What fertilizer can be used for plants??

[EthanCote.com]

Hello plant folks,

I got a question regarding the use of fertilizers for our discus tank. I was wondering if there are some sort of plant fertilizer you can buy from Home Depo or Canadian Tire or some sort of hardware store that is safe to use for our discus tank?

Normally I buy them at the lfs but I was wondering if I can get the same type of fertilizers from my hardware stores? I believe they would probably be cheaper than the lfs.

Any help would be greatly appreciated.



Cheerio,

Chi.

[Biotypical]

The best fertilizers you can get at Home Depot are Grant's Stump Remover and EpsoGrow.

Stump remover= KNO3
EpsoGrow=MgSO4.

Other than that I'd stay faaaaar away from the regular fertilizers. They're not good enough quality chemically, plus there's no way of regulating amounts of the various components.

Now that I've said that. If you want to be VERY careful and go VERY EASY on it, Miracle Gro "Rose Food" is doable. I wouldn't recommend it at all though. (not to sound pompus) But I have trouble with it sometimes. (I have to use it at the store on occasion for a large tank).

[Qbal18]

for DIY ferts you can go to a hydroponics store and get potassium nitrate, potassium phoshate, and potassium sulfate that will do your NPK. for micros soem think plantex-csm works i am just in the test stages myself for the plantex other i knwo use TMG or kent botanical, with a little extra Fe. you can go here to calculate the stuff you get.

http://atlas.csd.net/~cgadd/aqua/art_plant_dosage_calc.htm?chemnum=2&amt_grams=84&a mt_tsp=14&amt_tbsp=4.67&h2oamt=0&tanksize_gal=40&t anksize_liters=151.42&mixppm=Infinity+ppm+Potassiu m&targetppm=20ppm+Potassium

[drew22to375]

Heard many people use Jobes fetilizer spikes, but not exactly sure which ones.

[Wahter]

Chi-

What type of plants are you planning to fertilize?

I use Tropica Mastergrow with some Flourish Iron and Potassium. I think Bigalsonline.com has the best prices for it. Other than that, I also insert Seachem Flourish root tabs into the root area of my sword plants from time to time and I add some calcium into the water when I do water changes.

HTH.

[stir-fry]

Read this article and visit your local hydroponics shop and pick up the listed ingredients..

mastergrow is really good, but very expensive, and with the diy fertilizer you can control exactly what you are putting into your tank.

don't buy regular plant fertilizers as they typically include phosphorous and nitrate.


http://www.thekrib.com/Plants/Fertilizer/pmdd-tim.html

ps, an approximately 2 year supply cost me 20 bucks at my hydroponic shop

[ronrca]

Hydroponic Store is the way to go for cheap and good ferts! ;) Ive tried MasterGro also and was not impressed with the results when compared to the price I paid.

That's an easssssy question.....

YOUR FISH WATER! Yep. It has everything in it for a plant to grow green and luscious (Potassium, Phosphate and Nitrigen (NPK)). When you're doing water changes and you siphon that 50% or more water, bottle it and hold for spring and summer fertilizing. You'll see amazing growth and green.

[Wahter]

That's an easssssy question.....

YOUR FISH WATER! Yep. It has everything in it for a plant to grow green and luscious (Potassium, Phosphate and Nitrigen (NPK)). When you're doing water changes and you siphon that 50% or more water, bottle it and hold for spring and summer fertilizing. You'll see amazing growth and green.


I'm going to have to disagree with Angie on this one, (but not entirely) because it depends on what is in your water (where you live); that will directly affect how well your plants grow. In areas with harder water (more calcium and magnesium), plants will grow better. Same with how much iron you have in your water, etc... and if you live in an area with a lot of phosphates in the water, chances are it's easier to grow algea in your tanks. Where I live, the water is fairly soft, so I have to supplement it with calcium, potassium, iron, etc... So if you do a lot of water changes and your water is fairly soft, containing very little trace elements, there won't be much of "anything" (including the NPK - Nitrogen, Phosphate and Potassium that Angie mentions) in the water for the plants.

Hi Wahter:

The tropical plants and succulents I grow tends to favor my fish water for their growth. I do have somewhat soft water as you mentioned but I do not have to add any iron nor calcium. The iron is found in my soil when I do add in the fish water to the soil (the waste from fish and bloodworms for the fish has these iron and calcium minerals). Hard water is also ideal for certain types of plant species such as those that are found in the West (succulents) where they only use very little of the hard water but yet still they grow nice and slow.

When adding fertilizer to a plant, one must be careful not to add it in direct high-intense sunlight as it tends to (over) burn the roots of the plants and burn their leaves as well. Fish water is a very powerful fertilizer (whether or not you have soft or hard water, substrate or no substrate).

There is a guide from the all-natural remedy fella by the name of Jerry Baker. Much of his tricks of the trade is using all natural products to cure plant diseases. As my grandfather was an hobbiest of horticulture, I can safely rely on Jerry Baker's technique because it was used way back then and still is applicable at present. Here's his link:

http://www.jerrybaker.com/

Check it out. The book is called: Backyard Problem Solver. The book I want to refer is not listed on his website. This book
is the latest edition of remedying plant diseases and gardening issues.

Wahter: I can bet'cha now... Let's bet??? ;D **Angie** [AKA Discus Fanatic, Plant Lover, & more]

By the way, hard water is only measured by the salts (chloride/chlorine) found in it. That's the only distinguishing factor between soft and hard water, that's why the succulents out in the West prefers hard water (because of the salts it sucks up from the soil). ;)

[Wahter]

Hi Wahter:

The tropical plants and succulents I grow tends to favor my fish water for their growth. I do have somewhat soft water as you mentioned but I do not have to add any iron nor calcium. The iron is found in my soil when I do add in the fish water to the soil (the waste from fish and bloodworms for the fish has these iron and calcium minerals). Hard water is also ideal for certain types of plant species such as those that are found in the West (succulents) where they only use very little of the hard water but yet still they grow nice and slow.

When adding fertilizer to a plant, one must be careful not to add it in direct high-intense sunlight as it tends to (over) burn the roots of the plants and burn their leaves as well. Fish water is a very powerful fertilizer (whether or not you have soft or hard water, substrate or no substrate).

There is a guide from the all-natural remedy fella by the name of Jerry Baker. Much of his tricks of the trade is using all natural products to cure plant diseases. As my grandfather was an hobbiest of horticulture, I can safely rely on Jerry Baker's technique because it was used way back then and still is applicable at present. Here's his link:

http://www.jerrybaker.com/

Check it out. The book is called: Backyard Problem Solver. The book I want to refer is not listed on his website. This book
is the latest edition of remedying plant diseases and gardening issues.

Wahter: I can bet'cha now... Let's bet??? ;D **Angie** [AKA Discus Fanatic, Plant Lover, & more]

By the way, hard water is only measured by the salts (chloride/chlorine) found in it. That's the only distinguishing factor between soft and hard water, that's why the succulents out in the West prefers hard water (because of the salts it sucks up from the soil). ;)


Angie, if you want to get into a debate about keeping aquatic plants, I'll be more than happy to entertain you. I believe this forum is mostly about keeping plants in an aquarium.

I am well aware that there are good number of commercial fertilizers sold for terrestrial plants which contain fish feces, but I am under the assumption that Chi's original question said:

"I got a question regarding the use of fertilizers for our discus tank. I was wondering if there are some sort of plant fertilizer you can buy from Home Depo or Canadian Tire or some sort of hardware store that is safe to use for our discus tank?"

BTW, the hard water I'm referring to is what's usually referred to as general hardness (GH) as defined by:

"dissolved calcium and magnesium" as posted here:

http://www.thekrib.com/Plants/CO2/khgh.html

It's my understanding in the aquarium world that typically, that's what people refer to as hard or soft water. Not referring to things like replacing one ion with another (which as you know, is how a home water softener works).

My point? I just want to make sure accurate and correct information is posted on this board in the context of keeping aquarium plants and discus. Just look at the Beginner's Section and see how much "fear, confusion, and doubt" is on there. And if you want to talk about how aquarium plants from softwater do in hardwater and vice versa, Diana Waldstad's results from her experiments might be published in her book, "Ecology of the Planted Aquarium":

http://www.atlasbooks.com/marktplc/00388.htm
(I've seen the results of her experiments in two presentations)

This is also why my earlier post asked which type of plants Chi wanted to fertilize.

As for that bet, maybe I am wrong, but last I knew, most people on this forum do some mighty big water changes to keep the fish waste to a minimum in the aquarium (hence minimizing the effects of fish waste)?

Angie, if you want to get into a debate about keeping aquatic plants, I'll be more than happy to entertain you. I believe this forum is mostly about keeping plants in an aquarium.

Hi Wahter: No debate. :( Only agreeing that it does not take much to keep a plant happy and healthy and using the fish water will do this. Calcium additives are found in Peat Moss or Peat Granules or Peat (???) whatever.. When I had aquatic plants, before I went BB, they were happy but my discus (Wilds) were devouring them! I am fully aware of the different ferts available for both garden and aquatic plants. ;) **Angie** ;)

[Biotypical]

Ok guys, let's stay on topic here, keep it easy.

Yes, there are commercial fertilizers you can use for an aquarium, but it's not recommended as they're usually too concentrate and are easily overdosed.

Jobe's Lush Fern and Palm sticks are good for substrate amendment, as is Osmocote. Superphosphate, a Calcium and Phosphate compound can be used, if done carefully. One should ALWAYS carefully check the ingredients of commercial fertilizers before using them in an aquarium. Most of the time they consist of chemicals which are too harsh for aquarium use.

Best,
Phil

[Jason]

yep Chi can do all of the above,


or he could just ask the guy he does the webmasterin' for ;)