Do i need base fertilizers for foreground plants?
Do i need base fertilizers for foreground plants?
Welcome krabbie, and I believe I ahve not welcomed you too shaman
shaman,
Those chemcials are usually Potassium Nitrate(KNO3) and Potassium di-Hydrogen Phosphate(KH2PO4). These chemcials are used because they contain the 3 major elements plants need: Nitrogen, Phosphate and Potassium.
They're added to the tank to provide nutrients. People who buy them normally want them for their cheapness, as well as the ability to controll what amount they put into their tanks.
These compounds do not have the ease of use as commercial fertilisers, and they are "raw", providing exactly what you put it. Commercial fertilisers have enzymes and humic substances and all the biological stuff included. I do not know if they help though.
Both types of fertiliser provide good plant growth when used correctly.
krabbie,
Base fertiliser used to be necessary. I still use base fertiliser in my tanks, but you can do away with it only if you're dosing fertilisers regularly through the water. I'd still put base fertiliser everywhere throughout the tank though. It gives backup nutrition.
bro terence
which base fertiliser would you recommend? or which brand have you been regularly using? thanks for sharing.
don't worry, be happy
HI Ricca,
Recommended and commercially used base fertilizer will be,
JBL aquabasics PLus.
do you want? If you want, i do have a 5kg, unopened packet. I can sell you very cheap. Ya.
Regards,
Alvin
Well I use JBL Aquabasis Plus as mentioned by Alvin. There's also Dennerle Deponit Mix (not sure about this name). But the trend is changing and some people do not use base fertiliser anymore. They prefer to provide all nutrients through the water.Originally Posted by riccia
Perhaps you could go that way, since it will mean more control over ylour nutrients, and when you pull up plants the base fert won't leech out.
thanks bro alvin & terenceOriginally Posted by |squee|
i have just completed "migrating" to a smaller tank over the weekend. took extreme care removing the top layer of gravel so as not to mix with the fertiliser too much.
when transferred everything into the smallet tank, water was very cloudy during the first few hours. fertiliser residue developed on the surface of the water and had to be cleaned off manually. ddi that for many times on Sat night. on Sun morning, the water condition was much better.
did a 50% water change on Sun evening and started putting in the plants
and fishes last night. will monitor its development and shall post picture within a weeks time if its doing well.
bro alvin, how much are you asking for the fertiliser? thinking of setting up another tank but have not confirmed yet so i might need them.
don't worry, be happy
Ermm..
Sorry, friend... I've just exchanged the pack of fertilizer with something else with the shop because my tank setting up is small and i don't need that much of the base fert... SOrry man.
Alvin
no worries bro alvin. it's okay la............ i'll buy them from NA if i really need them.Originally Posted by scotworm
don't worry, be happy
Has anyone tried Dr Malick's liquid fertilisers? would like to hear your comments. Thanks
I have tried his Lushgro-Micros, Lushgro-Aqua before. It is cheap and it worked for my tanks.
Other stuff I bought from Dr Mallick are KNO3, KH2PO4, Rexolin APN.
koah fong
Juggler's tanks
how much do you dose in your tanks? according to their 10ml for 100litres of water?
how about kno3 kh2po4 and rexolin? what are your dosage like?? Thanks for sharing
No I did not. I believe that the give dosing instruction was more for "low-tech" setups. Since we put in more lights and CO2, we upped the dosage. You can use the Excel calculator at my site or the FertFriend.Originally Posted by Blenny
NO3 and PO4 varies for different tanks. Personally, per week after 50% water change, I dose:how about kno3 kh2po4 and rexolin? what are your dosage like?? Thanks for sharing
- 10ppm K (from K2SO4)
- 1.5ppm PO4
(I only dose 2ppm NO3 for one tank, otherwise I just depend on fishfood for the NO3.)
The dosing calculator for compounds like KNO3, KH2PO4, K2SO4 are at Chuck's website. There's also a downloadable version.
koah fong
Juggler's tanks
went thru the calculators but what is the daily requirement for the different chemicals. For example, if my tank holds 1000 litres of water and i dosed 30ml of lushgro-aqua, is that too much or too little. instructions given was 10ml for 100lit for 1 to 2 times per month. please advise. Thanks again for enlighting and sharing.
Blenny: You might want to search more results in AQ regarding Lushgro and the usage experiences by other members. Eg this thread http://www.aquaticquotient.com/forum...ad.php?t=14107
You can also read Estimative Index by Tom Barr which is also among some of the recommended reading links in the beginner's FAQ.
Most of us are using the Estimative Index as a guide.
For me, I try to achieve 0.1 to 0.2 ppm Fe per week. With that I believe the rest of the LGA nutrients will more or less be OK.
So if you dose 30ml of LGA for your 1000L tank per week, then you are getting about 0.05ppm Fe, which I think is little. Try 60ml or 120ml to get into better range. Not forgetting that LGA does not have PO4 which you might like to add separately.
If you think your LGA fertiliser will run out very fast this way, you can get the Lushgro-Micros which is more concentrated but it only has the trace elements. You need to dose your macro-nutrients separately.
Last edited by juggler; 11th Aug 2005 at 00:08.
koah fong
Juggler's tanks
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