Plantex CSM+B with extra Iron

[quadrider5953]

I was thinking of oredering the dry fertilizer Plantex CSM+B with extra Iron but i dont want to buy it with out trying it out first. If anyone has this product or the regular one without extra iron could you please send me some of it if i give you my address?

thanks in advance

Kyle

 

[dskidmore]

I have also been considering this. I have first ordered an iron test kit to see how much I need. I know I need to start fertilizing nitrate, so I was going to test to see how my trace elements are. I can get potassium nitrate locally without paying the $8 shipping.

Most of the PMDD recipies on the net call for the regular trace element mix instead of the high iron one. What leads you to thing you need the extra iron? Gregwatson.com also sells the iron chleate seperately if you want to raise your iron content yourself.

 

[malkore]

Problem is, iron test kits are horridly inaccurate. They aren't good at reading super low levels of iron, so you tend to dose iron until you finally get a reading, and that reading is still much lower than your true levels.

If you're that concernt over the +Iron, get the regular plantex CSM+B, and just watch for symptoms of iron deficiency. if you need it, get the chelated iron from greg, or buy a bottle of flourish iron.

 

[dskidmore]

The Seachem kit I ordered claims to be able to detect as little as 0.05 ppm in the 0-1 ppm range, and I'm aiming for 0.1 ppm, so it should do what I need it to. Some of the kits I looked at advertized a range of 0-5 ppm, which is indeed way too wide for the purpose. I normally advocate cheap kits to people starting out in the hobby, but this is one place where it could pay off to get the better one.

 

[quadrider5953]

maybe that is the reason i was looking to get the one with extra iron. thanks malkore

 

[dskidmore]

While we're on the topic, any opinions on potassium nitrate vs calcium nitrate? I've read some discussions that say the basic PMDD formula doesn't address calcium defficiencies.

 

[malkore]

regular water changes with non-softened tap water address calcium issues, as well as Magnesium and several other traces not found in your typical Plantex blend.

 

[dskidmore]

Sounds about right. Of course that's going to depend on where you live. My water here is pretty hard, and has a decent mineral spread.

 

[malkore]

Very true. I have moderately hard & alkaline water here too...good tap water for African cichlids cuz it doesn't take much to get Gh and Kh to levels where they'll spawn.

When you see PMDD mixes/dosing routines that include epsom salts, that's typically coming from someone who has softer water than us.

 

[dskidmore]

I think for starters, if I'm short on Iron, I'm just going to pick up the PMDD pre-mix. If I like the results enough, I'll worry about the effort of making my own custom mix. I just don't want to order several tubs of ingredients only to find I don't want that much. If I'm not short on Iron, it will be just potassium nitrate dosing.

 

[dskidmore]

Interesting...
Did some digging on my city water. The "supplimental data" is a few years old, but has a very through listing of what's in the water.

Turns out they have plenty of calcium, but no detectable iron on a parts per billion measurement.

Unfortunately I live on the wrong side of the city, so I have to do more digging to find out the fine details on the other lake/provider's water. If I find no iron there either, I'll definately have to order my fertilizer.

 

[dskidmore]

I love my county, they have everything on the web.

http://www.mcwa.com/watqlsum.htm

Trying to get back to the original topic, in light of my source water having 0 iron, would you suppliment extra iron on top of the regular trace mix? Being nitrogen limited, I'm not really seeing symptoms that can't be attributed to that.

I think I might be up to the math/chemistry to figure this out scientifically, assuming the normal trace mix is the correct dosing to pure water to begin with. My brain is starting to hurt though without even breaking out the formulas.

 

[dskidmore]

Just digging through some of my old stuff, thought I'd provide a cross link to my custom ferts calculation thread:

http://www.aquariumadvice.com/viewtopic.php?t=69491

 

[hashbaz]

While we're on the topic, any opinions on potassium nitrate vs calcium nitrate? I've read some discussions that say the basic PMDD formula doesn't address calcium defficiencies.

Some forms of Calcium nitrate have ammonia in them. I got some calcium nitrate from a very trusted source who assured me that there was no ammonia in it, but my ammonia test kit said differently.

Your plants need potassium anyway.