Alternative base fertilizer - worm castings

[benny]

Hi guys,

I know there are plenty of options out there, including aquatic compost which is a fraction of the cost of aquarium brand base fertilizers. Have any of you guys heard of worm castings (also known as "black gold" to gardeners) being used as base fertilzer?

My good friend, cks, pointed out this to me and I was informed that this was popularised by a south american chap (which we can't recall his name, but anyway) and it was also featured in erik leung's (www.e-aquaria.com) articles sometime back.

http://www.growmax.com.sg/index.php?...56&prod_id=420

According to the site, Worm Castings (with an N-P-K value of 1-2-0.7) are rich digested organic soil that worms leave behind. In soil, they retain water and release nutrients in a form that is easily used by plants. Theorically, this would also apply when the Castings are used an aquatic base fertilizer. Since they are totally organic and pH neutural (7), it should be relatively safe to use in an aquarium too as it does not alter water properties. At S$10 for 600g, I would say that it's fairly affordable.

Has anyone tried it before?

Cheers,

[XnSdVd]

mm Hmm... this is vaguely related:

When I was in primary school i did a project that used caterpillar poop as fertiliser. Plant A, The control pot used store bought fertilier and Plant B the experiment used 50% soil 50% caterpillar droppings.

Plant B outgrew A by something like 3 or 4cm. Which is alot considering both plants were about 15 - 20cm tall. 20%?

Ahh... miss those days when your science teacher would practically do the whole thing for you and all you had to do was play with bugs Thanks Mrs Lee! haha

[Weirong]

Never tried this before. Could give it a shot after I set up more tanks in my new premise.
How many bags do you think would be enough for a 3 footer?

[benny]

Never tried this before. Could give it a shot after I set up more tanks in my new premise.
How many bags do you think would be enough for a 3 footer?

I would think you need 3 to 4 packs. Do update us when you get round to it.

Cheers,

[GaspingGurami]

Where do you buy earthworm castings in Singapore? And how would the seller be able to ensure the NPK ratio. Wouldn't the ratio be dependant on what the worm had for its meal pripr to defecating?

Now's a good time for me to try this out since I'm looking into basefert for an emersed crypt tank. Got me a bag of perlite, and was wondering whether to use soil or aquaclay below it.

[benny]

Where do you buy earthworm castings in Singapore? And how would the seller be able to ensure the NPK ratio. Wouldn't the ratio be dependant on what the worm had for its meal pripr to defecating?

Click on the link in the first post. The telephone and address are listed.

Cheers,

[brad]

Boil it first or let it soak for a few weeks before putting it in your tanks. Earthworm casting contain a fair amount of ammonia which we know cause lots of algae problems.

[lorba]

cks told me about it as well. Should worth a try! Maybe will be good to try on hungry plants like crypts or echinodorus.

[benny]

Boil it first or let it soak for a few weeks before putting it in your tanks. Earthworm casting contain a fair amount of ammonia which we know cause lots of algae problems.

Hi Brad,

Now that's good information. Has anyone over at your patch tried using these for plant aquaria? What other comments do they have?

Cheers,

[brad]

I think everyone tries new ideas no matter what side of the pond we`re on. That`s part of the fun in this hobby.

Comments seem to be good initial growth but it seems to turn into mushy mud and run out of ferts quickly. Also there is the issue of the nh4.

Overall, if you`re into trying new things I`d defenately go for it. There`s no reason it would be better or worse than good quality soil.

[Weirong]

So the guess is it won't last a few years like normal base ferts?
That makes it more expensive then!

[XnSdVd]

Could it be that worm casings just release their nutrients faster than normal base ferts?

[cks]

cks told me about it as well. Should worth a try! Maybe will be good to try on hungry plants like crypts or echinodorus.

don't believe what I say.
look for your self
all grown indoors

[Weirong]

Looking good! How long has this been set up? And you never changed the base?

[lorba]

dennis, you used the worm casting in that tank?

[brad]

Wait, are we talikng terrestrial and wetland soils or in a fish tank? There`s a difference.

[MatthewS]

I've never tried this as a base fert before but it sounds like it could work well as part of your base fert. I've seen plenty of other references in other forums to using this including some pictures of stunning results.

You might even try it without boiling it. Diana Walstad - one of the current champions of low tech soil based aquaria - notes in her book Ecology of the Planted Aquarium that most aquatic plants prefer amonia over nitrate as their source of nitrogen. She doesn't boil her soil. A lot of these low techies go so far as to remove biological filtration so that the plants get a better shot of amonia - theory is the bio filter is actually competing with the plants for nitrogen in this form.

Whether this would work for you is another question. You'd certainly have to plan heavily, put some good light and CO2 injection in there at first and then hold on for the ride! Even if it's a rough start it will probably work out over time as the soil settles down.

Whatever you do, please update us on the results - I'm really interested in experimenting with "roll your own" base ferts - do it for the Science

One thing - at 10$ a bag I wouldn't say that worm poo is really a cheep option. I wonder if anyone else here has tried this vs. coco peat or even just soil and compost and can compare the result?

Matt

[MatthewS]

don't believe what I say.
look for your self
all grown indoors

Hi CKS.
Your emersed crypts look great. Do you think you could give us a plan shot of your set up and maybe a description of what you're using re soil and ferts? What do you do to keep mosquito's out of that standing water.

I've seen a couple of posts of emersed crypts lately and I'm tempted to give it a try.

[cks]

Wait, are we talikng terrestrial and wetland soils or in a fish tank? There`s a difference.

Terrestial/wetland soils, I do not have any experience with these set up and thus am not able to comment.

Hi CKS.
Your emersed crypts look great. Do you think you could give us a plan shot of your set up and maybe a description of what you're using re soil and ferts? What do you do to keep mosquito's out of that standing water.

I've seen a couple of posts of emersed crypts lately and I'm tempted to give it a try.

Matt,

I do not have any plan shots however this a summary of the set up :
the emersed portion of the tank was mixed with sphagmum moss / aquatic compost and worm castings.
Initially the set up was all submersed. However when I saw the results and guys here started on their vivariums, I lowered the water level and continued to keep the plants emersed.The transformation from submersed to emersed took a while ( just to let the plants get used to being out of the water). In between I mist the plants ( misting from a spray bottle ).

As mentioned in earlier posts I have been using Ferka and the I seldom do any water changes except to top up when the water evaporates. I also have moss growing on the 'banks' of this set up but they are rather slow to grow.

When the set up is more mature, I will post more shots of the general setup.

[benny]

cks,

I think brad is asking if this is an aquarium set up or not.

It looks almost like a vivarium!! I assume it's the planted 4 footer aquarium at home right?

Cheers,