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Re: Dupla analysis



> Wow!   Thanks for the analysis.  I have a friend who works with such a 
> spectrometer at Dow.  Asked if he could sneak in such an analysis and he 
> said it would cost about $10,000. 

Gee, the Soil Tsting lab at Colo. State U. charges $15 for each test... 
I don't think your friend really wants to do it :-)

> My question is has anybody tried to replicate the Dupla stuff and market 
> it at a more realistic price?  

There are all kinds of commercial products that make the same claims
Dupla does.  Some people "swear" by them.  I think Dupla has taken the
approach of supplying an entire system to the plant&fish tank owner.
"Do it our way and be successful".  Others, like Tetra, do little odds
and ends that may work for some folks due to fortunate pre-existing
conditions.  

> Why is the stuff so expensive?  

I think they do lot's of R&D and need to fund their efforts.  I'm sure
the chemicals and packaging involved are mouse-nuts.  Buying larger
quantities of the stuff brings the price/dose down to the point where I 
don't have an incentive to do any DIY work.  And I wouldn't want to
make any of our four tanks guinea pigs.  

> Of course, some of the make-up of Dupla could be to work with co2 and
> might not be as good as Tetra in a low tech tank.  Any thoughts?

I doubt it.  I think it's just a more complete, better balanced and
well-thought out formula.  I have to think they are right in using
"daily drops".  Iron oxidizes in water; if you added enough to last
two weeks, you would have wildly varying levels over that period.  I
tried Sera <something> that you added once every two weeks.  Right
after dosing, the iron level was 5 mg/l.  A nice way to make algae
happy.

There is something called "Hoagland's Solution" used by plant
researchers that supplies the majority of the elements needed by
plants (including N & P).  It's been around for a long time and is
cheap and easy to make.  I think Paul Krombholz (just joined the plant
mailing list) knows what it is.

Regards, 

 George