I am looking for Osmocote Plus

Wondering is anybody has seen this on a shelf at the local nursery?

Thanks Ferdie

 

Not at your local nursery.There is a S.A. distributor but only supply to commercial nurseries and only large quantities.Check out osmocote(dot)co(dot)za.They are based in JHB,so maybe you can get a "sample" from them.

 

Finally, I can maybe repay you! I have the Israeli version of osmocote... can get all the details, but, it is essentially exactly the same. I've used a few pellets of it in clay "piecrusts" poked under the substrate... it's a bit soon to say if I can see any results, but so far, I CAN say that there have been no ill effects. I've had the piecrusts in for about 10 days, and I think I can see one crypt responding.

Can I post you some? It would be a pleasure!

Best, Tracy

 

Thanks @Rudi .. had a look at the site don't think they have the plus version, did request more info.

@tracyp thanks for the offer I will shout if I need some ASAP - if you are already experimenting then that is all that is needed at this stage. Would be keen to hear how long it lasts. From what I understand the pellets should degrade shortly after all the nutrients are gone, so 6 - 9 months? If you can get the product details as a start that would be great.

 

Ferdie... care to share your little secret with the rest of us about this product?

 

Not a secret - but seems like this stuff in some shape or form has been used for years as a substrate enhancer or root fertiliser. From my current understanding it is either a, you love how well it works or hate that people put it into the aquarium debate.

Anything that makes keeping aquatic plants affordable and easy, is worth the experiment and debate in my mind. After my disaster (not prone to algea blooms in my tanks) with the earth worm castings (but this might be influenced by source), playing with PFP, naked silica and only water column fertz, no fertz just more fish (better quality food), some other combinations and now the imported JBL stuff, I am still looking for that magic bullet that will keep people in the hobby. Life happens and you potentially spend less time on your MTS so simpler must be better.

Later Ferdie

 

So I have failed at getting around to collecting a bag of this stuff, but ... maybe that was a good thing.

I spotted this on the distributors site today:
[h=1]Micromax Premium, trace elements released over 16 – 18 months.[/h]Now this sound like interesting stuff - no NPK.

I suspect they are closed this time of the year - bugger just when I had some time to kill.

Trying to see what exactly is in the micromax.

Later Ferdie

 

Well that was short lived .. found the spec sheet ..

Zinc sulphate mono hydrate, ZnSO4+1H2O
LD50/oral/rat =2949 mg/kg
Sodium molybdate, Na2MoO4+2H2O
LD50/oral/rat =4000 mg/kg
Copper sulphate, CuSO4
LD50/oral/rat = 960 mg/kg
Manganese sulphate, MnSO4
LD50/oral/rat = 9 g/kg
Ironsulphate, FeSO4+1H2O
LD50/oral/rat = 1389 mg/kg

Am I correct in saying that this would just be a bad idea?

Zinc sulphate mono hydrate, ZnSO4+1H2O
Ecotoxicity effects EC50/48h/daphnia =1.7 mg/l
Sodium molybdate, Na2MoO4+2H2O
Ecotoxicity effects LC50/96h/rainbow trout => 2800 g/l
Copper sulphate, CuSO4
Ecotoxicity effects EC50/48h/daphnia =0.8 mg/l
Manganese sulphate, MnSO4
Ecotoxicity effects EC50/48h/daphnia => 100 mg/l
Ironsulphate, FeSO4+1H2O
Ecotoxicity effects EC50/48h/daphnia = >100mg/l
LC50/96h/rainbow trout = >72.5mg/l (6d)
EC50/72h/algae = 22mg/l


For Copper sulphate, CuSO4
Manganese sulphate, MnSO4

R50/53 - Very toxic to aquatic organisms, may cause long-term adverse effects in the aquatic environment.
R51/53 - Toxic to aquatic organisms, may cause long-term adverse effects in the aquatic environment.

Eish ...

 

I am now the owner of 1 x 25kg bag of osmocote plus ...

Still not 100% convinced but it should be good for a bit of fun.

 

Look forward to seeing your experiments... might take a while to work through that bag, Ferdie! :smile1:

 

he he he .. l am lucky it works in the other garden also ... BTW @tracyp - when you made pie's how much stuff did you add to what size pie? I am thinking that might be the best way to get this into the substrate.

Later Ferdie

 

Hi Ferdie,

just spotted this old thread...how has your Osmocote experiment worked out thus far?

 

love it ... I have no more gel caps left, so will be going back to potters clay frozen.

I use this plus some trelmix when the plants need color, root fertz a few days before a big dose of trelmix seems to carry well for 10+ weeks.
It is not an experiment anymore now do not ask me for quantities but I only uses these two so no fancy water column ferts for me ;-)

 

Well well well, wanted to plant the Narrow leaf (Anubias stock) in 4ft-clear. What a surprise, the remains of what looks like osmocote . I have plenty of empty shells of whatever is in yellow pellet in my tanks, they need to be crushed if you want them to be gone.

Does make me wonder what the Anubias cultivation setup looks like.



Later Ferdie

 

I got pinged about release factors for OC+ ... found this academic thesis ... interesting reading

http://scholar.lib.vt.edu/theses/available/etd-06202000-16540015/unrestricted/etd.pdf

 

I've found a website that sells osmocote plus but it contains molybdenum, do you know anything about molybdenum if it is toxic in a tank?

if you google molybdenum you'll find that when consuming to much of it it becomes toxic.

 

Morning Tetra, O2 is also toxic but we kind a need it. Truth is most things are bad for you and or your fish in excess.

I have not really seen big concerns about trace quantities of Mo in aquarium use - actually Cu could be the bigger concern in OC+, depending on livestock.

Micronutrients for aquarium plants | Diszhal.info

"MolybdenumMolybdenum is an important nutrient for aquatic plants. It is a component of an enzyme used by plants to reduce nitrates (NO[SUB]3[/SUB][SUP]-[/SUP]) into ammonium (NH[SUB]4[/SUB][SUP]+[/SUP]) for protein synthesis, and is especially important in hard water conditions, where little or no ammonium is available as a source of nitrogen. Plants absorb molybdenum in the form of molybdate (MoO[SUB]4[/SUB][SUP]2-[/SUP]). This is available in tap water, but additional fertilization with substrate, tablet or liquids will ensure sufficient levels in the aquarium."

Later Ferdie