I am pretty new to fish aquariums, but I have been doing my research for a while on how to improve my plant growth/looks.
I have a variety of live plants in my tank including pennywort, moneywort, Amazon sword, a moss ball, pontederifolia, bacopa, 2 rotala indica bunches, and floating wisteria for fry to hide in. I want one more background plant such as anacharis, but for some reason the one I had slowly died.
I was using Aqueon liquid plant food, but have since used my first bottle and am looking for something better for my plants. I also added Seachem Flourish Excel since the beginning of February. I went to a LFS and the entire Seachem line was recommended to me instead of the liquid plant food. I only bought the Nitrogen and Iron to start. While the lady made it seem as if it would be really easy to add to my routine I haven't found it to be so. I don't know how to measure the iron in my water to know how much to add. I haven't had any luck online figuring this part out, so I haven't added it.. I was also recommended the Macro Micro Nutrient Mix from aquariumfertilizer.com, but there are very few reviews on it. Anyone have experience with this?
Also, I currently have a T5 light on my tank. It is 30 inches wide, 18 inches deep, and 24 inches tall, 56 gallons. I know I need a better light, so I have been trying to figure out more energy efficient lighting that will do the job. I would like to have LED lights. It is SO confusing for me. I borrowed a couple of books from libraries, but it was like I was trying to read books in a foreign language. I did get a couple of suggestions of light sets from different LFS, but when I go online to ask other hobbyist or look for reviews I don't hear the same happy tune. As much as I want to say price is not a concern, I would like to stay under $250, but would go to $300 for the "perfect" light set. Recommendations would greatly appreciated. I see a lot of reef lights that have feedback, but I am not sure they will work for freshwater planted tanks.