# nutrient cycles & fertilizers



## Flear (Oct 5, 2012)

i came across a fertilizer company awhile ago that provided products based on age of tank

for what i have been reading and studying recently some nutrient cycles are rather fast (nitrogen)
some nutrient cycles seem to require anoxic zones.
some nutrient cycles seem to be very very slow (sulfur i think)

many fertilizers run on the philosophy that we will be dosing our tanks on a regular basis &
we will be making regular water changes to our tanks
we will be regularly pruning our plants (i'm assuming)

so what can be provided in aquarium fertilizer products can be at whatever levels are not toxic, ... as the understanding is going to be there is going to be a water change to bring levels back down to healthy concentrations of those excess nutrients.

for those few of us who do not follow regular maintenance, ... that levels in the fertilizer bottles are balanced to provide nutrients, but balanced only that far (to provide nutrients), ... planted tanks, with detritus that sinks below the sand/gravel, ... as nutrient cycles kick in, ... adding fertilizers can take on a rather scary aspect.

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i came across a fertilizer company awhile ago that provided products based on age of tank, ... 
has anyone heard of companies that sell such products ?
-it might not be a perfect solution, ... but it's closer in my mind


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## Mikaila31 (Dec 18, 2008)

If your tank is a closed system as far as non-gas nutrients go then really you shouldn't be adding anything beyond inital levels. If you intend to feed the fish at all realize that is also nutrient addition. Nature always has limiting nutrients that slow a system down, that is natural. Typically aquariums do not aim for this you dose as much as you want, change 50% weekly and removing excess plants(also a form of removing nutrients). If you are not doing the latter two what makes you think you should be doing the first one? Input vs output.

I don't see the purpose of fertilizers based on tank age. I use dry fertilizers which are customizable to my needs whatever they may be.


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