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Dupla tablets and African fish
Roxanne Bittman wrote:
<snip>
>>This brings up a thought: I am personally not than impressed with the
Dupla
>>fertilizers. First of all, the dosage needed seems radically different
>from the
>>published information on their product. (I might add that I am using them
>in
>>high light, high CO2 tanks with fast growing plants, so uptake is not an
>issue).
>>Secondly, the tablets provide quite a bit of iron, which doesn't dissipate
>for
>>many days; the drops are very concentrated, and at the rate I am using
>them I
>>will never run out. I guess this could be thought of as a good thing.
>However,
>>sometimes my plants show signs of iron deficiency, but when I add a Dupla
>drop,
>>algae develops.
Are you sure you do not have a magnesium deficiency? Dupla drops and
tablets do not provide magnesium, this is supplemented (in the Dupla
system) with Duplagan. If you want to supplement it without buying another
Dupla product, epsom salts works fine too.
While I find that Tropica Mastergrow works best for me, I have used the
Dupla Products in the past and been pretty satisfied with them. If I
couldn't get Mastergrow, I'd go back to Dupla.
<snip>
>> I seem to remember a comment in one of the Aquatic Gardner journals by
Diana
>>Walstad to the effect that Dupla tanks probably have many SAEs in them!
>Point
>>taken and point definitely understood!
>>
>>Comments?
I like Diana, and she has written a lot of useful material. In this case,
however, she was _not_ speaking from experience. I can tell you from long
time experience that used correctly, there is no excess algae in a system
using Dupla products, with or without SAE's. I used Dupla products
successfully, and with very little "problem" algae for years before finding
that, with my local tap water, Mastergrow works a little better. (I also
like that you add it weekly instead of daily... I'm lazy<g>)
During most of the time I used Dupla products, I didn't have _any_ SAE's
because they simply weren't available. I had a troop of Otos (I still use
a lot of these guys... they're excellent for diatom control, work on other
algae too, and I just like to see them all scurrying around like busy
little mice) and the occasional "Pleco" of one sort or another, and no
problem algae.
It might be helpful, when we post saying that we're not happy with a
particular product, for us to try to describe the water we're using in the
tank as closely as possible. Of course substrate, lighting and CO2
supplementation play factors too, but you mentioned those, and those are
more easily controlled by the aquarist. I think, that when choosing a
commercial trace element product, (or group of products) that some work
better with certain types of water while others work better than others.
This kind of information may help another hobbyist make a better descision
on which products might work well for them.
-------------------------------------------------------
Subject: West African Fish
While this isn't directly related to plants, those of you in the N.E. area
who are interested in biotope or geographic aquariums might be be
interested to know that Uncle Ned's in Millis just got in a fantastic
shipment of West African fish. If you want a chance to buy many fish that
you've only seen in photos, and others you haven't even heard of, you might
want to stop by. Just as a taste, he's got a couple of different
attractive species of Ctenopoma, Debauwi cats, some mini Synos, (I can't
remember the species) and irresistable 3" baby Ornate Bichirs.
Karen Randall
Aquatic Gardeners Association