"Richard Sexton" wrote in message
...
Look for "stump remover". Read the label (or google the brand name).
KNOW (Potassium nitrate, saltpeter) used to be very very common and
on every drugstore shelf as it has human and animnal medicinal uses
but in a post 911 world this major component of gunpowder is now in
the "you may sign for it" category. Any drug store CAN get it for you
but it's stupid expensive.
I'll look for the stump-remover. I believe I saw that at one of the stores.
I looked for them locally. All I found was Muriate of Potash and those
mentioned above.
Muriate of potash is Potassium chloride which is seldom used in
terrestrial
gardening and when it is, carefully, and is never used in aquatic
gardening.
It's essentially, salt.
And yet it works so well in my ponds and plant prop' tanks. I don't add
regular salt to my ponds.
Salt is Sodium chloride and Potasium chloride is essentially the exact
same thing with potassium replacing sodium. It's sometimes used as a salt
substitute for people on low sodium diets.
Understood. :-)
In an aquarium you'd be driving the potassium too high and the deleterious
effects of that are pretty well understood and the chloride ions will
do plants no good.
What would be the signs of too much potassium in an aquarium? After all I
can add too much stump-remover as well (PN).
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.
I understand the mindset of "oh god I've added all these chamicals and had
no or bad results why should I ad more". BDTD.
That's exactly how I feel - yes.
But, ask people what has worked. You'll find a distinct lack of Potassium
chloride and a common element in succesfull aquatic gardens is the use of
potassium nitrate. This is about 10-15 years old now in constant and daily
use and you'd be hard pressed to find it's use earlier than that.
OK,... but as I recall I was told there was too much nitrate and phosphorus
in my tanks last winter, and that was the cause of the RB algae. I was told
to do major water changes and really clean the gravel, which I did. Why do
this and then add more nitrate and phosphate from GregWatson? Can you see
what's so confusing here?
But what makes you believe these products will work better than the
Seachem
products?
Experience. Lots of it. By many people over a large number of years. The
seachem
products work fine when properly used. Adding potassium chloride instead
of
potassium nitrate is probably going to screw everthing up though, although
it's
not a mistake I've heard of anybody making so far, so thanks for the data
point.
PROBABLY? We can't know that since it works great in my outside tubs and
ponds. Are you saying the all the potassium in the Seachem products somehow
fought-it-out with the Muriate of Potash and the plants were all deprived of
this mineral? How can one suppress the other? I added very little MofP.
I'll see of there's a market here for aquarium plants. The chains will
not
even take them for free.
Typical. Try selling to hobbyists.
What hobbyists? I live in a rural area far from any cities. I don't even
know any hobbyist here. The last one moved 5 years ago giving me her pond
and aquarium fish.
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?
Asked and answered.
So you're claiming I was supposed to add more NITRATE using PNitrate after
being told there was TOO MUCH nitrate and to do all those massive water
changes and gravel vacuuming to REMOVE the nitrate. That the sodium Potash
doesn't work in aquariums - although it works in outdoor tubs and
ponds........
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
I don't use CO2 on purpose. I know it'll work I've seen the (spectacular)
results and know I can get MUCH better plant grown (especially crypts) if
I use it, but being a luddite at heart I want to see how good I can get
without.
So tell me EXACTLY what and how much you are adding or would add to 55g
tanks that contain 6 half grown goldfish, 2 tens with 2 small goldfish each
and a 10g with about 15 platys. All contain a few otos and the 55s contain
otos and 2 plecs each. If I don't do EXACTLY what you do and it fails I
don't want to hear I did something wrong, I added the wrong stuff, I added
the wrong amount, I didn't do any tests for too much of this or that, or
didn't do enough massive water changes to remove all the phos' and nitrate
etc, etc......... I'm not a chemist so how much would you add of each
product? How many gallons of water would you change per week? How much
gravel vacuuming do you do each week?
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.
Not a good indicator given their chemical composition. Do you think the
poeple that have near-universally reported that it does do a nasty number
on alage are lying? As far as I can tell one other guy said it didn't
work for him but everybody else noted the was death on algae.
Why would I lie? Why would he lie? Did all those people it worked for have
our water conditions and fish load? How can we know that? I went and
bought 1g of the stuff plus all the other things recommended here. Add S&H
and it wasn't cheap. And I expected the algae to turn white.... and I
waited, and I waited and I waited and finally went and bought the plecos and
otos.
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
Carol - you bought the wrong chemical. Try the right ones that people
have had wondefull success with.
I bought what I was told to buy. Why was the Seachem chemicals recommended
then? The one does contain Potassium.
You've been asking for 4 months how to solve this problem and many
people have told you how and you've done something different and
it didn't work.
I did what was recommend - see above. I bought what I was told to buy and I
bought them from Foster and Smith. No one said only GredWatson's products
worked - that the Seachem products shouldn't be used. I don't understand
this. Now I'm being told I should add a MORE nitrate (with the potash)
after being told NITRATE was part of the problem - that if I buy
GregWatsons's products including PONitrate the plants will flourish and the
RB algae will die........ where does all the Seachem "foods" come in then,
including the Excel?
Try doing what people have found works. Try following the answers you've
been asking for instead of making stuff up.
Making what stuff up? You mean I'm making up that I was told to do massive
water changes, that I was told to vacuum the gravel and stop feeding the
fish so much? That it was adding to the nitrate/phos load? I'm making
this all up about Excel supposedly turning RB algae white and making it fall
off the plants and glass? I made up that one of you told me that would
happen using Excel? What exactly am I making up here?
Barring that, try prayer.
Prayer? What should I pray for? Insulting me is not going to make me buy
your friends products when the other products recommend here didn't work.
--
Frugal ponding since 1995.
Aquariums since 1952.
My Pond & Aquarium Pages:
http://tinyurl.com/9do58
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