How to properly dose liquid ferts.

[Mrs.h2012]

My order from drs foster and smith came in with it I got root tabs and the seachem plant pack NPK, includes nitrogen, phosphorus and potassium. The only plants I have are swords and crypts, which I know are heavy root feeders. I've been dosing API leaf zone with a syringe into my substrate, which is just plain play sand. Wouldn't dosing this into the water be useless is a sense since my plants are root feeders?

 

[brennae]

following- I'm curious too, I have similar situation

 

[Mrs.h2012]

following- I'm curious too, I have similar situation

I've found that with my crypts they grew a lot better with me injecting the ferts into the sand vs just dosing in the water. So far all my plants are various crypts and amazon sword.

 

[jcolon]

My order from drs foster and smith came in with it I got root tabs and the seachem plant pack NPK, includes nitrogen, phosphorus and potassium. The only plants I have are swords and crypts, which I know are heavy root feeders. I've been dosing API leaf zone with a syringe into my substrate, which is just plain play sand. Wouldn't dosing this into the water be useless is a sense since my plants are root feeders?

You would be correct. Liquid ferts don't do much for swords and crypts.
NOW, let me tell you a great alternative to over priced root tabs ......... Osmocote. Since I started to use it, my swords have exploded. Older leaves dying off as new growth takes their place. I've doubled the number of leaves my swords use to have, plus they're taller. Before, even with root tabs the plants did nothing, no dying of old leaves, no new growth or any growth.

I use the indoor outdoor formula. Get a dedicated ice tray, fill with TANK water, put 6 pellets in each cube and freeze. Then you embed the cube into the substrate next to the plants. Ice melts but the ice stays in the substrate.

 

[Kimlafeiet]

When the older leaf dies off, does it turn yellow and brown? I have only 1 leaf on my sword which is doing this, but there are a ton of new tiny leaves sprouting through the sand. Should I cut the browning leaf off?

 

[Mrs.h2012]

You would be correct. Liquid ferts don't do much for swords and crypts.
NOW, let me tell you a great alternative to over priced root tabs ......... Osmocote. Since I started to use it, my swords have exploded. Older leaves dying off as new growth takes their place. I've doubled the number of leaves my swords use to have, plus they're taller. Before, even with root tabs the plants did nothing, no dying of old leaves, no new growth or any growth.

I use the indoor outdoor formula. Get a dedicated ice tray, fill with TANK water, put 6 pellets in each cube and freeze. Then you embed the cube into the substrate next to the plants. Ice melts but the ice stays in the substrate.

That is genius! How often do you have to replace the cubes? I'm definitely gonna give this a try!

 

[jcolon]

When the older leaf dies off, does it turn yellow and brown? I have only 1 leaf on my sword which is doing this, but there are a ton of new tiny leaves sprouting through the sand. Should I cut the browning leaf off?

Yep, that's what I was doing, but lately I've got so many sword leaves going that that it hard to see the dying older leaves. I just let them wither away and they eventually break off. I then trim what's left behind. Still got new growth. I know it's not all due to the Osmocote, but I'm convinced it's helped.

 

[jcolon]

That is genius! How often do you have to replace the cubes? I'm definitely gonna give this a try!

Until the events of Sandy, once a month starting in May, though some sites say you could go two. Because of the craziness with the Hurricane, I completely forgot about my remaining cubes. Saw them in the ziplock freezer bag, and did a dose 2weeks ago. It's all good, they went 3 months from the last dose.... Probably why more leaves were starting to look gnarly.

At the rate I'm going, that bottle will last me years.

 

[Mrs.h2012]

Until the events of Sandy, once a month starting in May, though some sites say you could go two. Because of the craziness with the Hurricane, I completely forgot about my remaining cubes. Saw them in the ziplock freezer bag, and did a dose 2weeks ago. It's all good, they went 3 months from the last dose.... Probably why more leaves were starting to look gnarly.

At the rate I'm going, that bottle will last me years.

I just quickly looked on amazon and a bottle of it was a couple dollars more than what I paid for my seachem root tabs. Do you think maybe increasing the number of pellets per cube would make much difference? Like maybe do about 10 pellets per cube?

 

[jcolon]

I just quickly looked on amazon and a bottle of it was a couple dollars more than what I paid for my seachem root tabs. Do you think maybe increasing the number of pellets per cube would make much difference? Like maybe do about 10 pellets per cube?

For a few bucks more you get easily a year's worth of pellets as opposed to a 1-3 months for root tabs (depending on tank size etc)

May make some difference, but 6 is the most common number of pellets I've seen. 10 may be a bit much ... 7 is worth a try, but I've been satisfied with the job 6 pellets have done.

 

[Mrs.h2012]

For a few bucks more you get easily a year's worth of pellets as opposed to a 1-3 months for root tabs (depending on tank size etc)

May make some difference, but 6 is the most common number of pellets I've seen. 10 may be a bit much ... 7 is worth a try, but I've been satisfied with the job 6 pellets have done.

Ok I'll stick with 6 then. I may give 7 a try and see what it does. I'm totally sold on the idea! I'll use up my root tabs I bought already, but after than I'm gonna go this route. Thank you so much for this!

 

[calfishguy]

Thanks, I will defintetly be trying this once I run out of rout tabs as well. How may do you pet per square inch?

 

[jcolon]

Hope you all have good results!

Figure a cube of 6 pellets covers an area of at least 3inches, may even be 6 inch radius from where it gets embedded. It spreads out pretty good. I really just plug under my swords and a few more along my crypts.

BTW, I read about Osmocote on a few other forums and then asked on here. A few who I consider to be very experienced / knowledgable members gave it a thumbs up so it's not something I made up.

No harm to any fish or inverts.

 

[Mrs.h2012]

Hope you all have good results!

Figure a cube of 6 pellets covers an area of at least 3inches, may even be 6 inch radius from where it gets embedded. It spreads out pretty good. I really just plug under my swords and a few more along my crypts.

BTW, I read about Osmocote on a few other forums and then asked on here. A few who I consider to be very experienced / knowledgable members gave it a thumbs up so it's not something I made up.

No harm to any fish or inverts.

Not trying to be weird, but I checked your profile and I consider you pretty experienced since you've been at this since 2011 lol. I've tried to keep my amazon sword and my crypts in groups that are around 6 inches close to each other so
I could get away with only using the root tabs where I needed them. Since I'm just beginning in plants my tank looks pretty bare since things are growing and I'm still working on getting my full plant list actually in my aquarium. They seem to cover about the same radius as root tabs. Again, thanks for recommending this, it will definitely help save some money!

 

[Mrs.h2012]

Hope you all have good results!

Figure a cube of 6 pellets covers an area of at least 3inches, may even be 6 inch radius from where it gets embedded. It spreads out pretty good. I really just plug under my swords and a few more along my crypts.

BTW, I read about Osmocote on a few other forums and then asked on here. A few who I consider to be very experienced / knowledgable members gave it a thumbs up so it's not something I made up.

No harm to any fish or inverts.

I meant to ask, have you had to use any other additional ferts besides this? Like do you dose anything like API leaf zone or seachem flourish or anything?

 

[jcolon]

I dose comprehensive on both my tanks for the filter feeding plants like Anubias and java ferns. Root tabs won't do anything for them.

 

[jcolon]

Not trying to be weird, but I checked your profile and I consider you pretty experienced since you've been at this since 2011 lol. I've tried to keep my amazon sword and my crypts in groups that are around 6 inches close to each other so
I could get away with only using the root tabs where I needed them. Since I'm just beginning in plants my tank looks pretty bare since things are growing and I'm still working on getting my full plant list actually in my aquarium. They seem to cover about the same radius as root tabs. Again, thanks for recommending this, it will definitely help save some money!

Haha..I've picked up on a few things along the way. Lots of knowledge and experience available on AA. Keep us updated!

 

[Mrs.h2012]

I dose comprehensive on both my tanks for the filter feeding plants like Anubias and java ferns. Root tabs won't do anything for them.

So in my case I could get away with just the root tabs since all my plants are root feeders.