Help with easy green

[Juan colin]

Hi yesterday i got my order of aquarium co op easy green and my question was if i needed a test kit or not.Near my area its kind of difficult to find a pet store but i was wondering if anyone knew a way to dose my aquarium without actually putting my fish or anything in danger.

[Brandy]

You can suse the plants to gauge the amount of fertilizer. Start with the reccomended 1 pump/10 gallons/week. Do that for 2-3 weeks. If your plants look very happy, good. If they look pale and weak, move to 2x/week, and wait 2-3weeks again... Observation is not as exact or precise, but it is effective. 

However, I would suggest at least some test strips, if you ever have a problem, they are a good way to figure out what might be going on. Tetra and API both have strips that are reasonably accurate to ballpark what is going on with water quality, and you can cut strips in half lengthwise to get more tests per package.

[Will Billy]

So, the technical answer here is, Easy Green is safe for fish and invertebrates. The only water parameters ive ever noticed it to affect is nitrate levels. In SMALL quantities nitrate is also harmless to fish and invertebrates, especially compared to ammonia and nitrite. However extremely high levels of nitrate do become toxic, and is one of the main reasons for recommended water changes. 
 

The best answer here tho is I highly recommend a test kit. Not so much for testing fertilizer, but it is a great tool to help you diagnose problems in your tank should they arise. It also provides forum members clues as to whats going on in a situation where you might get stumped trying to figure out a problem and reach out for advice. If a special trip to an out of the way pet store is inconvenient for you, i believe Aquarium Co-op sells API master test kits that you can have delivered to your house. 
 

So the short answer here is no you dont need to test for Easy Green fertilizer, but it is recommended to test for everything else.