Feeding Plants
Plants are living organisms. Like every organism, plants need food to grow. Without food, plants would simply die. Just like us if we had no food. Anyway, there are many ways to feed your plants. You can use liquid fertilizers root tabs, and lighting. These could all help your plant out a lot. Depending on how hardy the plant it, it could possibly go without some of these. I'll put in in order for you. Lighting always comes first. Without lighting the plant will die. There is no plant out there (from what I know of) that can grow with no light at all. The kind of lights that come with aquariums usually will work, but are not best. If you have the money I would suggest getting better lights for your aquarium. I promise, you'll see results and your plants will thank you! Substrate is second. For a lot of plants, substrate doesn't matter as much. Plants like anacharis don't need a good substrate. A lot of people use dirt but it's not the best for beginners for it could easily ruin the look of your tank. Last is liquid fertilizer This is something you should have in your tank, but it's not necessary (depending on the plants). Make sure when you add the fertilizer not to add more than is instructed. Most liquid ferts provide a lot of iron, which is one of the most important elements in root growth and red leaves, especially. This is just the basics of how to feed your plants. There's always more you can learn about it but this is the overview of feeding your plants right. Another thing you can't forget is CO2. CO2 is something every plant needs. If you remember, elementary school taught you that plants give off oxygen and take in CO2. Pressurized CO2 is needed for some plants but not many. It will make plants thrive even though it's not required.