fertilizer

[Ownager2004]

I have an amazon sword plant that growing, but not as fast as id like. I intentionally got a small one thinking that the big ones would choke my tank out in no time, but this one is barely growing. It looks healthy, but id like to speed the process up a little.
So I was thinking could I just pack up a ball of potting soil and bury it beside my plant?

[Damon]

Root tabs will help a little, but not much without CO2 unless you have a heavily stocked tank. Co2 is the biggest boost to growth for healthy plants.

[MyraVan]

Yup, agreed. If you want faster growth, CO2 is the way to do it. You could try Flourish Excel as a way to add carbon to your tank with very little effort (no messing with soda bottles with funny mixtures or having the very large expense of a professional system) and see how it works for you.

[DavidDoyle]

Swords are heavy root feeders and will do much better with substrate ferts. While co2 or flourish will help, the gravel ferts are more important IMO. Add co2 and no gravel ferts and the swords will not do as well as they will from adding the gravel ferts but no co2.

[Ownager2004]

thanks, i thought i remembered reading something along those lines...

the only sort of fertilizer i have is potting soil? would it be alright to use?

[Ownager2004]

ok i found some articles where people have used potting soil. So i went ahead and did it. I put an approximately 1.5" diameter ball of potting soil right next to my amazon sword plant. There were a lot of roots there so im sure they'll be rooting there in no time. I picked most of the perlite out that i saw, since it floats, and then covered the ball with about an inch of sand.

I think i added enough to tell whether or not its going to help. And not so much that it will blow up my tank if something goes wrong. Ill let you guys know how it turns out.

Im also going to look into flourish excel. Im not quite sure if i get what you guys are saying about it though. It is a way to, in affect, get around CO2 injection atleast to a small degree?

[Damon]

Correct. Flourish excel adds carbonates into the water which plants use. Not quite the same as CO2 but very similiar.

[Aqua Essentials]

Here's Seachem's take on the subject:

Q: Is Flourish Excel a replacement for CO2 in a planted aquarium?
A: Yes and no. It provides the same benefit as CO2, i.e. it provides the plants with a source of carbon for growth just as CO2 provides them with carbon. However CO2 by itself will give you quantitatively more growth than Excel by itself, although Excel does provide a substantial amount in comparison. If CO2 is a 10, Excel is a 6-7. Using both together provides additional benefit. One of the advantages of the Excel is no up front equipment costs and complexity of valves, hoses and regulators, etc.