[pickled78]

Hi,

I have seachem flourish root tabs, and excel which i mistook for a water coloum fert, I cant afford another fertaliser bottle at the moment, I have heard tho that the seachem root tabs have the same nutrients as the seachem flourish comprehensive liquid fert'......so.......

Can i shave a root tab into powder (already done), dissolve it in a cup of tank water then add the root tab diy liquid fert to the water coloum to feed the plant leafs???? (i have tabs in the substrate where 'Echinodorus (Rose)' is planted) but my Java fern (Microsorium pteropus green) and java fern coconut bridge (Microsorium Windelov) have free floating roots so the tabs not much effective for them under the substrate.

I know the root tabs should be replaced every 1 -3 months so they are obviously slow released, would adding a root tab liquidised in one go be too much for the plant leafs??

Any help appreciated

Thanks in advance

Ronnie

 

[brandon429]

Sure you can, its not toxic.

if they did any special slow release prep for the phosphates being in a compressed form, that may algae bloom your tank if you unpack and dissolve all that. it cannot harm your stuff, only algae bloom ya. your plants will like it, so will the algae.

 

[Lonestarbandit]

Quick hijack.....

Are seachem root tabs shrimp/invert safe?

 

[WestHaven]

Yes.

What I want to know now is if liquid houseplant fertilizer is safe to use.

 

[pickled78]

Thanks brandon429, much appreciated,

lol WestHaven great question, would be a gooden if liquid houseplant fertilizer could be used..lets hope someone knowsroud:

 

[Darkblade48]

Yes.

What I want to know now is if liquid houseplant fertilizer is safe to use.

In general, no.

Most houseplant fertilizers contain urea as a source of nitrogen. Urea breaks down into ammonia, and we generally do not add ammonia into the aquarium as it is harmful to fish.

Some people have experimented with adding ammonia to planted only aquariums with some success. The major issue is that higher ammonia levels tends to favor some types of algae.

 

[Zorfox]

Just for fun I did the calculations on Seachem Root tabs.

To create a solution equal to the same amount of iron that is in Flourish Comprehensive you would need to add 36.134 gm of root tabs to 250ml. As far as I know each tablet is 3 grams so basically 12 tablets in 250ml of water. Will it dissolve? I have no idea.

Below is a side by side comparison of the root tab solution (assuming it dissolves) and comprehensive.

[B]Element		Comprehensive	Root tabs[/B]
B		0.002		0.009
Ca		0.031		0.474
Cl		0.253		0.018
Co		0		0
Cu		0		0
Fe		0.07		0.07
K		0.068		0.004		
K2O		0.081		0.005
Mg		0.024		0.002
Mn		0.003		0.007
Mo		0.000		0
N		0.015		0.009
Na		0.029		0.004
NO3		0.068		0.039		
P		0.001		0.002		
P2O5		0.002		0.005
PO4		0.003		0.0065		
S		0.061		0.388
Zn		0.000		0

 

[happi]

In general, no.

Most houseplant fertilizers contain urea as a source of nitrogen. Urea breaks down into ammonia, and we generally do not add ammonia into the aquarium as it is harmful to fish.

Some people have experimented with adding ammonia to planted only aquariums with some success. The major issue is that higher ammonia levels tends to favor some types of algae.

this statement is only true if the water is hard and have high PH 7.0+ and Ammonium pose no threat in acidic and low ph.

 

[Darkblade48]

Yes.

What I want to know now is if liquid houseplant fertilizer is safe to use.

this statement is only true if the water is hard and have high PH 7.0+ and Ammonium pose no threat in acidic and low ph.

True. At lower pH, ammonia becomes protonated.

However, it is still a risk I wouldn't really want to deal with

 

[WestHaven]

In my case then, I can't use the household plant fertilizer. My ph is 7.5+.