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Re: Fertalizers




>Date: Sun, 21 Mar 1999 04:19:48 EST
>From: IDMiamiBob at aol_com


>May I inquire about the name of this product?  I haven't found anything I
like
>with Cu in it.


The name of it is "Green Light" and I found it at Lowes.

>From: "James Purchase" <jpurch at interlog_com>


>No need to list the contents again - this stuff is designed for evergreens
>and azaleas, and other "acid loving" plants. It was NOT designed for
>aquariums.
Yeah well "Stump Remover" was never ment for aquariums either, but it is
regularly recomended by many people on this list.  In other words, what is
your point with this statement?  It never answered my original question of
the "safeness" of the product.

>Way too much Copper, for one thing...

Okay, this is more like it...  WHAT IS a safe level of copper for plants and
fish?  (I honestly don't know what is concidered safe.)

>>(It is labled as a "soil acidifier" BTW.)
>
>What would make you think that you need a "soil acidifier" in your
>aquarium's substrate?


I never said that I thought my tank needed a "soil acidifer"... I was
looking at the product for its other properties; the "acidifier" effect, I
assume, comes from the sulfate with which all the metals are complexed.  And
I figured that I could easily over come the acidifying effects w/ some
simple buffer (ie: lime or baking soda).

No one has yet to say if there is anything "poisonous" or other wise harmful
in this product other than the copper.

>>The other product is a solid fertalizer that would be placed in the
>>substrate, near the roots.  It reads as follows:
>
>>Total Nitrogen (N)......30.0%
>
>Oh my God! My guess is that if I was growing alfalfa, this stuff might be
>great, but an aquarium fertilizer should not have 30% Nitrogen. You do have
>fish in your tank, don't you?


I was under the impression that it wasn't the percentage of each componet
that was important but rather the ratio of the three (N-P-K)...  A
fertalizer can have 100% Nitrogen, but if I only add a small amount then the
relative concentration in the aquarium will be low.  If I am wrong then some
one please correct me.


>Your aquarium is NOT a vegetable garden, nor is it a perennial border.
>Products designed for  aquariums are NOT outrageously priced all of the
time


I would disagree with that statement... I mean an 8oz bottle of "aquarium"
fertalizer for ~$10 vs a 16oz bottle of "terestrial" fertalizer for ~$2.
For some of us on VERY TIGHT budgets, aquarium fertalizer IS too expensive
and we try to find cheaper alternatives.  (ex of my tight budget: over the
past year I have spent less than twenty dollars on plants, and I have
replanted cuttings left and right until I now have a 29gal, a 20gal, and two
10gal tanks which are overflowing with plants...all of which came from those
original few purchases.)

>and they will work better in aquatic environments than those designed for
>use on land.

maybe, but many of the ingredents are the same...


Sorry, but I had been antiously awaiting the next APD so that I could find
out if this fertilizer was safe for my aquariums, and then when I finaly got
the digest, I get this responce which said that the fertilizers were bad
just because the were not made specificaly for the aquarium... if there is
something that makes them unsafe, then by all means point it out before I
use them and kill my fish, but please be specific; this is just as much a
learning experience as it is a hobby.

JMHO, Daniel