some fertilzer questions

went looking for the seachem NPK products in the east rand the weekend and none had so i ordered from jungle aquatics this morning thats fine.the tetra range comes in a 25ml and then 250ml bottle and neither is viable.what i did see was pond plant fertilizer and works on a similar use ratio as the seachem products i was wondering can it be used in aquariums or is it totally out?

 

@oscar freak, did you check PM in Boksburg, that's where I get mine from?

 

ja was my first stop they didnt have.

 

oh ja also what is the difference between seachems trace and flourish?

 

I THINK....:unsure: Trace contains all the trace elements needed by the plants and Flourish is an actual fertilizer, but someone with a little more knowledge might help out here...

 

flourish trace has no NPK or iron but has Rubidium and vanadium? not shure what that does for plants, i would just use comprehensive the trace is probably like the discus trace "for fish health" rather than plants!


oh and if you are using seachem range as i am get the biggest bottle of potassium you can get your hands on lol, its quite week and you need to add loads eg im adding 20mils every second day! oh and have a 3foot lol

 

ok cause i checked the ingredients on both and didnt see NPK listed in either.shucks i bought the 250ml bottles

 

Hi Oscar Freak
I've always found these pet shop sold fertiliser products way too expensive for my liking.

A year ago I decided to do my own investigation into what the hydroponics people use on plants. A very interesting field which is getting me into another hobby all together.
A lot of their stuff is unfortunately dangerous to use in the aquarium from a nitrate perspective. However I have come across a product called Kelpak which is a Kelp extract. Dirt cheap and contains no nitrates.
R65 for 500ml from the hydroponics store in Randburg - I have had massively visible success based upon a dosage of 2 ml per week in my 450L tank. The bottle is still 90% full!

 

oh and if you are using seachem range as i am get the biggest bottle of potassium you can get your hands on lol, its quite week and you need to add loads eg im adding 20mils every second day! oh and have a 3foot lol

ANOTHER stupid question... What does potassium do for the plants?

@Ramirez, do you have fish in the tank that you are dosing the Kelpak into?

 

ja seachem knew what they were doing lol ive got 3 bottles with another 3 on on their way and thats still not all

 

Potassium is the K part of NPK. Plant leaves will start pinholing if they are deficient in potassium

 

which i think is what happened to some of my plants.any ideas on the pond fertilizers?

 

Hi Skye01,
Yep, 9 happy discus plus the odd ram and rummy nose

 

check again! flourish comprehensive has small amount of NPK in it, aslo has iron and sulfur wich seachem trace dose not have.

skye01 potassium is extremely important for aquarium plants.

potassium is important in various physiologicalprocesses including photosynthesis, the metabolism of carbohydrate and protein and the activation of​

enzymes also increases the growth of plants due to the easier absorption on all other elements! also protects the plant from getting diseases!

main symptom of deficiency is holes in leaves and anubias can show brown almost burnt looking leaf edges!

hope this helps!

 

ok maybe so but arent they macro nutrients needed in large amounts which means you must still add another source?

 

The easiest way of dosing NPK is using the EI or Estimative Index method. You get the ferts in Dry form, mix enough for a month in some RO water and then all you add is a trace element mix. Do a google search for EI dosing and you will get loads of hits.

 

yes thats why i said rather use flourish comprehensive fortraces, its better for plant growth than just traceAlso you wil need loads more macro's, as i previously saidget a huge bottle of potassium otherwise you will be making many trips to theLFS, but as slagter said EI(estimated index)is WAY cheaper than seachem rangebut if you dont wan to fiddle with measuring and mixing then get hold of theprof for his fert range! Please understand EI is mainly a dosing regiment. Basically you over dose enough ferts for theplants to use as they want and do a 50% WC at the end of the week to re-set thetank values and to not allow the ferts to build up and create algae. But peopleseem to think you must use salt peter,gips ect and only then its EI this iswrong!

 

Use Trace if you plan on adding NPK (Medium and high tech setups where alternate day dosing is used)
Use Flourish as an overall fertilizer. (It contains NPK)