Chemicult OK?

Anyone use Chemicult as ferts for their plants? I had a look at ferts at the lps, and they'll be quite expensive for my 600 litre tank on the long run.

If it's safe to use with fish, which one should I use? I see they don't seen to have the general hydroponic one in a blue bag anymore? Any idea on dosage?

 

You must never add Chemicult(now called Nutrifeed) to your water. It will be dangerous to your fish and it will cause algae if added in that way. I know, because I had this bright idea myself and added it to a tank without fish. The result was a mega-algae explosion. Please learn from my mistake. You can soak PFP in Nutrifeed and use that under PFS(pool filter sand). Search for "PFP chemicult" or "PFP nutrifeed" on TASA to find out about this method. I have used it in my low tech tank with great results. I did not get the terrible leaching that a lot of people do.

 

Thanks Jen. You saved me some trouble there. I did see the threads where peeps were soaking pfp with it. My palm peat is already in though, so too late for that. I also see some diy root tabs, but dont think I want to try those as they seem a little hit and miss.

So any suggestions on an economical way to feed my low tech plants then? Or should I only worry about it when they stop growing?

 

what is the point of the palm peat if it does not have any ferts infused into it. my suggestion to you would be to investigate the estimative index of dosing ferts also known as ei fertilisation. very cheap and controllable.

 

Thanks cheekychops. So the plants don't need any medium other than sand or gravel to grow in?

 

You ad the NUTRIFEED to the palm peat, then cap it with pool filter sand. Last month i ad some Nutrifeed with a inspuiting inside the palm peat with great sucsess

 

@Broder no they do not need nutritious substrate if you use the ei method correctly. A good substrate deffo helps, dont get me wrong im NOT saying that it is better not to have one. Im just saying that is is deffo better to not have one than to have a really crappy one. I have gone the pfp nutrifeed route and it was a disaster(with a 5-7cm pfs capping), but other members have had great success.
Your plants need N,P,K and traces like iron calcium and magnesium. here is a good website that can help you make your own fertiliser at a fraction of the cost (sourced from dischem and builders) of what you would buy it in store for. http://calc.petalphile.com/en/



do your research, make sure that you have good lighting and a carbon source (excel, or co2) and you should be good.

 

Not to be otherwise ... the short answer is yes you can, but you probably should not.

The long answer is more about how than if.

Consider the following, chemicult is not a liquid - it is made of several dry fertz that are water soluble. If you look at the label you will see an expected chemical composition - but truth is you have no clue what the salts are made of - are SO4's or CL's etc.. Then you have the problem with sample size to be able to predict the dosage needed for your tank - a near impossible effort considering that the label is on average and not 100% accurate. Look at the mixture you see several grain colours and textures, these are the different salts. So it is hard to say what exactly you are adding to the tank.

All that said - yes I do mix whatever salts I can find, from Salpeter to epson salts, some pink hydroponic mix and yes chemical but I use such low levels that is it probably irrelevant, I prefer to use DIY root tabs Osmocote plus seems to do the trick (even for stems that are more water column feeders), you might to do something similar for your PFP tank. I suspect they last 1 - 3 months even if the label says 12 - not exactly designed for 100% submersion.

Later Ferdie

BTW the success to a PFP tank - do not try and rescape, it plant once and let it be ;-) esp crypts that love a good PFP capped tank. (don't forget the nails for Fe)

 

Thanks for all of the great info guys! It's a bit hectic to assimilate everything for a total noob.

So what I've understood so far is, firstly leave what I've done so far as is. The plants are growing for now, so look at adusting when the need arises later. Secondly I need to dose a fertiliser that supplements the carbon that the plants aren't getting from CO2.

Just gonna play it by ear and post questions as they arise. Great to have such a helpful fraternity of people to learn from.

 

Oh, I chucked 3x 6 inch nales into the filter. Is that right Ferdie?

 

NO! Put them into your substrate! Definitely remove them from the filter ASAP!


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No ... or you may just be expressing yourself wrong .. have a look here Product guides and online content ignore the product detail look at the chemistry and the why of CO2.

Later Ferdie

 

Lol - I can almost see Sean having a conniption ...


So if you google
site:tropicalaquarium.co.za nails PFP

you can have nice read on what we do with nails, but I do not recall it ever landing in the filter ;-)

Later Ferdie

 

LOL!

Me personally, I'd never add nails into the substrate. To me, it's just asking for trouble somewhere down the line.


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he he ... yeah - also not needing with ADA et al.

Good thing it is 6 inch nails .. do not use pin nails they get razor sharp when they rust and become a hazard when you play in the substrate.

 

@SeanJ - What kind of trouble are you anticipating? I put nails in my PFP & PFS substrate and the swords and crypts are growing very well. Even getting a bit of a tenellus carpet.

 

If you use the wrong type of nail, you can cause a toxic reaction in the aquarium. I don't know which type is safe, and which isn't, so I don't take the chance.

As far as I am concerned, there are additives especially made for these kinds of things which have proven to be safe for aquarium use. Just spend R200 and do it right the first time.

I'm just wary of things. Naturally cautious, if you want to put it that way.

 

True some galvanized nails are bad news ... must be normal steal wire nails. I actually pre-rust mine, get them from the shop. Good wash in hot water and sunlight soap, then boiling water rinse, then leave them in a container that has table salt and water in it - this rusts it in no time. Quick rinse in boiling water again and into the substrate - great for after the fact.