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magnesium sulphate

F

forever

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15 May 2015
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Is there anything specific about the magnesium sulphate that you get from aquariumplantfood? I can see they charge 3.80 per 500g but I can get 5kg for 8.99 on eBay?
It's just salt right :)
 
I guess only that you can guarantee the purity of it all MgSO4 is going to be the same. There could potentially be other things mixed in with it. I'm sure others have more experience purchasing raw materials than me here.
 
That was my concern but looking at some on the bay they come with certification et el..
 
Hi all,
forever said:
It's just salt right
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It is indeed. In use there won't be any difference. You need to bear in mind that it will be MgSO4.7H2O "Epsom Salts" whatever it says on the packet, and only ~10% Mg.
forever said:
Is there anything specific about the magnesium sulphate that you get from aquariumplantfood?
Click to expand...
One thing that you need to bear in mind is that while you can buy magnesium sulphate pretty widely on the web, because it has a number of pharmaceutical uses etc. there will be other compounds that are only of interest to aquascapers (Mg (NO3)2) etc. and that if we don't support specialist suppliers we may not be able to get them.

cheers Darrel
 
Sorry Darrell are you saying there is a difference or that some of the harder to come by compounds only come via specialist suppliers
 
Only to add to that, off ebay you don't know what you're getting. There was some posts on here a while back where people were getting their KNO3 off ebay which didn't turn out to be. I always try when possible to buy from LFS or our sponsors but I use a fair bit of Mag because my tap water is low in minerals. I generally run out of mag before I'm due a restock of my other salts and online the delivery of the mag on it's own is too expensive. When I'm in between orders I generally pick up mag from reputable stores like Tescos or any Chemist really, just make sure it's Epsom Salts ONLY, sometimes in the chemists they have epsom salts with other stuff mixed in to make it more palatable if used as a drink like citrus.

I had a stroke of luck lately when my local health food store was closing down, just happened to be passing and the sign in the window said "Last day, make an offer" so I bought his entire stock of home brew 2x 5 gall fermenting bins and 2.5kg of epsom salts for £20 ;) I felt a bit bad as if I had visited the shop more often maybe it wouldn't be closing but all was good the guy was retiring.

Last time I was in Tescos and they tried to get me something instead I explained what it was for and the chemist said that no one actually bought it for what it is meant for anyway. People who grow tomatoes were buying it :D I believe it's actually good for constipation and rubbing into muscle sprains.
 
Hi all,
AverageWhiteBloke said:
People who grow tomatoes were buying it
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That is what I've mainly used it for. Tomatoes have a high magnesium (Mg) requirement, so you often use "Epsom salts" either as a foliar feed or base dressing.

Part of the problem is that specific Tomato fertilisers are high in potassium (K), and high levels of K (and calcium (Ca))can interfere with uptake of Mg. Years ago I tried to grow Tomatoes in Spent Mushroom Compost as part of my research, which has a lot of calcium in it, and they were <"spectacularly magnesium deficient">.

cheers Darrel
 
I live in the lake district so my water comes out the tap with very low TDS, I think last time I checked it was about 15ish ppm. Water round here runs over granite and moss so picks very little up minerals wise, in fact I would say the ones that are in are added by the water board. A local Discus breeder told me they put phosphate in as a buffer which accounts for the high po4 readings compounded further by agricultural run off. I generally put two teaspoons in my 105L tank weekly at water change so I get through a fair bit in comparison to the other salts.
 
To be rest assured, I've been buying it from a hydroponic supply shop.
 
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