dawntwister

Anybody use oil dry from automotive dept?

dawntwister

I agree with that. After reading at another forum that a lot of people use just Red Bag kitty litter and top it with sand I tried. I mixed it in dirt and topped it with play sand. Now every time I move plants a few fish die. Now only move plants that aren't in the substrate. Plans are to dig out some of the dirt and put more dirt on top of it. Then top it with River Sand.

tenakoon

awesome thoughts people this is really goin to help with my aquarium.

fishman9809

ADA AquaSoil is one of the best substrates in the world for planted tanks:

Read the descriptions at the website:

adgshop.com

click on substrate system and aquasoil, you can choose Amazonia I or II, Africana, or MAlaya.

dawntwister

Other good substrates are onyx gravel, eco complete, soilmaster, laterite.

Laterite can be mixed in with any gravel, so I have read.

From Zapans have gathered that these are the nutrients pants need in the order of importance.
1 Carbon
2 Nitrogen
3 Phosphate
4 Potassium
5 Iron
6 Calcium
7 Magnesium
8 Copper
9 Boron
10 Molybdenum
11 Sulfer
13 Zinc

Found vege. fert, dynamite, at hardware store which has nitrate phosphte
potasium iron and a few others nutrients.

hoppycalif

The list above has phosphorous and potassium reversed. Although phosphorous may be more important than potassium, the plants need more potassium than phosphorous. Beware of vegetable fertilizers! Most use urea for a large percentage of the nitrogen. Urea has to be dosed very carefully compared to potassium nitrate.

dawntwister

On a web site writen by rs79 osmocote ferts are used to make fert balls. That is where I got the idea of using vegetable ferts. Dynamite is similar to osmocote fert but comes in a smaller bottle, thus I bought it.

hoppycalif

If you can be reasonably sure any substrate fertilizers won't be dug up and released into the water, you can safely use urea containing fertilizer in fert balls. I used to use ordinary plant stick, cut into smaller pieces, for a substrate fertilizer. But, one day I pulled out a couple of sword plants and got a couple of them on top of the substrate. Green water followed. Months later I did it again, again with green water following. I didn't know any better at that time.

dawntwister

Yey, I looked at the ingredients of the dynamite veg fert and it had for nitrogen
50% nitrate nitrogin and 50% ammniacal nitrogen. Bought it when I didn't have my glasses with me.

I think I will be okay with it in my 29 gallon tank. For just put a handfull of pebbles in the dirt. Also my swords will planted in pots. All but one of my fish are hardy fish, which are used for starting a tank.

Got any suggestions for other cheap ferts?