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Proper feeding of Plants



Hi All,

I've been lurking for some time, reading the archives and trying to make 
some sense out how to keep plants healthy in an aquarium.

I started a planted tank from what appears to be the worst possible setup. I 
have a 55gal. aquarium with UGF/powerheads and a Fluval 303 canister. I 
started growing, H. polysperma, difformis, L. nummeralia, S. subulata, Java 
fern, Java moss, Wal-Mart wonder bulbs (Aponagenton), Amazon sword (E. 
blerhi?)and a Anubia batteri.

I have slowly(taking weeks) shut down one half of the UGF at a time. And now 
have both UGF's shut off without a problem. Previous to adding the plants 
this was a fish only community tank for two+ years. The plants have been 
growing quite well using DIY CO2 and 110W of PC lights. I have to do a major 
trimming and thinning every 2 weeks. Fish load is 6 Angels, 7 asst. Barbs, 1 
K. loach, 1 Dojo loach, 2 Blue Gouramis, 1 Pictus cat, 1 Royal Ple*o, 2 
golden Chinese algae eaters and 4 Oto cats.

I have noticed that there are two "camps" on plant fertilization. One says 
to fertilize the water column and the other says to never fertilize the 
water column, but to fertilize the substrate (there are also some "fence 
sitters" that admit to doing both).

My question is, if I were set up a tank with substrate fertilization, for 
root feeders, and not fertilize the water column will my fish load provide 
the necessary fertilization of the H2O column to provide food for the H2O 
column feeders, like Java fern, Java moss etc. As long as the fish load 
matches the H2O column feeding plant load, we should have some equilibrium, 
right? So then it would not be necessary, in fact advantageous to not 
fertilize the water column. It may still be necessary to add trace elements 
to the H2O column as the H2O changes may not supply all necessary nutrients.

Have I got this all wrong? Is it necessary to fertilize both H2O column and 
the substrate for aqautic plants to survive?

Any help would be appreciated. Thanks....
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