"Chris Hogg" wrote in message
...
On Mon, 24 Oct 2011 09:32:21 EDT, "john east"
wrote:

I want to put some water plants in my Acquarium in small pots with soil.
My
thinking is to put John Innes No3 in the pots and then cover it with
gravel
to stop the soil washing out.

Is the john innes in the pots likely to cause any problems for the fish?

All JI composts contain added fertilisers: nitrogen, phosphorus and
potassium. The nitrogen is probably in the form of ammonium sulphate,
or possibly potassium nitrate, which may well harm the fish and will
certainly encourage algae. Why not use pure gravel?
Chris

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Chris thanks. These plants came in small pots with just sponge around the
stem and held in place with with wire. No roots or growing medium was in the
pot.

The plants are just not happy and are going down hill, and since I dont have
any sand or soil in the acquarium at all, I felt that the roots needed
something 'more natural' to give them some nutrition.

Maybe I could use some JI no3 from an old plant pot in the garden, where I
guess a lot of the initial, N,Phos, and potassium may have been dissapated?
Perhaps a tiny bit in the pot wont harm anything? As far as i can see (being
a complete novice) its the only chance these plants will have?