2010]

Thank you for your videos. I find them educational and are helping me a lot.

[@marypaigeflynn4512]

Thank you always Bentley for sharing your thoughts on what could and possibly would not help us in our aquarium keeping hobby!! Thank you for another great video and I hope you're having a wonderful weekend 🙏🌿🐟🌿💚

[@Aquadiction]

Great video as always Bentley, your the man :)

[@SlickNick3]

Great tips Bentley I use easy green for my non co2 and pressurized co2 tanks I just use different amounts and less frequently in the non co2 setups of course! I actually have a big jug of easy green (no longer sold) I’m about to crack open lol. I actually go through it now that I have a co2 system

[@melwohl37]

Thank you so much for this! I've been struggling with how I should do the fertilizer. I have a 29 gallon tank with mostly anubias and java fern but I also float hornwart and water lettuce, salvinia and frogbit along with a butt load of pothos. Stocking is 1 female betta, 10 otos, 5 panda garra and 8 corys. I got the fluval 3.0 and watched your videos on that too. I was dosing once a week and would still hit zero nitrate by the end of the week and my plants weren't to happy now I do twice a week but have been afraid to dose to much. I never thought of just dosing a smaller amount every other day. ❤️

[@James_Hande]

Nice video Bentley with simple to understand explanations. Even though I've been in the hobby for many, many years it's sometimes difficult to achieve the correct "balance" in a new tank. I see all to often new aquarist struggling with this. They're really not sure of the light they are using; low, medium, high. The bottle says 1 pump per 10 gallons twice a week. But they are growing algae everywhere. The directions are just a general guide line. Do you have 3 small java ferns or 20 stem plants in the tank? I have a mix of both slow and fast growing plants and only a few of each. I found the one pump every 2 days seems to be the sweet spot, plants looking good and growing with hardly any algae at all (little on the glass). Key thing to keep in mind, only change one thing at a time to see if it gets better.

[@PectoralKeepers]

Very informative video Bentley!

[@waynetalbot2784]

I've a 55gallon, heavy bio load with 20+ tiger barbs ,20 cardinals 3 plecos siamese algae eater, plants are anubias,crypts are balansae, African fern.Im using a uk product TNC complete, also extra iron an potassium,few root tabs for the balansae.Dosing 10ml tnc,10ml potassium, 5ml iron twice weekly.No co2 yet but working on that project.

[@newmexicoaquatics282]

Great tips. Thank you for sharing! - Little Bobby

[@poquito808]

Best dosing is the lean dosing technique. 👍🏼

[@nath9233]

Simple, solid advice. 👌

[@CrowntailHalfmoon]

Hi Bentley Sir, Thank you for sharing. Love your channel. Excellent information...👍👍👍👍👍👍

[@GODwithus73]

I make my own, I use nilocg dry fertilizers,

[@VfRuckus]

This is awesome, thanks. I ordered some Brightwell and will be dosing that every other day at the recommended dose per week. I'm really hoping this will work as I also have tendency to overfeed. Aquarium Co-Op Easy Green is just too much. I do use the Flourish Tabs for the Sword and Crypts.

[@nodnarbaquatics4728]

Very in sight full as always thank you Bentley

[@alygroup2010]

Mr Bentley I have a 75 gallons tank, with 3 angel fishes, a Bloody parrot, 1 fleco poco No CO2, lights goes on for 8 hrs. PLANTS I have -Coffee anubias - [ ] Anubias - [ ] Java Fern - [ ] Amazon Sword - [ ] Dwarf Sagittaria How often you recommend I fertilize? Plants not looking good now. I fertilize once a month with easy green.

[@BentleyPascoe]

Depending on how dense your plants are, try doing 1 pump of easy green right in the morning. Easy green wants you to dose one pump per 10 gallons once to twice a week depending on the amount of light and plants. So we should try to get up to the equivalent of that once per week dose but spread it out over the days so it's not a huge burst of nutrients all at once. This should minimize our chance of having an algae outbreak and help those plants recover

[@jrherrick9871]

Giving the BrightWell FlourinMulti a shot in my tank. Have 20ppm nitrates in my water, and phosphates as well. Low light no Co2, crypts, Anubias, and sag. Love your vids.

[@hilaryschacter4072]

Hi Bentley. Been subscribed for a few months, but this is my first comment. Although I kept freshwater fish as a kid some 60 years ago, and I just got back into it about five years ago, I still consider myself no more than an intermediate. I have a 65 gallon planted, so this discussion is very meaningful to me. Can you please identify the plants that I'm seeing in the tank behind you? I love how lush they look. I would love to try them in my tank. Thank you so much.

[@BentleyPascoe]

A majority is just Java Fern and then there is some Crypt Axelrodi in there as well

[@hilaryschacter4072]

@@BentleyPascoe Thank you so much. Specifically, which one am I seeing over your left shoulder?

[@supremeleaderarmy9164]

I criticized your seacham video as i had major success with their product but this video was well done and explained well!

[@BentleyPascoe]

I appreciate the better detail in your email.

[@supremeleaderarmy9164]

@@BentleyPascoe Ya, sorry again.ill return your email when i get back from fishing!!!

[@vikkirountoit497]

Solid advice!! Thanks:)

[@apss5736]

great video bentley i always forget to add ferts weekly also do diy root tabs leach ammonia

[@BentleyPascoe]

They can yes, but if you have enough root feeders it is typically safe. I don't personally suggest them, but many folks have successfully used them

[@mattsdmf367]

Thanks for the tips! I also use easy green and have success with it in my co2 injected tank. Do you ever supplement with extra iron? I want to get more pop from my reds but don’t want to risk a hair algae outbreak.

[@BentleyPascoe]

A small amount in certain tanks

[@TripleJAquatics]

Fishtastic info!

[@TheNanoAquariumGuy]

Very useful info! Is there a test kit you think may be useful to measure nutrients or just go by the plants.

[@BentleyPascoe]

Nowadays I go by the plants, but whatever liquid kit you can get (JBL, API, etc etc) is usually a bit more accurate at smaller PPMs like you'll have in ferts

[@alexherrera3918]

how do you know you need a new dossage if you do not do any measurements of the elements you are dosaging?

[@CrowntailHalfmoon]

Bentley Sir could you link video on know your water?

[@richardmaccarthy101]

Good stuff Bentley! I'm having good success with tropica general, seachem trace and aquavitro KH boost. I think that covers everything, with fish for phosphorus and nitrogen? The only thing I'm trying to figure out is if the KH boost is giving enough potassium....

[@BentleyPascoe]

I don't know the product specifics right now but if in theory if it's a KH booster then it shouldn't have potassium however I think the Tropica general does

[@garyduncan6657]

I know you are friends with Cory from the Coop and you like Easy Green and you like Brightwell florin multi also. I am not trying to get you to say anything bad about either one. I know they are different with the guaranteed analysis. I would just like to know some circumstances why you would use 1 over the other. Thank you Sir.

[@BentleyPascoe]

Florin does not contain Nitrogen or Phosphorus, so I would use that I'm heavily stocked tanks or very low nitrate demand tanks. Easy Green I would use in lighter stocked or more demanding/dense tanks. My biggest complaint about either is the same for any liquid: cost when compared to powdered fertilizer. You pay a lot more for effectively water and convenience.

[@garyduncan6657]

@@BentleyPascoe Thank you so much!

[@stevescarsfish2175]

25 years in to aquariums I have had live plants in almost every tank. I have got to the point of good balance of fertilizer and lights. I want to try co2 to see if I’m missing something or I could get better plants. I was thinking of trying the fluval co2 kit that takes those BB gun type co2 cartridges. Or should I spend a little more and get a tank and regulator setup. It’s like 50 bucks for the Fluval setup and $150 to get a CO2 bottle regulator, meter, co2 line and a diffuser.

[@BentleyPascoe]

As much as I love several Fluval products those BB canister CO2 rigs really suck. I would upgrade to something for a paintball tank at a minimum, but a full size 5-10lbs tank will last you a long time

[@stevescarsfish2175]

@@BentleyPascoe I found a small co2 tank from a keg for $30 on market place. Just waiting for the people to get back to me.

[@byz513]

Don't use that crappy Fluval kit from Petco. I got it and it's crap, small, and so hard to adjust.

[@widowmaker666u]

i kept buying tnc complete started working out expensive so i went to making my own plant food with salts and using auto dosers.. more automation less mistakes i say

[@leigh161269]

how do you becone a "Master Aquatic Horticulturalist"? have you enterd any of the planted scape contests like the iaplc anual contest?

[@BentleyPascoe]

My club had a Horticulture Awards Program. I'm not an aquascaper, I don't enter competitions, I grow plants and let nature do its thing.

[@asier2001]

Hi Bentley, why you don't fertilize the day you do the water change? Regards

[@BentleyPascoe]

I use that day to purposefully remove ferts. I remove.some via water change and the rest in what the plants consume for the day

[@philcam9493]

Orchid fertilizer ok? I use 1/32tsp per gallon in a sprayer for the orchids. Got lots to use up.

[@BentleyPascoe]

You would want to check if it had ammonia in it.

[@philcam9493]

It has Chelated Cu 0.05%. CSM has chelated Cu 0.1% so it could be used. Long day on the rotala calculator.

[@philcam9493]

@@BentleyPascoe 4% Ammoniacal Nitrogen?

[@BentleyPascoe]

@@philcam9493 risky

[@williamutech4055]

ok I'm late to the show here, but I just watched your blow up Seachem Flourish line and then I watch this video. Doesn't the part of this video around the 9 minute mark make the case for the seachem line and not using an all in one? Know your water and only do what you need, that is the point of seachem as I understand it. Know your water, know your water, know your water.

[@Trainmedic]

One problem I have is trying to red the test results from test strips and water test kits. This is due to failing eyesight. You you know of any meters that give a digital readout? I would feel better having a set of numbers to read. Thank you for all of your info.

[@BentleyPascoe]

Unfortunately most of the digital meters for measuring a lot of the stuff outside of just generic TDS or pH tend to be really expensive and it's not just you I struggle to read several of those tests it's just enough time reading them has trained me to figure out enough of the nuance to get roughly accurate.

[@Trainmedic]

@@BentleyPascoe Thank you for your response. Hopefully this will change.

[@gbaquascaping63]

hi, some people recommended your channel to me, and it contains good debate, my criticism is that you don't show your aquariums and results enough, that is very important when you speak about some planted tanks topics. Regards.

[@BentleyPascoe]

I can understand the wants to see more footage especially from you who's got a aquascaping focus which by the way I looked at some of your videos they look awesome. In many cases what I'm kind of doing these heads up I'm I'm shooting them very frame of mind and I might not necessarily have the time necessary to get all the b-roll I'd like to have right now just because of my work schedule. Believe me in the future when I can get things a little more balanced in my work to fun time if you will then I look forward to being able to add the level of b-roll I would much prefer to have in even videos like this where I can show kind of the differences in plant density health etc based on the measures that I've taken over time.

[@leigh161269]

as a Master Aquatic Horticulturalist Pro would you recomend using an auto doser? if so would you dose once a day or split the dose into several smaller doses over the day? if you split the dose over the day do you dose when the lights are off?

[@BentleyPascoe]

I don't use auto dosers. You certainly can, and if so I would dose daily at the start of the day as your CO2 starts.

[@jdww4998]

Quick inquiry, is this the Brightwell you use for your heavily stocked tank? Brightwell Aquatics Shrimp Florin Multi - Multi-Nutrient Fertilizer for Planted Shrimp or Freshwater Fish Aquarium with Iron. I am asking because staghorn loves Easygreen with all the nitrate and was thinking this might help keep it at bay in my 60 gal with a heavy guppy fish load as well. P.S. My water is very hard!

[@jrherrick9871]

Think it’s just the Flourin Multi, not the shrimp Flourin multi. They are separate products.

[@BentleyPascoe]

The shrimp version is no copper, which is ever so slightly different, both it and normal Florin Multi work though

[@DashRiprock5150]

i watch a lot of videos trying to learn more about how to keep my plants alive and people often mention "high light" and "low light" but i dont know what that means? how do i know if my lights are high or low or med?? is it based on the kelvin rating, wattage, the par rating or all those things combined. i can link the kind of lights i have here if that helps. are all LED lights considered high? i have no idea and haven't found any videos that explain this, can anyone help me out? thanks!

[@BentleyPascoe]

Usually when we're gauging light it's by PAR values. Typically about 40 par and below is considered low light. 60 to about 90 par is medium light and 100 power or higher is highlight. This is at the surface and not necessarily at the substrate so there's some ranges depending on how tall your tank is in order to achieve that much power deeper into your tank, but that should give you a rough guess.

[@DashRiprock5150]

@@BentleyPascoe ok i have 3 aquatop sky aqua lights on my 55 gallon tank1 is 45 inches long and 2 that are 18 inches they say on the box that they are rated at 50 par at 18inches deep does that mean i have high lighting when i use all 3 lights? or just med? thanks for your quick reply.

[@Peppersystem]

Hey Mr Bentley. My water is almost RO from the tap so I remineralize with Equilibrium. As equilibrium contains several micronutrients, is it better to dose only N K P instead of an all-in-one fertilizer?

[@BentleyPascoe]

Not necessarily, but it's more targeted to do so. A little excess micros won't really hurt as normally the micro levels in all-in-ones is fairly low

[@thelegendarybronze5522]

Why dont you mention actual PPM levels of macro and micronutrients in your tanks? If you did aquarists could tailor their own fertilizing regime to match yours.

[@BentleyPascoe]

You don't need exact PPM. I've done this long enough to learn targeting a "perfect" water condition, including ppm of nutrients, often leads to fighting harder than is ever necessary.

[@joesmith9103]

Im dosing a newly planted non co2 36g bowfront ez green about every other day and iron a few days a week on non ez green days. Soon ill also be adding brightwell to the mix. After adding the brightwell into the rotation where would liquid iron fit in? Or would I be better off putting Amaco self harding clay in my substrate (eco complete) and forgetting about the liquid iron? My iron feeders are AR, Mayaca Sellowiniana and to a lesser extent Ludwiga Brevipes and mellon sword. Just to be clear the AR and MS are plants to challenge myself, i have not successfully kept these yet (this is my 2nd try on AR)

[@joesmith9103]

And thanks for the knowledge as always!

[@BentleyPascoe]

I think iron at the roots is a great long term solution. You can dose the water column with something like easy iron about 1 pumo every 3 days, but not required if you go the clay route

[@joesmith9103]

Great! Thank you! Your lasagna substrate idea (great video yall if ya haven't seen it) was partially responsible for the idea. I'm now seeing a great planted tank as a sandwich, you got your bread on top (light) which is just as important as your bread on the bottom (substrate).

[@ELflowing]

How do you fertilize if you are away from home for a week let’s say?

[@BentleyPascoe]

I would do a slightly higher dose (4 pumps for a 40g for instance) right before I leave, then just let it go until I'm back. You may have some recovery work to do, but it should be minimal

[@mikefaulkner6132]

No root tabs in your routine?

[@BentleyPascoe]

Usually only when I start a tank

[@collinskj1963]

That’s interesting that you only use root tabs when you start a tank, don’t plants like Amazon swords need them to do well?

[@BentleyPascoe]

@@collinskj1963 yes and no. It depends on your substrate. If you have a very good CEC capacity it will pull a lot in. If you go very heavy on root feeders then it's advisable to use root tabs more regularly

[@mtgtomescourer]

Did you give yourself that title? Haha

[@BentleyPascoe]

Quite the Burning Inquiry. Be careful not to spring an Archive Trap looking into this information.