I can't possibly get into the principals of limiting conditions, light, nutrient deficiency and algae etc. in one post so I will just touch on the answers to your question.
All of my tanks are heavily planted.
Submerged plants have the ability to take their nutrients including CO2 from the water column thru their leaves.
Some plants depend on both roots and leaves if they are heavy users...that is a good reason to use Flourite or whatever plant friendly substrate you want.
It is not the only way to dose nutrients, but Water column dosing is much easier to manage and control.
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what ferts do you use for that?
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Also a lengthy topic.
I use Potassium Nitrate (KNO3) for nitrate
Potassium Mono Phosphate (KH2PO4) for Phosphate
Potassium (K) comes from the KNO3 and KH2PO4
Seachem Comprehensive supplement for micro nutrients
I keep my GH in the 70ppm Calcium /30 ppm magnesium range
Chelated Iron Fe once a week
CO2 during lights on is about 35 ppm
All added to the water column. All of the nutrients are dry powder mixed with distilled water or come as a liquid.
I use small dosing pumps and electronic timers to add liquids as scheduled throughout the week before a large water change. That really helps with forgetting or did I dose that stuff yesterday
CO2 is another topic that needs to be carefully looked at.
CO2 misting is one method of injecting and making CO2 available to the plants. It requires pressurized equipment.
Very Simply the CO2 at 180 bpm is put through a diffuser.
I use a piece of chop stix, which breaks down the bubbles into very small bubbles. The very small bubbles are fed into the intake of a 1200 lph power head. The impeller smashes the bubbles into a mist which is blown into the tank water.
The theory being the leaves come into contact with the tiny bubbles of mist and uptake is more efficient. Works OK for me.
not me.
