plant fertilisers

[AMK]

Just wanted to know if plant fertilisers (once added) could affect any other water parameters in the tank?

cheers

Andrew

[mtchye]

Hi Andrew,

If you make your own plant fertilisers or use premade fertilisers that contain magnesium and calcium supplemants they can affect your gH.

The additions of traces/iron etc will raise your conductivity - but only slightly in most cases.

However if you are dosing right this should be a negligible effect.

HTH

[anchar]

Hi,

Make sure that the fertiliser that you use doesn't contain phosphate, otherwise you are likely to promote the growth of algae too! I grow "spare" plants outside in a tub and throw my old filter water in there. They grow like mad. I then have an ongoing supply of established plants to complement or replenish my aquaria.

merjo

[AMK]

ok thanks for the info ppl.

Merjo,isn't it still a little too cold to be keeping aquatic plants outdoors at the moment?

cheers

Andrew

[anchar]

Hi Andrew,

I keep them out side all year round. I have a 4500l pond which has milk crates in it. I put the pots on the crates so that they are nearer the surface (warmer and more light). They hold their own through winter and do really well when the weather heats up. They are planted in laterite and gravel (with old cut up fish nets over the holes). When I first put them in they went a bit dormant but now that they have acclimatised they do well. Beats paying for plants all the time. You can also prune them and get cuttings which propagate easily. Obviously some plants are not suited to this, but many are. :D

merjo

[Brett4Perth]

Hi Merjo,

Which plants do you grow outside in Perth and what type of laterite do you use? Any other fertilizers?

Cheers.

Brett

[anchar]

Hi Brett,

I haven't bought any laterite for ages so I don't know which shops would be selling it at the moment - ring around. The plants that I have in the pond are:

Red Alternanthera sp.

Bacopa sp. (x2 different sp. B. caroliniana and B. monnieri I think)

C. submersum (hornwort)

C. pteridoides (water sprite)

C. helmsii

E. stellata

Heteranthera sp.

Hydrocotyl sp. (not the naughty Canning River choker)

H. difformis (water wisteria)

H. polysperma (hygro)

L. arcuata

L. repens

L. nummularia (pennywort)

Potamogeton sp.

R. fluitans

R. rotundifolia

S. subulata

Vallis sp.

Ambulia

Hope this helps.

merjo

[Brett4Perth]

Must be a nice pond.

Do you get much emersed growth and flowering of these plants or do you try to maintain them beneath the water.

Brett

[anchar]

Hi Brett,

I maintain most of them below the water otherwise they wouldn't transfer to a submerged environment in the aquarium. The Ludwigia i allowed to surface and spread as I have frogs breeding in there and it affords them some "landing sites"

merjo

[AMK]

how cold does it get over there in Perth?

Sydney winter gets pretty damn cold.. I mean the water would be sub 10 degreees a lot of the time. Would the plants make it thru that?

cheers

Andrew

[anchar]

Hi,

My pond has registered sub 10 degrees for long periods over winter. If it works in Perth it should work in Sydney. They will take a season or so to adjust. If you put them in over the warmer months and let them acclimatise, they will be fine for winter.

Obviosly some do much better than others, and some just appear to stay dormant. I'm still experimenting with them at this stage, but the sp. I mentioned have been going ok to great for about two years.

You can also run some golden medakas in the pond right through winter to keep the mozzies etc. down. They are pretty little fish and you can catch them out and sell them if you wish.

merjo