Fertilizers - what, when, how

[Adam]

I will need to purchase some fertilizers from my new 14 gallon burgeoning budget.

I have micros in liquid form, by a company called Kent.  It includes:
Fe
Salts of K
B
Mn
Mg
Cu
Co
An
Mo
"Inorganic stabilizers"

I also have root tabs.  I was told that the micros I am dosing and the root tabs are the same, so I am just feeding algae with this stuff.  I know some plants are root feeders, and some take their nutrients from the water column.  Any clarification?

I don't have any of the macros, NPK.  I plan to have a well stocked aquarium, so I'm hoping my N can maybe come from the bioload.  If not, I need to purchase the N portion.

I have CO2 running at a good clip (DIY yeast in a 2L), inert substrate, 46 watts of CF light (with restrike, i'd say 2.5wpg, plus ambient lighting), and not very demanding plants, except for some lilaeopsis.

I want to make this cheap, but I don't want to buy huge amounts to do so.  I want a specific list of what I should buy, and how much of it/when I should dose it.  I looked around for the EI method (what does EI stand for?), but it didn't really register with me.  There is a product called flourish excel, but it just doses C.  Do I really need this, or since I am running CO2, is this enough?

Basically...which products for a budget?

Adam

[jetstream]

Hi Adam,


   EI stands for Estimation index. The best products for a budget is PMDD (Poor man daily dose) They are the stuffs from Hydroponic store. Since you only have a small tank at this moment, brand name products cost you more but they are easier to use. I'm using the cheap stuffs. The reason is I don't want to see my bank account's overdraft protection kick in!  Just my $0.02

Jetstream

[charlie]

Adam posting a list of your plants will make it easier to answer some of your questions, howeverin general your root tabs will keep the nutrients in the substrate & out of the water column so it does not feed algae,only use it under root feeders like swords ,crypts   ect.                                                                                                                                                                        Your Kent micros ( and macros) should not prove to be too expensive , since the tank is only 14 glns & the commercial ferts. should go a long way, it`s when you start getting into larger & multiple tanks that the dry ferts. become your friend.                                                                                                                                                                      I have no experience with the Kent products & as such can`t comment on them but i have used the seachem line before & was very happy with it, using the seachem flourish excel to compliment your co2 ( if it`s not enough) is not a bad idea but excel is not compatible with some stem plants, vallisnera is one of them.                                                                                   The link below should help, also get a test kit if you don`t have one already.                                                                                                                                      Regards

http://www.rexgrigg.com/./ferts.htm

[Adam]

The best products for a budget is PMDD (Poor man daily dose) They are the stuffs from Hydroponic store.

Jetstream

I went to a hydroponics store today, and looked at some dry fertilizers.  So far, what I saw was a couple NPK formulas with integrated micros.

20-20-20 with your run of the mill micros
35-5-10 same...
10-30-10

Etc.  I asked the guy if they were ok with fish, and he said no.  I'm wondering what fertilizers you are using from a hydroponic store?

Adam

[charlie]

Upper Valley Hydroponics , Antares drive off of Hunt Club ,

Upper Valley Hydroponics
Address : 3-46 Antares Drive, Nepean, ON K2E 7Z1
Telephone : 613-224-4769
Website : www.hydroponics.com

[Adam]

I went to the LFS today, and compared the ingredients for the NPK and micros to a dry terrestrial plant fertilizer I have. 

I have 20%N - 20%P - 20%K, along with a relative amount of nutrients.  I looked at the bottles of NPK and seachem bottles to check what their amounts were.

The sum of the Flourish Nitrogen, Phosphorous and Potassium were:
~2% N
~1.5% + 0.3% P2O5
~5.8% +0.2% K2O

These are the exact same molecules in my terrestrial fertilizer, just in different doses.  The micros were also in relative proportion to what I had.  I'm wondering if I mix up a batch of this stuff, if it will be harmful to my fish?  The ingredients were pretty much identical, so I don't know...  Also, I should probably make a recipe so as to not overdose.  I don't see any problems and this could certainly save me a lot of money.  Let me know what you think.

Adam

[jetstream]

I guess lots of terrestrial plant fertilizer contains Urea, which is another form of ammonia. Plants prefer this form of nutrient, but also the algae! If you would like to give it a try, proceed with caution! There is a 50-50 chance you will have some algae fun! 

[Adam]

I'm thinking of getting a different dosage of the fertilizers.  Something like 10-10-30.  This would halve the urea, allowing my fish poo to substitute for it, and it would mimic the Flourish doses of ~1N:1K:3P.

Plus, algae and I have an agreement.  It can grow anywhere other than my planted aquarium.   I have 3 others it can happily be munched on by my mbuna and BNs.


Adam