wrote in message
ups.com...
OK... I have 55g tanks and 10g tanks,... all planted. I would love the
information and where I can get cheap fertilizers without the high cost
of
shipping and handling ($18 per order). Potassium nitrate is not
available
in my area.
Have you tried Home Depiot , Lowes, Canadian Tire etc?
They sell stump remover.
I live in the USA and none of these places carry it. I never heard of
Canadian Tire. I even tried a health food store. They didn't have it
either. Most places carry fertilizers as mixes such as 5-10-5 or 10-10-10
etc or organic products such as bone mean or blood meal. In my outdoor
gardens I use some woodash from the fire place and regular garden mixes
above. I only found one place called Martin's, run by Mennonites that sold
Potash, Nitrates and Phos' separately.
You may want to get some ferts locally if you refuse to pay a shipping
charge, gas and running around will cost a fair amount also.
I looked for them locally. All I found was Muriate of Potash and those
mentioned above.
1lb or KNO3 and 1 lb of KH2PO4 and maybe some CMS+B(the trace element
dry mix which is enough to make several gallons of trace mix for 1
pound) might make that shiiping charge seem for cheap.
It would be $30 for all the stuff on the Gregwatson page but I didn't see
any micronutrients there. I would then have to get someone to figure out the
mixtures per tank according to gallonage and fish load etc. Since there is
no guarantee these products will work any better than the expensive Seachem
products, I hesitate to purchase them.
For 25$ or so with the shipping, you can fertilize the tank for several
years and have much better growth, thus you can send and sell the
plants easy and make up that few $ in shipping charge.
But what makes you believe these products will work better than the Seachem
products? No store will take plants with black-red algae even for free. My
pond plants are raised at pot-top water level so have no algae problems. Do
you mean adding extra NPK will kill off the algae like the Exel was supposed
to do? And if I add these other products then there will be a CO2 shortage
and I fear I'll be told to buy even more products to add that to the
water....... where does it end?
You obviously have enough $$$ to have hobbies like aquariums and plants
etc, so do not give me the poor me routine.
Yes, and I already spend a lot more on this hobby than I should.
That's your own barrier you place on yourself there.
You have luxury items like pets, 18$ can be had by selling plants,
other things laying around if a fixed income is really the issue.
I'll see of there's a market here for aquarium plants. The chains will not
even take them for free.
If I want something, I go get it.
As do I. I got the other products I was told to purchase and they didn't
work, so why would I believe these other products will work? Especially
without added CO2 gas forced into the tanks. If they don't work and get rid
of the red-black algae then what? More money down the drain and I'll be
told I did something "wrong" again. Then more products will be suggested?
I spend well over $120 on plants, the extra lighting for the tanks, the
Excel, iron and other "nutrients" and the new plants happily faded away.
Meanwhile the old plants kept right on trucking.
But you certainly do not "need" an aquarium......nor do I...........
You can check locally, but the shipping barrier is of your own creation
and getting the ferts which are dirt cheap and last a long time will
provide the means to grow the plants much better, you just do not think
that is true is all and not worth your time/$.
See above. The other products that were recommended did almost nothing
after the initial "boost" to the plants. What makes you think these other
products will work?
Try and get the ferts of a commericial brand cheaper, you cannot do
it.They might cost less initially but after one round of dosing, there
goes the cost and you have to pay tax, extra for a pretty label and you
get 500X less ferts.
That's fine, but it's not because they are $$ on shipping.
18$ can be had many ways if the cost is an issue.
Ebay or Craig's list something.
If I *KNEW* they would work I would order them. First I have no added CO2
which will be the next thing someone suggests is needed when adding all
these GredWatson "foods" to the tanks.... right? How can the plants
utilize the extra food without added CO2? Apparently Excel does nothing but
slow the growth of algae - from what I have seen in my tanks.
We got brains, so putting them use to pay for something you want is not
too hard.
Our local plant club suspended memebership dues 2 years ago.
We generate all of our funds via plant sales to other clubs, local
folks, ebay, CL's, local fish societies that often do not have many
plants but pay well for them......
So membership is not an issue for new folks.
There is nothing like that were I live. We have a pond club but they don't
bother with aquarium plants.
You might want to piggy back on someone else local to share on the
shipping also......
You have many options and ways to get around the $ issue.
But that's up to you..........
See above. Since the Seachem products did nothing for the new plants (why
were they even recommended?), and only a little for the old ones, I hesitate
to spend even more on products that will also fail to keep new and different
plants alive. The other expense would be to discard all the plants I have
and sterilize all the tanks to get rid of the black-red algae first. Then
start all over again with all new plants free of this RB algae plague - if
that's even possible. Then order all the "foods" from Greg and see what
happens...... if they fail as did the Seachem products I'll be told to
order a CO2 infuser so the plants can utilize all these foods. Or someone
will claim the four 40w tubes are all wrong and to purchase xxxxx brand
tubes. All I wanted was some new plants for a change and to get rid of the
RB algae, not get involved into an expensive major project with no guarantee
or certainty of succeeding.
I can't help notice you didn't mention lighting or CO2 injection when
recommending I use all these GregWatson additives/fertilizers.
--
KL....
Frugal ponding since 1995.
Aquariums since 1952.
My Pond & Aquarium Pages:
http://tinyurl.com/9do58
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