Is It Cheaper To Mix Your Own Fertiliser?

[Ben M]

hi, i was going to use tpn fertiliser for my 4ft tank but it says it is for tanks with a lot of fish but not many plants, and i have a lot of fish but want to add a lot of plants. is tpn the right fert or would mixing my own fert be better and cheaper? if so i don't have a clue where to start. help please. my lighting is 60 watts from two florescent tubes and the tank is 216 litres.

thanks

 

[Truck]

hi, i was going to use tpn fertiliser for my 4ft tank but it says it is for tanks with a lot of fish but not many plants, and i have a lot of fish but want to add a lot of plants. is tpn the right fert or would mixing my own fert be better and cheaper? if so i don't have a clue where to start. help please. my lighting is 60 watts from two florescent tubes and the tank is 216 litres.

thanks

yeah its a lot cheaper

 

[Ben M]

thanks, could you help me to work out how to do it exactly?

please

 

[Truck]

thanks, could you help me to work out how to do it exactly?

please

mix with water to make a 1/2 liter solution,
1 tablespoon chelated trace mix
1 tablespoon MgSO4+7H2O
2 tablespoons K2SO4
1 tablespoon KNO3

all of these powders are available from fluid sensor, also using DI water with a dash of hydrochloric acid will help too as it stops the chelated substances braking down.

MgSO4 stands for magnesium sulphate
K2SO4 stands for potassium sulphate
KNO3 stands for potassium nitrate

 

[baron von bubba]

its low light with no co2 (i guess) so you wont need lots of ferts.
so personally i'd stick with the off the shelf ferts!

however if you want to mix your own your tap water will dictate slightly what you actually need to add, (what is the gh?) along with your water change schedual. (how much, how often)
if you start adding lots of ferts you will need to do regular water changes which is possibly not the best thing in a non co2 tank.

if you have hard tap water then i doubt you need the MgSO4.

you may want to look at adding Potassium Phosphate (KH2P04) also
its basically traces and K you'll need with possibly small doses of N and P

 

[Nick16]

also, why statre the doeses? (i know its good for anewbie) but it greatly depends what plants you are growing.
for example Echinodorus species love ferts with high iron content (despite being largely root feeders) whereas HC likes its postasium
i mean its good to stick to trucks 'standard' dose so you dont get it wrong, but you can add more/ take away some to find the best recipe for you.

its trial and error, i found out that having more iron helps the pinker plants more. Like alternanthera and rotala Rotundefolia.

 

[baron von bubba]

i mean its good to stick to trucks 'standard' dose so you dont get it wrong, but you can add more/ take away some to find the best recipe for you.

and where is the phosphate in trucks "standard" dose? if you followed that you would get it wrong!

 

[Truck]

woops...missed the potassium phophate

 

[Ben M]

the water is hard, tank ph 7.4. i want to get some four leafed clover, vallis, limnophilia sessiflora, echinodorus, tiger lotus, ambulia conferta, crypts, java moss and fern, anubias and dwarf hair grass. the lighting is low and i don't add co2. about how much would it cost to mix my own?

how much, and how often do i dose?

and i'm still totally confused as to which 1 is best

thanks

 

[Nick16]

if i were you id buy an all in one off the shelf product. (TPN+) its all about leaning to grow the plants first rather than jumping in at the depe end and finding you can swim.
you should learn about lighting, filtration, fertilisers and co2 first. What causes algae and how to deal with it.
After you have mastered the basics then you should move on. I went to the EI method and found that i didnt like it so i went back to TPN+, so much simpler. i dosed about 3ml from the bottle into my 240L daily and it was done. Easy as that for me.

the amount you will dose varies massivley on the species of plants you have and the quatities of plants.
Plants like echinodorus will need very little water coloumn dosing as they are mainly root feeders. Anubias and java fern are the same, slow growing and dont need much ferts.
Your hairgrass will massivley struggle without co2 so i would give that a miss and you L.sessiliflora will become very brittle and you will be forever removing the annoying bits that will fall off. Stick with low light plants like swords, anbias, ferns. This way you can ensure growth even if you havent much of a clue what you are doing.
a good substrate is very very helpful for a newbie.

 

[Ben M]

thanks, so do you think that tpn+ is the best fert. i only have gravel for the base so should i add something to it? and where could i buy tpn+ cheapest? are all of the other plants i mentioned ok except from the hair grass and the l. sessiliflora? how much fert should i use?

sorry for all the questions

cheers

 

[Truck]

thanks, so do you think that tpn+ is the best fert. i only have gravel for the base so should i add something to it? and where could i buy tpn+ cheapest? are all of the other plants i mentioned ok except from the hair grass and the l. sessiliflora? how much fert should i use?

sorry for all the questions

cheers

fluid sensor online is the cheapest place at the moment.
you could put some TPN+ capsules in the substrate for plants like amazon swords...although im not a believer in heavy root feeders.
i would use the recommended dose on the bottle, but i was dosing 5ml a day in my rio 125 but the again 56 watts of T5 meant i more or less had to.

 

[Nick16]

if you want to get into growing plants there a few easy species to start out with:

vallis
echinodorus
java fern
anubias
crypts
bolbitis
mosses

tpn+ is a good off the shelf fert (make sure you get the TPN+, not the normal TPN) places like aquaessentials and the green machine sell it.

as truck mentioned, dont think lighting is everything, co2 and ferts are just as important (get a bottle of easylife easycarbo as well)
i get annoyed with the people i call the 2WPG club on here, believing that light makes plants grow forgetting the other parts to the traingle. It is a basic concept to grasp, Truck knows it, i know it, its something you learn when you start out. However somepeople through ignorance still believe in it, (low and behold their tanks are algae ridden)

 

[Truck]

i wish juwel left the old T8's in the rio range...as its perfectly ample...2 T8s's running the length of the tank will grow anything IME.

 

[Nick16]

yeah, dead right, upping the lighting just causes algae for those who dont understand, T5HO tubes are hugely more powerful than T8's and unless you are going to dose ferts and co2 you are asking for trouble.
but i guess it makes juwel tanks sell better as they have more powerful lights and people think ... "i can see my fishies more, and i can grow more plants"

wait until they go to their LFS to get a spare tube