soil vs aquatic base fert

[ccs]

maybe can start a list of pros and cons using soil vs base fert?

[Allen_1971]

I'll add a first point...

Pros
1. Its cheaper.[]

Cons
1. You have no idea what nutrients are in soil. Some of which may be harmful to aquatic life, and cause problems in a planted tank.

[wktay]

I have tried JBL soil before and now using Bioplast base fertilizer in my 2 feet tank. When using JBL, the water gets cloudy easily whenever I do any "planting". And this is not happening now, using base fertilizer.

To me, the plants grow much better and fish seem happier...much more brighter colour..

[vinz]

wktay, you refering to JBL AquaBasis? We do not consider that soil, although its looks and feel like soil. We consider that as base fertiliser.

In AQ, by base fertiliser, we do not diffrentiate the form it comes in, be it granular or soil like. By soil, we mean the various types of gardening soil used for potting terrestrial plants.

[vinz]

Which brings up something that occured to me at lunch time. Wouldn't Aquatic Compost count as base fertiliser instead of terrestrial soil? It is after all meant for aquatic plants. It looks exactly like soil as we know it, but then so does Dennerle's Duponit (not Duponit Plus). In fact, I would say Duponit is soil, and Dennerle probably enriched it with some extra nutrients specifically to meet the needs of aquatic plants.

[Allen_1971]

my suspicion is this... aquatic compost is designed primarily for ponds. If you consider the types of plants used in ponds, most of them are emergent. You get very little submerged plant life. Also consider that most pond keepers probably accept algae accumulation at levels which we would not tolerate in our tanks. As such, I would suspect that aquatic compost would not be as "refined" in terms of the needs to reduce algae.

[FC]

I am planning for the next planted tank. I wonder if I can use the Horti pallet shaped fert which has NPK 3/2/1% respectively as base fert.

[geoffrey]

----------------
On 1/9/2003 3:58:42 PM

I am planning for the next planted tank. I wonder if I can use the Horti pallet shaped fert which has NPK 3/2/1% respectively as base fert.
----------------

Hi FC,

Want to try what I did? I used 1:1 ratio of JBL and potting soil ($2 per pack). JBL below the potting soil. Measured PO4 at 0.5ppm and NO3 still at 0ppm yesterday (tank is now 13 days old). Didn't bother to check Fe and don't seem to have a shortage of them. No heating cables though.

I almost tried the black potting soil until you guys convinced me to pull the brakes. Glad I did.

[FC]

Hi Geoffrey,

What is the brand and model of the potting soil you use and what is the NPK content? How much you used in your tank (what is the size)?

[geoffrey]

FC,

Mine has no NPK spec out. Only the black one has and it's high! Got it from FarmMart. No brand.

My tank is 2.5ft, used 2 packs of JBL and potting soil each.

[bettapassion]

potting mix? hmmm...your plant looks very well. That means you used both base fert 50% and 50% potting soil?

[vinz]

----------------
On 1/9/2003 3:58:42 PM

I am planning for the next planted tank. I wonder if I can use the Horti pallet shaped fert which has NPK 3/2/1% respectively as base fert.
----------------

I would avoid using terrestrial ferts that has NPK as base fert. I wouldn't mix it in. Most of them have N in forms that are not suitable for aquariums. Second, it's going to be very difficult to remove it when you start having NO3 or PO4 problems. According to Diana Walstad in her book the "Ecology of the Planted Aquarium", plants prefer to take P from the substrate. I suspect this would mean they will ignore PO4 in the water, if they get an adequet supply from the substrate.

Kasselman says in her book that marsh plants (i.e. plants that can adapt to both submersed and emersed existance) are mostly adapted to taking their nutrients from the substrate, and less from the water. So, your plants might start ignoring NO3 too.

IMO, stick to targetted supplementation using solid ferts when a plant needs it.

[vinz]

----------------
On 1/8/2003 3:04:09 PM

my suspicion is this... aquatic compost is designed primarily for ponds. If you consider the types of plants used in ponds, most of them are emergent. You get very little submerged plant life. Also consider that most pond keepers probably accept algae accumulation at levels which we would not tolerate in our tanks. As such, I would suspect that aquatic compost would not be as "refined" in terms of the needs to reduce algae.
----------------

True, probably more for marsh plant which means that most of the nutrients required is already in the compost, as the plants will be expected to depend on the substrate for nutrients rather then the water. Acidity aside, this is probably great stuff for marsh plants that we use in our aquariums... like Echinodoruses, Crypts, Hygrophila, etc.

As for leaching and algae... no problems so far. It does not seem any worse then JBL aqaubasis in terms of the mess it makes when I uproot plants. There are some parts of my gravel that is thinner then the 1 inch I thought I had put and on occasion have expose it completely, yet I have no unusual algae problems as a result.