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Serious fertilizers



Rachel Sandage wrote:

> Most of the seachem products proudly state "no nitrate or 
> phosphate", but in my tank I have to add them every few days. 
 
I find managing macronutrients is where I try to build the skill, as
hitting it just wrong can cause algae outbreaks.  Additionally, the
proportion of the nutrients changes depending on the kind of plants that
I keep, and all kinds of variable.  For me it's important that I watch
the maconutrients separately from one another.  Micronutrients are
easier: I just dump in some TMG or Seachem Trace every other day and
never give it another thought.  I may be wrong, but I don't believe an
excess of micronutrients has ever given me any trouble.
 
> Not to mention getting the K2SO4 to dissolve on water change days.

I just drop old stump remover into my sump without bothering to dissolve
it.  Seems to work as advertised.

> Similarly, I would like to be able to raise KH and GH without having 
> to go back to Chem 101. How about a product which raises both by the 
> same amount, using plant-friendly chemicals?
 
For what it's worth, last year Seachem redesigned their Equilibrium
product.  the new version, now at least a year old, doesn't harden ito
rock while sitting on my shelf.  Additionally, the Ca:Mg ration has been
reversed from 1:2.5 to something like 2.5:1, which is just the right
proportion, and is a great GH builder.  I use bicarb for KH, and find
that I need to adjust them separately from time to time to hit my
target.  There are supplements that will raise both GH ad KH, such as
Aragonite.  Rather than bothering to try to dissolve CaCO3 I just leave
it in my sum in a nylon bag for awhile, removing it after the target has
been reached.

YMMV - standard disclaimer, yada yada yada...
Michael Rubin in foggy (not really a big surprise) San Francisco
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