graceless Posted March 25, 2005 Share Posted March 25, 2005 Some one I know uses men's all-in-one vitamin liquid capsules on his marine tank. One capsule every 1-2 weeks. He has the best looking corals i've ever seen. Is there a similar concoction we could use in our planted tanks? Or has anyone made a fertiliser? Diluted Osmocote maybe? Just curious... Grace Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BlakeyBoyR Posted March 28, 2005 Share Posted March 28, 2005 I'd be interested to hear this too. If I can make my own fertiliser I'd be cheering! I wonder if there are any non-aquatic plant fertilisers that would work well in a tank environment? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jamos Posted March 28, 2005 Share Posted March 28, 2005 I use ordinary clay as my substrate fert, works a treat!!! jamos Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
grungefreek Posted March 28, 2005 Share Posted March 28, 2005 U mean as ferts for micro nutrients???? Yes people have done it using ordinary garden ferts Check Here for clints ferts recipes I use the same chelated iron as Clint. I also mixed my own micro's, but used Searles micro nutrient mix instead of yates. be very very careful when mixing, otherwise u may over dose and kill your fish, like i did. I misinterpreted a label and ended up giving a lethal dose of copper which killed some of my fish. Mixing chemicals is my favourite part about planted tanks, and also testing. I love chemistry. Grunge Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Alan Posted March 29, 2005 Share Posted March 29, 2005 Depends what your water supply is like. You would not use the same regime for Perth, Adelaide, Melbourne, Sydney, Brisbane and Cairnes !!! That is why I don't have a lot of faith in 'Aquatic Plant Ferts' regardless of brand. They make broad assumptions and hope. And much depends on what plants you are growing. Alan. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BlakeyBoyR Posted March 30, 2005 Share Posted March 30, 2005 Surely there must be a fertiliser for land plants that works in aquariums? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
emp1re Posted March 30, 2005 Share Posted March 30, 2005 the D.I.Y fertiliser for plants in freshwater aquarium is P.M.D.D (poor man's doping drops) here is the formuale PMDD you can buy most fo the ingredient from a Produce supplier or Hydropodic place. i bought a kg of each of the ingredient altogether for $90 2 years ago and only used about 10%. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BlakeyBoyR Posted March 30, 2005 Share Posted March 30, 2005 Hmmm I dont like the idea of mixing my own fertiliser, I was always crap at chemistry Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Alan Posted March 31, 2005 Share Posted March 31, 2005 Aquasol or Thrive,,,,both pretty much the same thing just different brands. All the macro nutriants, micro nutriants as well as the trace elements. A small pack from K mart or where ever for $3 or $4 will make 500 liters of solution. What is the recomended dose rate of "brand" aquarium fertaliser ?? Gee ,,,you have just made "Aquafert"or what ever for about one cent per bottle. Don't get too excited yet!! The dose rate on that "Brand Name" aquarium plant food does not take into account the number of plants, or type of plants per gallon/liter of water, or the light regeme on the tank you have. Just takes a 'ball park' figure and hopes. Nor dose it take into account the elments and nutriants already in you water supply. It is trial and error unless you get high tech, brand name aquarium plant food or K Mart Aquasol. One is a thousand times more costly tha the other Alan. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Alan Posted March 31, 2005 Share Posted March 31, 2005 Aquasol or Thrive,,,,both pretty much the same thing just different brands. All the macro nutriants, micro nutriants as well as the trace elements. A small pack from K mart or where ever for $3 or $4 will make 500 liters of solution. What is the recomended dose rate of "brand" aquarium fertaliser ?? Gee ,,,you have just made "Aquafert"or what ever for about one cent per bottle. Don't get too excited yet!! The dose rate on that "Brand Name" aquarium plant food does not take into account the number of plants, or type of plants per gallon/liter of water, or the light regeme on the tank you have. Just takes a 'ball park' figure and hopes. Nor dose it take into account the elments and nutriants already in you water supply. It is trial and error unless you get high tech, brand name aquarium plant food or K Mart Aquasol. One is a thousand times more costly tha the other Alan. ← Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BlakeyBoyR Posted March 31, 2005 Share Posted March 31, 2005 A certain brand name aquarium plant fertiliser starting with "F" says 5ml does 250 litres of tank. Mind you, it also says to use its other products to make sure there are enough "trace" elements, as well as iron, potassium and phosphate. Which, after buying 4 bottles, perhaps 5 if you purchase their products to raise C02, can get quite expensive. So you're saying that these ones from Kmart have everything you need? Wow thats pretty awesome. But how do you know how much to use to start with I wonder? Thanks for the advice Alan, Id love to hear more of your thoughts on this. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
grungefreek Posted April 1, 2005 Share Posted April 1, 2005 So you're saying that these ones from Kmart have everything you need? Wow thats pretty awesome. But how do you know how much to use to start with I wonder? ← Yes, u can mix your own ferts using dry mixes intended for terrestrial plants, as i said in my first post. Ive never used the aquasol, only yates and searles, but im still assuming u have to mix it correct and dose correct, otherwise an overdose is very likely. So if u dont trust your own chemistry skills enough to risk your fish, maybe u should stick to proper aquarium ferts. Or if u are trust worthy, post your tank details and the fert u intend to use, and someone here could do the simple chem calculations to work out dosages. Terrestrial ferts are cheaper, but risky if ya dont know what your doing, and sometimes even if u do Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BlakeyBoyR Posted April 1, 2005 Share Posted April 1, 2005 Well I can state without doubt I have no idea what I am doing in regards to chemistry. Perhaps flourish is the way to go for me then Too bad though, It would have been nice to save some money. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
graceless Posted April 2, 2005 Author Share Posted April 2, 2005 some great help. thanks guys. i trust my chemistry... so i might give it a go. i have some thrive here, so that seems easy enough. going to work out a dilution for it soon. cheers grace Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
grungefreek Posted April 2, 2005 Share Posted April 2, 2005 some great help. thanks guys. i trust my chemistry... so i might give it a go. i have some thrive here, so that seems easy enough. going to work out a dilution for it soon. cheers grace ← JUst make sure u know what elelments are in the mix, and what form they are in. Most trace mixes have elements in thier sulphated forms, which is ok for fish. But i wouldnt trust anything that is coupled with ammonium. Just check up on it. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TSMill Posted April 4, 2005 Share Posted April 4, 2005 All commercial terrestrial plant fertilisers have high concentrations of toxic nitrogen (urea, ammonia) and of phosphate. When making your fertiliser you want non toxic nitrogen (potassium nitrate), and little if any phosphate. Pretty much everything you need can be picked up between bunnings and a hydroponic store, although KNO3 is becomming harder to find. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mianos Posted April 5, 2005 Share Posted April 5, 2005 As TS just said, you want to avoid adding any more nitrogens and possibly phosphates to the water. Terrestrial fertilizers are full of nitrogen. If you look at the composition of most aquarium fertilizers here: http://www.thekrib.com/Plants/Fertilizer/compare.html you will see they are low P and most often have no N because the fish and bacteria provide them. If you can make up your own, such as Tom's PMDD good on you but before you put some terrestrial fertilizer in your live tank you might want to experiment a bit outside of it. I have and in my experience, terrestrial fertilizers (and I have some of the best ones for my orchids) are great for making green slimy water. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
grungefreek Posted April 5, 2005 Share Posted April 5, 2005 So what does everyone use????? Ofcourse the big one over in the States is plantex CSM and CSM+B, but so far i cant locate any, tho Emp1re said he got it from a hydroponics store some where in Sydney, but i emailed a few and none stocked it. So anyone know of anything similar we can use??? Grunge. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BlakeyBoyR Posted April 5, 2005 Share Posted April 5, 2005 Perhaps someone will have to take a trip to Bunnings and see if they can find a fertilliser with the same chemical attributes as something like flourish. It doesnt matter if it is more concentrated, you can just use less. As long as it has the same ingredients so to speak it should be ok shouldnt it? I wont be able to get to bunnings today, can anyone else take a quick detour and have a look around? I figure once ONE of us knows a good one to use, we can ALL use it and save ourselves some money. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
grungefreek Posted April 6, 2005 Share Posted April 6, 2005 Perhaps someone will have to take a trip to Bunnings and see if they can find a fertilliser with the same chemical attributes as something like flourish. It doesnt matter if it is more concentrated, you can just use less. As long as it has the same ingredients so to speak it should be ok shouldnt it? I wont be able to get to bunnings today, can anyone else take a quick detour and have a look around? I figure once ONE of us knows a good one to use, we can ALL use it and save ourselves some money. ← Ive been, they dont stcok anything useful, at least in the one here in newy. I have emailed some hydroponic places at Sydney to see if they have anything similar, waiting for replies. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BlakeyBoyR Posted April 6, 2005 Share Posted April 6, 2005 Thanks for checking mate. I saw thrive and some others which looked kinda the same as flourish but they had way more potassium etc. than flourish. Thats a bad thing right? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
emp1re Posted April 7, 2005 Share Posted April 7, 2005 Like TSmill say, most of the stuff is hard to get now because 9/11. they scare u might make a bomb i got my stuff long time ago. i can mix u guys some PPMD, if u swap me with some plants. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BlakeyBoyR Posted April 9, 2005 Share Posted April 9, 2005 I sent you a PM mate. I for one would be happy to pay you to make up some liquid fertiliser provided you could tell me exactly what was in it. Just let me know Cheers mate Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
punie Posted April 16, 2005 Share Posted April 16, 2005 I've been using Traces and Macro ferts for ages, works wonderfully for me and is dirt cheap. Using Kn03, KH2p04, Mg204 all in 500gm worth of powdered ferts. The method i'm using is the Esitmative Index by Tom Barr. Cheers, Jerome Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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