ADA ferts vs....?

[EdTheEdge]

Originally Posted by captain_bu

Despite the supposed "ease of use" liquid ferts are really a waste of money.

I would agree to a certain extent. But I don't know where I could find the dry ingredients and mixture concentrations that Tropica uses. Until then I will gladly pay for shipping "water".

[bradac56]

I think the point was "ease of use" and not the money issue, some people get side tracked easily.

What I did was order pfertz.com's NPK+M set and when it ran out I mixed my dry ferts in the NPK bottles since they were snazzy and easy to use tho over time I started just buying the M bottle's for micro's as I wasn't impressed with CSM+B. So now my habit is to dry dose my big tanks (I monkey with the exact dosing allot), pre-mix dry ferts in pferts bottles for the small tanks and use there "M"icro product for everything.

- Brad

[chicago_animal]

I have my C02 already and what I need now is the ferts. I might do what Brad said and buy th pfertz or brighty series and then try dry when its all gone. If I don't like it I can just buy the refill bottles. Why do people say dry is better for the high light tanks?

[gmccreedy]

Nothing wrong with the Seachem line either. Their instructions are very easy to follow and I know quite a few people who use them religiously.

They all do the same thing at the end of the day, just a matter of convenience and money for some.

[Philosophos]

Originally Posted by EdTheEdge

I would agree to a certain extent. But I don't know where I could find the dry ingredients and mixture concentrations that Tropica uses. Until then I will gladly pay for shipping "water".

Element % By Weight
N 1.34
P 0.1
K 1.03
Mg 0.39
S 0.91
B 0.004
Cu 0.006
Fe 0.07
Mn 0.04
Mo 0.002
Zn 0.002
Density: 1040mg/L

There's something to get you started on the TPN+. TBH they're kind of lacking on the K+ (note it's listed as elemental N, not NO3). The rest is pretty much within bounds if you dose at 2.5ml/L weekly. How they stabilize the P is beyond me. Most of that can be achieved by some chemicals standard to the hobby, and if they aren't using them odds are some other major brand does. IMO with a little K2SO4 or Seachem K+ dosing on the side, this is the best product you could buy if you're going to pay for premixed.

The brighty series really is water. It's been analyzed over at thebarrreport.com, and it does cost at least 100-200x what you'd pay for dry. I honestly can't believe ADA even sells steps 1-3 without feeling a bit dirty.

-Philosophos

[captain_bu]

Originally Posted by chicago_animal

From what people have said on this thread I dont agree that they "don't contribute anything to helping your plants to grow".

I was referring to the plastic bottle and the water, not the fertilizer dissolved in the water. Of course liquid fertilizers are helpful but it doesn't change the fact that they are way more expensive.

[plantbrain]

Some like liquids for more metered tighter dosing or with smaller nano tanks where dosing 11/32nds of teaspoon starts to get a bit tougher.

Some folks will do a daily routine, just like feeding their fish daily, more consistently. Maybe they skip a day or two for the weekend etc.

No biggie.

Main thing is to stay consistent and take good general care of the aquarium.
Dosing is not that important relatively, particularly if you use ADA's AS (and PS if you want spend lots of NO3 instead of KNO3 dosing for a few weeks) added for the first few months/year.

Any sediment that adds NPK, etc, reduces the demand from the water column.

So you need to consider the total amount of nutrient sin both locations when looking at a method and what they suggest /add to the water column in that context, do not treat plain sand/Flourite etc as the same as you might for ADA AS or Worm castings etc.

Pretty bottles? 15$ each?
I suppose, then add your own mix there after.
A bit silly but it's not my $ either.

Some might try the same argument for sediments, say DIY soil vs AS, but I really do prefer a single sediment type, not layers or two part systems.

If you redo tanks and replant etc, uproot, want to move things around, add new hardscape items etc to reuse the same sediment you had etc, hard to do with 2 or more part mixes.

I like ADA alone for that reason, so that;'s a trade off I like.
Bottles? You can get a set of those that dispense 1mls most places, but a set of the Pertz seems fine and reasonable overall.

The larger the better.

Regards,
Tom Barr

[bradac56]

Most people like dry ferts for large tanks for the cost savings I know I do it just costs to much when your doing 15+ pumps for multiple big tanks.

- Brad