Fertilizer question

[barterking85]

Ok so all I use now is kent pro plant which is the micronutrients I believe it's 1-0-0 I am wondering if I should be using a macronutrient as well I am pretty sure I should and I am wondering if you can give me some brand names of what bottles to look for or what ingredients to look for because selection is limited here

If one brand is mentioned please name another

Attached is the micro I use

 

[abrahamavelar]

i really dont know much about them but i also use root tabs

 

[aqua_chem]

Well, 1-0-0 means that it has neither P nor K. You would have to check the label to see what else is in it.

I dose dry ferts, but I also use Kent Marine's Fe/Mn, which has quite a few micros. Picked up 5 for 70 cents a pop.

The entire Seachem Flourish line are all highly recommended.

 

[barterking85]

Ok but also my tap water has lots of magnesium and even with all my plants I still have a steady 5 for nitrates

So basically I plan on doseing potassium but what should I use for macronutrients

 

[jetajockey]

That's the thing, nitrates and magnesium are macronutrients, so if you dose potassium and (maybe) phosphorous you have the main ones covered. Add some Fe for good measure and let it rock, are you having plant deficiency issues?

 

[barterking85]

Thought you might find this jeta lol ok next question is how do I but potassium and iron does it come in liquid form or powder and is it an easy find at a chain pet store

No I don't have any plant issues never did before ferts I just want to see how big of a difference ferts will make so I am just playing around lol

 

[aqua_chem]

Mg is a micro.

Also, in case you didn't know, Mn is Manganese, no magnesium. Mg and Ca will largely be found in your water, especially if it's hard.



From my Seachem Fe/Mg:

K2O (potassium): 3%
Chelated Iron: .24%
Mn .01%
Molybdenum .000005%
Zinc .00014%

So it has micros, plus is 0-0-3, so it doses potassium.

 

[aqua_chem]

Thought you might find this jeta lol ok next question is how do I but potassium and iron does it come in liquid form or powder and is it an easy find at a chain pet store

No I don't have any plant issues never did before ferts I just want to see how big of a difference ferts will make so I am just playing around lol

Potassium will be found in many fertilizers. Iron comes in a chelated and therefore bioavailable form, which will also be in liquid fertilizers. Both are in Kent Marine Fe/Mn.



You can buy bulk salts from online stores such as Green Leaf Aquarium. There you can buy Potassium (K) salts of nitrate and phosphate, as well as chelated iron, if you so choose. LFSs probably will not have them.

 

[barterking85]

Mg is a micro.

Also, in case you didn't know, Mn is Manganese, no magnesium. Mg and Ca will largely be found in your water, especially if it's hard.

From my Seachem Fe/Mg:

K2O (potassium): 3%
Chelated Iron: .24%
Mn .01%
Molybdenum .000005%
Zinc .00014%

So it has micros, plus is 0-0-3, so it doses potassium.

So if I get the seachem plus my kent marine pro plant I should have most of the basics covered ? I mean my plants are healthy anyway so it's not a must I just want to see if I can get some vigorous growth

So my shopping list right now is
Kent marine pro plant (have it love it)
Seachem flourish
Anything else? I just want to know exactly what to ask for

 

[aqua_chem]

Vigorous growth is driven by light, not the mere availability of fertilizers.

I think flourish includes N, so it might make the plantpro largely redundant. Does it have any other micros in it? You can tell from the label.


I highly recommend Flourish Excel. It is a bioavailable carbon that can act as a substitute for CO2. If ANYTHING will make your plants go bananas short of higher light, Excel will. However, it will melt some plants (vals, hornwort, riccia), so do your research.

 

[jetajockey]

My apologies, I'm used to dry dosing and in doing so I dose mgso4/kno3/k2so4 on top of the csm+b mix so I consider it a macro.

 

[aqua_chem]

How dare you jeta.

 

[abrahamavelar]

Also I was told that u can also dose potassium and might get better colors out of ur plants, also it wont get algae blooms

 

[jetajockey]

How dare you jeta.

haha. Not to mention most of the resources I've used refer to Mg as a macro as well, well, some do, some don't. =P potatoe potatto

 

[aqua_chem]

I'm actually going to cut back on my K dosing because my plants are showing Ca deficiency.

Also, I don't know if I've ever heard Mg called a macronutrient, but you can call it a potatoe if you want I live with liquid rock, so Ca and Mg generally aren't big concerns.

 

[jetajockey]

Here's a few of the things that popped up for me.
ROLES OF THE 16 ESSENTIAL NUTRIENTS IN
Plant Nutrients

The links reference Mg as a 'secondary' macronutrient, whatever that is, it's too late at night for this kind of conversation for me. =[

 

[barterking85]

Ok so long story short the best liquid form fert with macronutrients is...?

 

[Rozdab]

Rootmedic.net go to liquid Nutrients on right side of window you can get both micro and macro combo pack or can buy them separately if you wanna stay with the Kent's you use. Just a suggestion hopefully it helps.

Do you only want liquid ferts?

Are you open to dry?

 

[jetajockey]

I don't really suggest rootmedic just on principle but that's more of a personal thing than anything. The easiest thing for you to do is just start buying the liquid macros, whatever the line may be at your LFS. I'm only familiar with seachem, but I'm sure there are others that have each individual macronutrient.

 

[Rozdab]

I haven't used rootmedic was just trying to put another option out there for op.

Im just starting with plants so I'm a newbie lol.

As you can see in my sig. I only use flourish and that is cause i just put the plants in and want to c how it goes with nothing but the flourish. I'm gonna be doing press. co2 and will prob do dry ferts. In long run for cost and storage alone make me lean towards that route. I love the option and ease of use of liquid with how busy the days get tho. Lol
Jetajockey can I ask u why u don't like rootmedic? If u dont want to answer I completely understand.