DIY Root Tabs

[Characins]

How do you make them?

Anyone got a link or something?

Thanks in advance!

[danakin]

Jobes sticks, cut in to quarters planted deep in the substrate.

[lizziotti]

Originally Posted by danakin

Jobes sticks, cut in to quarters planted deep in the substrate.

I was wondering the samething. Sorry to chime in but how often do these need replacing?

[fishdweeb]

This works? and is safe for planted tanks?

[Characins]

Off topic? LOL.

Yes, jobes do work but they are probably the worse quality root tabs out there. They have to be planted deep in the substrate, if any leaks through into the water column you will get algae.

I'd like to try my hand at DIY just for the fun of it, if not because it is superior or cheaper (probably isn't) but just for fun.

Anyone?

[danakin]

Originally Posted by Characins

Yes, jobes do work but they are probably the worse quality root tabs out there. They have to be planted deep in the substrate, if any leaks through into the water column you will get algae.

Yup. I used them once; great results until a FW clam dug them up. Tons of algae. Since then, just using storebought; no hassle there.

[Regloh]

Well,
I have a link to an Austrian website, but it naturally is all in German. Basically what this guy writes is that you take modeling clay, form small spheres with a small hole in them (He says to push the end of hex key into the wet clay). When they are dry you can drip your standard liquid fertilizers into the little hole and the clay will suck them up.

In case anyone is interested, and proficient in German, here is the web-site.

EDIT: Oh, I forgot, after applying the liquid fertilizer the hole is closed with some more clay...

[plantbrain]

They have used clay long before.........see www.thekrib.com

Gobs of stuff going back to the mid 1990's.

The simplest and cheapest DIY version is just add mud to ice cue trays, place in freeze, add frozen mud cubes to the sediment deep. They melt, your soil is now in place.

Good clay soil is the best, with about 5-10% organic matter and some sand.
Most of the lowland/wetland sediment in CA is this type.

Osmocoat also is used and easy to add, slow release(better than Jobes and the other ideas).

Cheap too. Add nutrients.

Not sure why so many have lost the interest in DIY sediments. They are easy and cheap, can take some labor, but work well and have a long history. Osmocoat is about the safest method I know of since it's slow time release and the temps are stable in our tanks.

Regards,
Tom Barr