Aquavitro put to the test

The friendliest place on the web for anyone with an interest in aquariums or fish keeping!
If you have answers, please help by responding to the unanswered posts.

Malawi Freak

Aquarium Advice Addict
Joined
Nov 6, 2011
Messages
1,237
Location
Vernon, NJ
So I've recently decided to test this product line out. While I know it's probably just a waste of money there have been so many people talking about it but never any results. So here we go, let's finally get some results documented. Follow along and if you have any experience with these products please chime in, however lets try to keep biased opinions out of this. Pictures will be uploaded at least once a week.

Tank:
125 gallon with Malawi cichlids
Oddysea 72" t5ho with 4 10000k bulbs
Lights are on from noon to 8pm.
70-80% water change every Sunday
Pool filter sand with crushed coral substrate

Test subjects are amazon swords, about 15 plants are growing from runners off the original.


Product line:
Synthesis
Activate (this one will be watched carefully because as stated above this is an African cichlid tank and if my ph starts to swing I will stop dosing with this)
Propel
Envy

I have always used flourish root tabs and they will continue throughout this test since I only have sand.


Dosing schedule:

Sunday -
14 mL propel
21 mL envy
3.5 mL synthesis
3.5 mL activate

Monday -
No dosing

Tuesday -
14 mL propel
21 mL envy

Wednesday -
3.5 mL synthesis
3.5 mL activate

Thursday -
14 mL propel
21 mL envy

Friday -
No dosing

Saturday -
No dosing


Once again as stated above this is an African cichlid tank so I have no intentions of ever using co2 injections.
 
Before comparing these pictures side by side I honestly thought there hasnt been any growth but you can clearly see there has been. I dont know yet though if these ferts are doing anything. In the past week no new runners have formed, couple leaves are looking a little questionable to me with some brown coloration. Normally I would pull off any bad leaves but for this next few months with these fertilizers I will be letting them go a little bit longer to monitor how the ferts are actually doing.
 
At the same time of beginning this test I also have been using this on my shrimp tank to see if it helps my ludwiga repens keep a nice red color. The red has come back nicely however since started I've found 3 dead shrimp. I will be emailing seachem to see if there is any copper in these.
 
I honestly think these ferts aren't all they are cracked up to be but when I looked into them so many people would say they were going to experiment with it but never posted results.
 
Interesting - I am curious to see if the claims made by SeaChem are true in that you can achieve better results with their product than just using a KNO3 mix for N dosing and CSM+B for trace dosing.
 
We will see. Something I noticed today, my timer has been the same schedule for years and there have been plants in my tank for well over a year. Today I noticed some BBA growing. Light schedule has been reduced by an hour.
 
Hey Freak, lol... How do your guys deal with the green? My crew tore every last one up!!

Hope ya have better luck then I did.
 
They have never really bothered the amazon swords and java fern. They did rip up italian & corkscrew vallisneria and anubias of any type. I only removed the java fern cause it wouldn't turn green in my tank, just stayed a gross blackish color. I think that was because of the high ph though. These swords are the only plant I've been able to get to thrive with them though.

This sword was first planted roughly a year ago.
 
Sorry everyone for the lack of updates, took some pictures last Sunday for the day 14 updates:
 

Attachments

  • image-1615758782.jpg
    image-1615758782.jpg
    66.4 KB · Views: 40
  • image-1930201106.jpg
    image-1930201106.jpg
    54.7 KB · Views: 44
Here's some pics from today. Day #20.
 

Attachments

  • image-1753005422.jpg
    image-1753005422.jpg
    58.6 KB · Views: 41
  • image-3030043868.jpg
    image-3030043868.jpg
    59.9 KB · Views: 45
  • image-3245936948.jpg
    image-3245936948.jpg
    65.1 KB · Views: 40
I've been happy with how all the leaves are growing in, haven't seen signs of nutrient deficiency but I don't think it's anything better than excel. It's been 3 weeks and ill be surprised if the bottle of envy makes it past a month.
 
Last edited:
Thanks. I've been pretty surprised with how healthy the plants have looked. However I DO NOT like how cloudy it leaves the tank. I took this picture Wednesday early evening and I dose around 6am.
 

Attachments

  • image-103236946.jpg
    image-103236946.jpg
    55.4 KB · Views: 45
Back
Top Bottom