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Plant equipment

Root tabs

The answer to a sword plant or cryptocoryne languishing in plain gravel. Root feeders draw most of their nutrition through the roots, and liquid dosing alone rarely satisfies them.

Short answer

Slow-release fertiliser capsules pushed into inert substrate near the roots of heavy root-feeding plants.

What it does

  • Supplies nutrients directly to the root zone

Strengths and where it fits

Strengths

  • Targets nutrition where root feeders use it
  • Avoids raising water-column nutrients that feed algae

Good fit for

  • Sword plants, cryptocorynes, Vallisneria and other root feeders in inert substrate

Limitations and where it is the wrong choice

Limitations

  • Can release a pulse of nutrients if disturbed
  • Needs replacing every few months
  • Unnecessary in an active aquasoil substrate

Poor fit for

  • Epiphytes and floating plants, which have no substrate roots