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Anyone tried Easy-Feed Extra from Solufeed?

Just as a question - apart from price, are the providers of ferts not just simplifying the DIY route at a higher cost?
 
Bradders said:
Just as a question - apart from price, are the providers of ferts not just simplifying the DIY route at a higher cost?
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For the most part, yes — many commercial fertilizers are simply dry chemicals dissolved in water and sold at a higher price. The DIY route often uses the exact same base ingredients. That said, some manufacturers do add value by using higher-grade materials or advanced chelators that aren’t typically found in DIY mixes.

Take Solufeed, for example — while some of its formulations include iron chelated with EDTA or DTPA, it’s not quite on the same level as something like Tropica, which uses more advanced chelators like DTPA and HEEDTA. Even with DTPA present, Solufeed still falls short, especially since HEEDTA is generally more effective than EDTA. Beyond chelators, Tropica’s formulations also feature specific nutrient ratios and compounds that Solufeed doesn’t typically offer. To match it, you'd need to significantly tweak Solufeed products or build a custom blend from the ground up.

Does that make Solufeed less effective? Not at all — it still gets the job done. It just operates at a different level of refinement.
 
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A couple of notes on Easy-Feed Extra - it appears to keep well for several years after opening if stored in a dark room away from heat and sunlight. It contains calcium (unlike most nutrient blends) so if you use rainwater or RO water it can do double duty by adding GH and partially remineralising the water. If your water is already hard this might be a disadvantage as it might lead to more limescale deposits on the tank glass. I asked Solufeed if it contained any carbonate compounds and they responded in the negative so should not raise KH.
 
Happi said:
Awesome! Glad to hear you're giving it a go. Feel free to reach out if you have any questions while mixing or dosing — happy to help. Also, just remember you're not locked into the TNC Complete recipe — it's highly customizable. You can tweak the N, P, and K to suit your specific needs. The Fe and micros are a bit more fixed, since raising Fe also bumps up the other traces. And if I'm not around to reply, no worries — folks like Darrel are basically on call with 24-hour service! 😄
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Thank you Happi! Will do! Maybe just one question is there a specific order in which you need to prepare the solution? Do I need to follow exactly the order how you listed all the different ingredients? Thanks
 
I make mine in any order. I have everything together on one side and when I add it to the water, I move it to the other side, so I can keep track of what's been added. There are a lot of ingredients!
 
jacopo16 said:
Thank you Happi! Will do! Maybe just one question is there a specific order in which you need to prepare the solution? Do I need to follow exactly the order how you listed all the different ingredients? Thanks
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I assume you will be using TNC Recipe #2
1000 ml, 20 ml per 60 liters

Step # 1
start with 800 ml Distilled water

Step # 2
Add 0.5 gram potassium sorbate and mix till fully dissolve
Add 10 ml White Vinegar

Step # 3
Add 5.07 gram Sodium FreeCoir TEC and mix till fully dissolve

Step # 4
Add 5.15 gram K2SO4
Add 44.66 gram KNO3
Add 3.63 gram KH2PO4

Step # 5
after mixing all the chemicals, add distilled water to reach the 1000 ml solution

20 ml per 60 liters will add the following:

N 2.063
P 0.275
K 6.875
Fe 0.11 (DTPA Fe)
Mn 0.047
B 0.0062
Zn 0.0346
Cu 0.0038
Mo 0.0028
 
Happi said:
I assume you will be using TNC Recipe #2
1000 ml, 20 ml per 60 liters

Step # 1
start with 800 ml Distilled water
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Thank you very much Happi! Is there a reason of why

Coir TEC - Sodium Free​

Is much better for hard waters? Thanks
 
jacopo16 said:
Very hard water 😂 this is the report from Thames Water
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That’s some seriously hard water—were they chucking limestone at each other during the treatment process or what? 😂
jacopo16 said:
@Happi I did. But if the Coir Tec - Sodium Free is really better because of my water I don't mind buying it
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Hold off on buying anything for now—I need to go over the water report carefully, and I’ll get back to you soon. In the meantime, could you test the NO₃ from your tap water instead of the aquarium and see if it reads around 25 ppm?
 
@Happi Yeah I know.. I told you crazy hard 😂
I did two different readings from two different taps in the house, using the API Nitrate test kit, and both readings were between 10 and 20ppm, definitely not more than 20ppm anyway. Thank you
 
jacopo16 said:
@Happi Yeah I know.. I told you crazy hard 😂
I did two different readings from two different taps in the house, using the API Nitrate test kit, and both readings were between 10 and 20ppm, definitely not more than 20ppm anyway. Thank you
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Based on your water report, we might need to make a few small adjustments to the dosing approach to optimize it for your aquarium. What do you think?

If my calculations are correct based on your water report, here's what it would look like, and we can primarily focus on the bolded areas.

GH 15.6 °dGH
KH 11.65 °dKH
TDS (Estimated): 350–400 ppm
PH 7.5 - 8.0 (Estimated)

N 5.8
P 0 ?
K 0 ?
Ca 100
Mg 7
S 17.7
Cl 44
Na 29
Fe 0.007
Mn 0.0006
B 0.05
Zn 0 ?
Cu 0.014
Mo 0 ?
Ni 0.0025
 
for example:

1000 ml, 20 ml per 60 liters

Step # 1
start with 800 ml Distilled water

Step # 2
Add 0.5 gram potassium sorbate and mix till fully dissolve
Add 10 ml White Vinegar

Step # 3
Add 10.14 gram Sodium FreeCoir TEC and mix till fully dissolve

Step # 4
13.37 gram K2SO4
3.64 gram KH2PO4
30.43 gram MgSO4.7H2O

Step # 5
after mixing all the chemicals, add distilled water to reach the 1000 ml solution

P 0.28
K 2
Mg 1
Fe 0.22
Mn 0.094
B 0.0124
Zn 0.0692
Cu 0.0076
Mo 0.0056


Tap water + your solution:

N 5.8
P 0.28
K 2
Ca 100
Mg 8
Fe 0.227
Mn 0.0946
B 0.0624
Zn 0.0692
Cu 0.0216
Mo 0.0056

we can adjust them as needed
 
Happi said:
Tap water + your solution:

N 5.8
P 0.28
K 2
Ca 100
Mg 8
Fe 0.227
Mn 0.0946
B 0.0624
Zn 0.0692
Cu 0.0216
Mo 0.0056

we can adjust them as needed
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Thank you Happi. Would this solution have not enough K? As it would be only 2 when mixing with the tap water.. a bit lost here ahah I had bought already KNO3 😂
 
jacopo16 said:
Thank you Happi. Would this solution have not enough K? As it would be only 2 when mixing with the tap water.. a bit lost here ahah I had bought already KNO3 😂
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I've set the initial dosing numbers based on what I believe should work, but keep in mind that results might vary since you're working with hard water. In general, hard water isn't ideal for aquatic plants, so we may need to make a few adjustments as you start dosing and observe how things go.

If possible, I’d recommend dry dosing potassium (K) and magnesium (Mg) during water changes. For example, you could add about 2–4 ppm of Mg and 2–5 ppm of K each time.

I would usually suggest switching to RO water for better control, but I’m assuming that's not part of your current plan. The other option would be using H₂SO₄ (sulfuric acid) or HCl (hydrochloric acid) to bring down the pH/KH of your tap water — but that route requires a lot more caution and experience.

Whatever chemicals you’ve purchased so far, don’t worry — you can hang on to them. They'll still be useful as you dial things in later.
 
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