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What is the best plant food for live aquarium plants?

I hear that the live plants live off the fish waste in the substrate (with I siphon weekly) and use the Carbon Dioxide (that comes through via the air pump). As well as this, the plants get the not so strong light from the window, and in the evening I have a Arcadia Arc Light.

Do my plants need extra nutrition? If so, what?
Any info would be grateful.
Thanks!

Plants need three things to grow – light, CO2 and nutrients. Light is provided by your lighting system, obviously. CO2 and nutrients can be provided a variety of ways – fish naturally provide them as they respire and create waste. If more is needed, CO2 can also be added via a CO2 system and nutrients can be added via a fertilizer. An air pump does not add CO2 – in fact, it drives CO2 out of the aquarium.

What’s best depends really on your tank. A simple, low-light tank that contains easy plants generally doesn’t need any additional supplements, though it can benefit from fertilizer that includes potassium (K) and iron (Fe) to round out the nutrients they need. A tank that contains plants that demand a lot of light and CO2 would need a CO2 system and fertilizers that provide them all the necessary nutrients (nitrogen, phosphate, boron, zinc, magnesium, etc etc). Contrary to what catx said, no one fertilizer can provide all the nutrients plants need, due to the way some nutrients react to one another when kept together.

Papers from a conference held in Greece in September 1991. All five regions of the world with a Mediterrean climate are represented: the Mediterrean basin, sensu lato , California, Chile, South Africa and Australia.

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Is it better for me to grow 20 plants in the same pot, or just one? Is there a plant that is okay with being grown with a lot of other plants? Is there a plant that would even die because it’s with other plants? Please help!

Plants need air circulation around them so they could grow more vigorous. Plants that have poor air circulation are more succeptable to insects and diseases. Plants should be spaced according to their heigth and width. However some plants like to be crowded, they will bloom better like cannas, cymbidium orchids, and lilly of the nile.
Some plant material give off chemicals called alleopathy, these alleopathic plants prohibit other plants from growing around them, this is for thier own survival. Walnuts are a classic example they have an allepathic chemical called juglan.
Another reason why it is not reccomended to crowd plants together is because root will compete with one another for watr and neutrients.

Plant Preservative Mixture (PPM), is a broad-spectrum biocide/fungicide for plant tissue culture. PPM is the ultimate solution to the never-ending struggle against microbial airborne, waterborne and endogenous contamination.

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here at my house the temp. is 38-40 degrees I wonder if I should plant them now or try and wait till the temp goes up. There is strawberry plants, buterfly bush and a wild flowering rose. If I do not plant them now what should I do with them so they will be ok until I plant them?

I got some plants early one year and I knew we still had a frost coming, so I found an area by a window to keep them potted, but a bit cool, so I could harden them for when I put them outside. If they are root bound in small pots, transplant them into a larger pot lined with a biodegradable liner, like a large peat pot…so you can then just stick them liner and all in the ground…..that way you’re only disturbing the roots once…..
don’t plant too early outside or they will just freeze!

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i am doing a science fair project on do all plants need room to grow. but first i need to know what plants need lots of room to grow. also i need to find out which plant i can use in my experiment. which is me taking a plant that needs to grow (starting from a seed) and let it grow inside of a box. to see if that plant needs room to grow.

The answer to your question is more complicated then giving a specific Genus or species.

All plants have a certain niche in which they grow, whith in that niche they will find room through competiton. This is why invasive species are such a hot topic right now, buckthorn out competes trees in in the middwest, Norway maple is choaking out woodlots in the north east, kudzu in the sout, cheatgrass in the plains…

IMO the premis of your demonstration should be "How Plants Find Room To Grow"

Some through root growth stratigeis, stolonacious or rhizomacous. Blue grass vs fescue

Some through chemical controls, such as walnuts. The process is called aelilopathy (never trust my spelling).

To elaborate on the tree answer, one not so obvious need for trees is room for the trunk and root flair to develop symetricly. There are many studies on the web about "Stem Girdling Roots" where cultural practices in the landscape predispose a young tree to a very short lifespan.

Distinctive and unique, this cheerful number is a statement of your care and refined taste. Item # 6171-0048-1111 Some plants in the basket may vary. Delivered by a local florist Shown $54.99 was $64.99 Baskets are designed to be delivered as close to the plant basket pictured as possible. Deluxe

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i have 2 large pots full of dirt in the front of my house and i need to plant them with something!! only i have no idea what i am doing. i want to plant them with a mixture of plants but don’t know which plants to use. i went to the nursery and my head exploded. thanks for the help.

Yes, Jennifer, choosing plants should not be random, if you want them to survive, and yes, there are many factors to consider, as stated in the other answers. To easily help you sort all this out , take a picture of your planters showing the front of your house as well, and go talk to a professional at a reputable garden centre, not a big box store. They will be able to answer all your questions and help you pick out the appropriate plant material.

Make sure they sell you some new potting soil and fertilizer, to replace the current stuff, to help keep the plants healthy and happy. Don’t be shy about asking for watering tips too, as this is crucial to the survival of your plants , which have different care requirements from plants in the ground.

If it were me, I would include a tall , slender , slow-growing evergreen shrub or topiary in the centre of each pot, so that even if your flowers die off in the winter, you still have something green growing all year in the pot, and at Christmas time, you can wrap the shrubs with lights .

Wherever you live, your local nursery will always carry plants that are appropriate for your climate.Get familiar with your "growing zone" and you’ll be able to make informed plant choices.

Have fun and good luck

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