is this all you need to feed your plants?

No u need 1/co booster which is food u have 2/fertilizer an depending on ur plants u may need 3/iron and 4/potassium

Do we have to shake before using it?

Yes. I believe the instructions state to shake before use.

Do you need this when using a dirt substrate? Thanks.

I dont use it in my 2 dirted tanks only use seachems excell in them. But I do use it in my wifes tank which is not dirted'

I have a filter that uses activated carbon. Should i shut the filter off before adding this so the plants can absorb the nutrients?

The entire purpose of “activating” the activated charcoal is to increase its adsorptive capacity by increasing its effective surface area and increasing its surface area to volume ratio dramatically. The question shouldn’t be if the plants absorb what you put in the water fast enough so that the maximal quantity that can be absorbed by the plant in a given period of time IS absorbed while the rest is taken up by the activated charcoal and written off. The question should be why does anyone want to keep the activated charcoal in the filter all the time. In a healthy planted aquarium, the water changes should be more than sufficient to address any untoward smells and, when they do occur, the smells should be limited to a kind of “river smell” rather than a “lake smell” because, among other things, no hydrogen sulfide should be produced in that healthy planted aquarium. My first suggestion is that adding a large quantity of anything is not as good as adding a smaller amount more frequently. The idea is to minimize the amplitude of the changes to the aquarium environment. The use of a larger surface area filtration system and land plants within the filter (do not use “marginal plants” they will need soil to grow in and they will produce unpleasant smells) is one thing that can be done to enhance the quality of the water for all concerned. Unless you have an active CO2 system, an aerated filter (water wheel or ceramic “tubes”) will also improve the quality of the water significantly. Into that quasi stable system, chemicals that are beneficial to the aquatic plants are introduced. Aquatic plants will absorb the nutrients in these mixtures and the land plants will take up the excess nitrogen without a problem. I use water polishing batting material almost exclusively and, once the aquarium is stable, I take the water wheel out of the freezer to keep the bacterial population healthy by running the wheel for a few days with some stresszyme added daily during that period. As I do not have experience with very large (>60 gal) aquariums, I cannot guarantee that a system that large could be made metastable without ever using charcoal; however, I can say that a healthy philodendron can take up a considerable amount of nitrogen and phosphorus on the the strength of the light that spills over from an aquarium lamp that is not closed on to the aquarium. OP, take the charcoal out and put it in a ziplock bag and give the plants half the dose now and half the dose later or give the plants a reason to absorb the nutrients (like CO2 or other aquatic plant friendly carbon sources) in a given period of time but the activated charcoal has got to go. It needs to be pointed out that aerating the water will eventually result in the equalization of the partial pressure of gasses (CO2 and Oxygen in particular) with the room the aquarium is in. This will affect the rate of growth of the plants (the fish will sleep better LOL!) potentially negatively. That is to say that the growth will not necessarily be as rapid (the aquatic plant friendly carbon sources do not leave the water through aeration) as it could be. The land plant fills this niche by consuming the excess nitrogen that the bacteria made accessible at a rate that is interdependent with but not dependent on the conditions in the tank. The charcoal (AFAIK) also absorbs the other carbon sources as well as the trace elements that the aquarium plants need so, at best, the need for the charcoal is suggestive of a problem in the aquarium environment more than an effective solution in its own right.

Pet Type	Fish and Aquatic
Product Dimensions	2.54 x 2.54 x 15.24 cm; 136.08 g
Item model number	576G
Coverage	Medium
Pet Life Stage	All Life Stages
Item Form	Tablets
Allergen Information	BPA-Free
Color	multicolor
Size	230 g
Volume	8
Number of Items	1
Quantity	1
Special Features	Made In America1
Specific Uses	Active
batteries required	No
Batteries Included	No
Item Weight	136 g

Api Leaf Zone Freshwater Plant Fertilizer, 8 Oz, Multicolor

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