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TetraPond-Nitrate/Potassium
>From Paul Rothel <prothel at bright_net>
>Subject Help in locating ingredients for PMDDs
>I have went to, or called every garden
>shop and flower shop in my area and cannot find potassium
>sulfate or potassium nitrate.
I went in search of potassium nitrate. I replanted my 29 gallon over
the Easter break, new substrate etc. My plants started growing again but
very very slowly. I use my Hygro as sort of the canary in my tank. If that
particular plant isn't growing substantially each day, something is wrong. I
have 60 watts of fluor light, 78 degree tank, 6.8 ph, 2-3 Kh. I supplement
with a DIY yeast reactor and use the Kent freshwater plant food. Despite all
of that - topsoil, vermiculite, finer gravel, my plants were going nowhere.
Then I read the article about the need for potassium and nitrate in the
tank. The Kent does have potassium in it but no nitrate. I tested my tank
for nitrate and phosphate and both are undetectable with the kits I have.
So... perhaps I needed to get nitrate into my tank without the phosphate. I
live in a small town and there isn't a giant chemical or hydroponic plant
supply house close by. While I was in a pet and garden store, I started
reading the labels on some of the Tetra pond products. I bought a 500 ml
bottle of TetraPond. The 'guaranteed analysis' says its is .55% Nitrate and
6.60% soluble potash-no phosphoric acid. The recommended dosage for a pond
was 165 ml. per 830 gallons. I added about 2-3 mls of this to my tank.
Within hours the hygro picked up and it has been growing about a third of
its size each day. The leaves look large and healthy again. My other plants
are doing much better as well - lots of oxygen bubbles throughout the day.
I've had some algae on the glass but no hair, thread or dot algae on the
plant leaves. If you want to experiment with this be sure to get only the
TetraPond as some of their other pond products are high in phosphate.