# tetra plantamin OR easy-life profito?



## Hoppy (Dec 24, 2005)

I don't know of any "all in one" fertilizer that is effective for anything but a very low light tank. The Easy-Life web page clearly says, "no nitrates or phosphates", but that is like trying to grow a child with no protein and no fats. Plants must have nitrates and phosphates or they will not grow.

Then, there is the fact that "all-in-one" concoctions like that are primarly bottled water. Expensive bottled water, but still just bottled water. It is far more economical, better for growing plants, and just as easy to buy dry fertilizers - potassium nitrate, mono potassium phosphate and a trace element mix. You can use commercial trace element mixes with good success, largely because trace elements are dosed in very small amounts, so bottled water with minute amounts of those elements is fine.


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## charles101 (Mar 20, 2009)

but wouldnt they get the nitrate from the end result of the nitrifying bacteria?ammonia-nitrite-nitrate?

i know they are not totally all in onean will need supplementing accordingly,i was just wondering the best one out the 2.i was thinking of going the dry ferts route but wouldnt know where to even get all the elements from and what to do with them?
thankyou for your advise it is greatly appreciatedso would you say that there can be no sucsess at all with these products(in the long run) and i should just go the DF route?


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## medicineman (Sep 28, 2005)

Yes you can, but of course at more cost than the dry dosing. Mostly you cannot use just one kind of product.
You pay more, but gets ease of dosing in the long run (important thing for some people)

This is probably true when using simple, considered almost complete products such as the new tropica liquid fert (go check their site) or wondergro macro-micro pair (go check greenleafaquariums.com). 
Other brands are also out there but most consist of at least 3 bottles or more (N, P, K, Iron, Micros), making dosing more hassle/expensive but allowing better fine tuning.


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## charles101 (Mar 20, 2009)

ok,so have come accross a pre-mixed dry fert wich contains...
Boron 1.06%
Copper 0.23%
Iron 8.2%
Manganese 1.82%
Molybdenum 0.15%
Zinc 1.16%

what else would i need to add to this to make it complete?
thanks.


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## charles101 (Mar 20, 2009)

sorry guys but i am really trying to get my head around this whole ferts issue,anyone got any suggestions?


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## Hoppy (Dec 24, 2005)

Can you get Tropica Plant Nutrition Liquid? That is a good trace element mix, and you know, with it, that you have something intended for use on aquatic plants. Since you only dose small amounts of trace elements, a bottle will last quite awhile, and not be so expensive. It is the macro fertilizer (N,P,K) that is so wasteful of money to buy as a liquid mix.

If you have more than low light you need to dose N, P, K, to be feeding the plants all of the nutrients they need. The nitrogen cycle nitrates will not be nearly enough, and you will have very little potassium or phosphates, if you don't dose them. Even with low light, unless the substrate is fertile you will likely be too low on macro nutrients.


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## charles101 (Mar 20, 2009)

exellent thankyou(i have 3wpg)so just to sum up ill buy the tropica plant nutrition dose with that as required and just add the 3 others as a dry fert wich are potassium,phosphate and nitrate(but i assume there is a technical term for the substance to use)
so when i look for the other 3 ferts what exactly am i looking for(names wise that is)?


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## Craigthor (Sep 9, 2007)

Nitrate: KNO3
Potassium: K3SO4
Phosphate: KH2PO4

Hope that helps...

Craig


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## Craigthor (Sep 9, 2007)

Also with 3 wpg I hope you have Pressurized CO2.... Or algae may become your best friend.


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## charles101 (Mar 20, 2009)

yeah cheers craig...got it on order have a diy c02 set up at the mo.problem is at one stage my tank was growing like crazy,like a jungle but then i wanted a rescape so like a newbie idiot i pulled out most of the established plants and now are trying to re-establish the new ones,so i already have a slight algea problem although once i start to see promising new growth/good rooting i will introduce pressurised and up the anty slowly as the plants grow more vigourosly.and hopefully te algea will slowly dissapear as the pants out-compete it.i will see.
thanks for all your help,feel free to add more as i am a newb to the planted tank.
one more thing...if i get the above in dry ferts(kn03,k3s04,kh2po4)and use the reccomended tropica formula is that all i will need in terms of ferts...assuming that i dose correctly and when needed?
thakyou


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