cheapest aquarium fertilization

[tetrin]

i recently setup a 40g...and i'm really out of money...
but i still need a fertilization regime that's cheap...

i found this one ...http://aquaria.net/articles/plants/barr-dose/
and it seems to be reasonable...

i was thinking of flourish / kent as the trace source and gregwatson.com as the macro-source ...

any suggestions are very much appreciated...

also...lighting - roughly 90W NO fluorescent over 40g (2.25W/g)...
2 bags eco-complete mixed with regular black gravel (eco-complete still not here... )...
diy co2 (still not set up...)
3 ottos, 3 sae's, 1 farlowella acus...

[malkore]

honestly, if you buy a pound of plantex CSM+B from Gregwatson.com, for something like $15, you'll have enough to last you for years and years. sure beats $7 a bottle for Flourish.
Don't get me wrong, flourish is good stuff, but compared to 1tbsp of Plantex, it's way more expensive.
(mix plantex 1tbsp per 250mL of water, and dose it like flourish)

[tetrin]

i had some leftover flourish ... that's why it was the first thing that came to mind...actually i also had some kent freshater stuff...

however...i'm thinking of ordering
Plantex CSM+B Plus Extra Iron,
Mono Potassium Phosphate, and
Potassium Nitrate (will cost me a whopping $14.2 plus shipping ) from gregwatson.com

i'll go by the barr-method...won't monitor levels (save money on test strips for nitrate and phosphate)...and reset everything every week with a 50% water change...
you were right malkore...this stuff rocks...

sounds good?

[malkore]

I'd also order potassium sulfate (unless you already have potassium chloride on hand) too.
I find in my tanks, that I don't dose enough KNO3 (for the NO3) to give me sufficient K levels.

[tetrin]

i do have some flourish potassium left ...that that's not going to last forever...
i'll order the potassium sulfate too...
thanks for the tip...
meanwhile the eco-complete did arrive yesterday...and i replanted the tank...will start dosing after a week or so...

[jsoong]

Originally Posted by tetrin

ihowever...i'm thinking of ordering
Plantex CSM+B Plus Extra Iron,
Mono Potassium Phosphate, and
Potassium Nitrate (will cost me a whopping $14.2 plus shipping ) from gregwatson.com

sounds good?

Wow - That's expensive! I went to a local hydroponics greenhouse & bought 250g (that almost 1/2 lb, enough for years) of KNO3 for $2.50 Canadian (thats $2 US), and no shipping cost!

May be you could check local greenhouses, chemical supply houses, or a hydroponics supply place before ordering.

[fisheyes]

How are you getting the extre iron and stuff? Are you just asking them to mix it all together or are you ordering each extra?

[tetrin]

jsoong, the KNO3 and the KH2PO4 were both cheap...$2.47 and $3.42 per lb...the costlier one was the plantex csm...
anyway, i'm too lazy to look around... and probably i'll have to check the purity of the stuff i find locally...

fisheyes, http://www.gregwatson.com/products.asp?cat=8 has the plantex csm+B with extra iron at the same cost listed as a product...