Hello, i joined an aquarium club and the plants are in a mess, none of the tanks have co2, there are 35 tanks of at least 100 gallons. Urea would be perfect because it's cheap and very concentrated but I can't risk it due to NH3. Potassium nitrate is the safest solution but terribly expensive, I doubt there are other solutions ? same for micronutrients, any idea ? thx
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Cheap ferts for thousand of gallons ?
- Thread starter eminor
- Start date
I need to ask. What makes you believe the problem are the ferts?
As for your nitrogen source you have multiple options although I'll be honest, your best bet is potassium nitrate which is normally not that expensive specially if you buy it in bulk. Where I am, the price is ~2USD/Kg which isn't that bad. It can actually be much cheaper if bought as agricultural grade which is what I have been using for years.
As for urea, if you were to go down that route, not sure it would be a good idea to rely solely on that as a nitrogen source. You would need to balance that out with a nitrate source specially in a non-co2 tank where PH will usually be on the higher side vs a CO2 injected tank.
As for your nitrogen source you have multiple options although I'll be honest, your best bet is potassium nitrate which is normally not that expensive specially if you buy it in bulk. Where I am, the price is ~2USD/Kg which isn't that bad. It can actually be much cheaper if bought as agricultural grade which is what I have been using for years.
As for urea, if you were to go down that route, not sure it would be a good idea to rely solely on that as a nitrogen source. You would need to balance that out with a nitrate source specially in a non-co2 tank where PH will usually be on the higher side vs a CO2 injected tank.
For short term, I would go for some pre-mix micros like CSM+B or something similar. Going the route of independent compounds will be more expensive initially but cheaper on the longer run. It all depends what the objectives of that aquarium club are.
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Almost every plant have serious deficiency, they dont add fertilizer at all, i saw nitrogen and at least Iron deficiency, i added rotala in some tank because i read that @dw1305 said that they are prone to get Iron deficiency, rotala new leaves are pale which if i remember is an immobile nutrients like iron
It's kind of natural biotope aquariums, nature might have serious deficiency, aquariums would look best with healthy plants though
You could also try some floaters. Phyllanthus fluitans will turn deep red in a low nitrogen environment.
It might be worth to monitor several parameters like KH and subsequently PH because those could also be the source of the problem. Obviously if they are not adding any fertilizer that is probably the reason, but doesn't hurt digging further than just pointing the finger at ferts.
It's a shame that all 35 tanks are left in that state. Is that due to lack of man power?
They want natural things, they fear chemical, Not sure if they know that everything is chemical. The man that lead that is stubborn and believe he's always right. We are not much, maybe 4 that keep everything, i'm the one that take care of plants, i don't like fish that much. Plant honestly looks really bad, they rely on fish food, which i thing is a bad idea
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