# Wonder-Gro plant tab fertilizer test



## Kayakbabe (Sep 4, 2005)

I bought into the first batch of wonder-gro root tabs and have finally gotten myself into a state where I will be home for a few months, no traveling, no business trips. So, I'm going to do the hobbiest test that I planned on in the first place. I am going to compare the well touted Wonder-gro root tabs to the ones I normally have been using. Now honestly I'm really just interested in what performs better in my tank. I don't even remember what brand of root tabs I've been buying (the plastic cylinder on the right are the ones I've been using). The last time I acutualy purchased was about a year ago. So if anyone recognizes the packaging I would be glad if you would tell me. I bought the tabs a Aquatek in Austin, TX but I don't remember what they were, the cardboard around it melted months ago. 

I wanted to do an experiment to see what root tabs worked better, the ones I've been using or the ones I bought on this forum called wonder-gro.

Today, I took almost equally sized echinodorus ozeolot babies, snipped them off the mother plant and stuck them in the subtrate. I put about equal sized root tabs approximately 1 and a 1/2 inches from the stem of the plant.

I'm posting pictures so you can see what I did. 

I have an encindorus ozelot which sent up flowering stems and formed baby plants. I took 2 almost the same size plants and planted them in the foreground of my tank. The wonder-gro tablets were very large, so I cut them in quarters into approximately the same size as the tablets I have been using. I pushed the 1/4 wonder gro tablets into the substrate at the same distance I pushed 2 of my normal tablets into the substrate from the baby plant.

I purposely didn't weight or measure the bits of fertilizer root tabs because I felt under everyday circumstances as a planted tank enthusiast I wouldn't do it. I also chose to use the wonder-gro on the slightly smaller plantlet as I felt that if the Wondergro was all it is supposed to be.. that it would exceed the growth on the slightly bigger plantlet (if it was a 'better' fertilizer than what I have been using).

I realize this experiment has its faults. But it is a lay experiment to compare two fertilizers in what would be my real life usage situation.

So we will see how the two root tab feritilizers compare. I plan on taking weekly pictures and posting them here.


----------



## Kayakbabe (Sep 4, 2005)

A little more info...l

I will take pictures at one week intervals from the same distance so i can compare the growth of the two plantlets. The one of the left has the wonder-gro tablets, the one on the right has the tablets that I have been using. The picture posted with this message, shows the location of the camera, the camera will take a picture of the two ozelot swords in the foreground of my tank. 

If anyone recognizes the container and will share the brandname, I would greatly appreciate it.


----------



## epicfish (Sep 11, 2006)

Interesting test....keep us posted!


----------



## medicineman (Sep 28, 2005)

Those are quite some sizeable plantlets ready to grow.

Usually the initial growth would be slow. Once they are settled with rooting system establishing, growth will start to really pick up.

Size per size comparison the fert products appears to be a fair comparison, though in the future it might actually be more economical on either side in actual due to price difference while retaining the quality expected.

Waiting patiently and eagerly for next weekly update.
Thanks for trying :icon_smil


----------



## Green Leaf Aquariums (Feb 26, 2007)

Hows the progress on this?


----------



## Kayakbabe (Sep 4, 2005)

Sorry, I haven't posted anything on 1/27 because I've been ill. I will tell what I observed so far though and I"ll try to take pics tomorrow. On 1/27, it appeared that the plant on the unidentified root tabs had actually grown some, no new leaves, but the existing leaves got bigger. The wonder-gro plant didn't increase in size but I did notice that the wonder-gro side had 2 new small very red colored and mottled (pretty) leaves starting to grow in the center.
Today, both plants are larger and hte wonder-gro plant is catching up to the unidentified root tab plant. I wish I'd have taken pics on the schedule I planned. I'll have to take a picture tomorrow and show you.


----------



## jinx© (Oct 17, 2007)

Looks like a fair test, and thanks for the update.

Hope you're feeling better.


----------



## Green Leaf Aquariums (Feb 26, 2007)

Sounds nice and fair. Are you dosing ferts into the water column as well? And lastly what method of co2 diffusion are you using in the tank. Thanks and hope you feel well.


----------



## mrkookm (Apr 4, 2007)

The tabs work very well IME and yes you still dose via the water column but at reduced rate. This rate depends on how well your plants are growing in response to the amount of tabs used. The difference will be very clear to see when it kicks in so you definitely will not have to search for it :icon_bigg . The plant response will also depend on how well our tank was *before* adding tabs , if you were experiencing issues before the tabs then using them will not mean the issues will go away. Tabs will not work the same for everyone because of this so don't expect a miracle.

BTW prior to Wonder-Gro, I used Ferka Stemma & Rosetta which are also very good. The plant growth is not as dramatic as Wonder-Gro's growth results but I still use both.


----------



## Green Leaf Aquariums (Feb 26, 2007)

Thanks mrkookm. I just wanted to see if there were any variables in his test. I have some of my own WG tabs. And IME they are great. I split a tank down the middle and there is a fair bit of difference from left to right. I have not dosed any fert in the water at all, as well as no co2. These things are working very well for me.


----------



## Kayakbabe (Sep 4, 2005)

I've kept everything the same in my tank. About weekly I check my kH,gH,NO3,PO4, etc. and do water changes when the phosphates go over 1.5 (I like to keep it about 1.0 in my tank.. over 1.5 and I start to see algae). that ends up to a water change maybe every 3 weeks. I think it's the food I"m feeding (for the fish) that increases the phosphate (or it could be the teensy bit in the Flourish) as I top off with RO water. I keep my NO3 at 30. So I just add enough KNO3 to bring it back to about 30 ppm. When I do a water change I also toss in some Epsom salts.. for the magnesium and sulfate. I dose 1 ml daily with Flourish. I"ve been thinking about bumping this up to 2 ml as this tank is starting to look filled in with more plant growth, but not going to do so until about 3 more months go by as I wanted to keep it all the same and just compare these root tabs. My normal routine has always been to put root tabs in the substrate about 1 inch from the base of root feeding type plants about once every 3 months. They have always made a difference/improvement in the plant's growth. So, this experiment is asking the question "if I do everything the same as I normally do and just use this new root tab instead.. will it increase growth better than the old root tabs or same as the old root tabs?"
Pics coming in next post.


----------



## Green Leaf Aquariums (Feb 26, 2007)

Thanks, this will be nice to see.


----------



## Kayakbabe (Sep 4, 2005)

wonder gro tab----unknown root tab

I use a ph controller to inject CO2 around the clock. In the pic you can see the bottom of a Tunze CO2 'reactor'. It uses counter cross current flow method to get the co2 dissolved.


----------



## Green Leaf Aquariums (Feb 26, 2007)

Updates?


----------



## Robert H (Apr 3, 2003)

There is a much easier way to compare. A guaranteed analysis.. every mineral, nutrient, macro and minor. Does this "Wonder tablet" (I can't believe its actually named that) provide a guaranteed analysis? Seachem does. Aquarium pharm. does. Then all you have to do is compare one analysis to another. X provides 3% iron while XX provides 6% iron. X provides 8% nitrogen while XX provides 0% nitrogen. Thats the only comparison that matters. There is no magic bullets. Fertilizer is fertilizer. How else do you know what is lacking if you do not know whats in it? 

Tom Barr has been saying this for years. Its the only thing I agree with him on.



> I used Ferka Stemma & Rosetta which are also very good.


Another Asian product that is all hype, that gives no information about its contents. I know the company that makes it. They have sent me samples. Guaranteed analysis is a very simple scientific test. It doesn't cost much for a business to get one.


----------



## fishscale (May 29, 2007)

You could ask medicineman. I believe he makes the tabs. They have worked pretty well for me, don't dissolve too quickly and seem to provide a good mix.


----------



## medicineman (Sep 28, 2005)

Hello.

Thank you for trying one of our products.

Our product consist of part that dissolves and part that do not dissolve.

On general the highlight is actually shown at the current label. 
Only N-P-K is shown which is 10-8-10.

The rest are not shown in amount, which is an optional information and not an obligation to state by our local government as well as by US government as an import product for aquarium. This is well shown by how there are many prominent products (not only asian) that did not show content, more else the percentage (though we did managed to show the content by initiative). However they are proven to work well and loved by aquascaping crowd over the years.

It consist of artificial and natural parts as well as excipients (helping agents).

Artificial/chemical part:
- N 10%
- P 2%
- K 10%
- Fe 1%
- Mg
- Mn
- B
- Cu
- Zn
- Cl
- S
- Mo
- Complexing agent
- Binder

Natural part (minerals) :
- Zeolite mineral carrier 25%
- Phosphate (not readily active, non dissolving), Calcium (non dissolving) 35%
- Pottasium
- Magnesium 
- Iron
- Binder
- etc
Our various minerals contains a wide range of other elements in macro as well as micro scale. However it is guaranteed that they do not contain heavy metals hazardous chemicals in dangerous level.
We are trying our best in QC and screening the natural part in order to serve consistent quality to our customers.


----------



## Green Leaf Aquariums (Feb 26, 2007)

Seems to work very well I must say..


----------



## frozenbarb (Dec 16, 2006)

As anyone had the problem of snails eating your tabs?

I just found my Spixi snail in my substrate where I had the Tablet and behold in its mouth was the WonderGro Tablet. I was confused and enlighten.

It looked alot like Shrimp food that has melted and the snail was munching on it.
So can't we use shrimp pellets as Root tab? As they decay they produce ammonia and other stuff that plants can use. PMRT- Poor Man Root Tab.


----------



## Kayakbabe (Sep 4, 2005)

ha ha ha.. good one! Maybe so... LOL.

An update... 
I have neglected the fish hobby stuff for the last couple of month as my lack of posts in this thread show (not my original plan). I also had the CO2 tank run out and didn't notice it until things started melting a little but. Silly me for ignoring things like that. I have not added any additional root tabs yet.
So an update... Both ozelot swords that had root tab treatments faired better than those that did not. They did not 'melt' as much. So the root tabs helped with adverse conditions.

My over all impression of the wondergro tabs...
At first the unknown root tab (I now think it is Dupla brand) produced more new growth in the center. Over the three months, the wondergrow plant is larger overall. 

In addition to the pics I've already posted.
I am attaching 2 pics, one I took on 03-01 and then one today at 04-01.

the 04-01 pic is the dark one. (ugly I know with dirty glass and such, but you can see the two plants).

My impression is that the wondergro tab lasts longer than the other root tab.
Maybe it leaches out it's ferts more slowly thus lasting longer?

Maybe this experiment should be repeated under more controlled conditions.

I think I'll just use a combo of both root tabs... hedge my bets.

The root tabs do make differences in the growth patterns over time. I do know from gardening that sheer amount of a nutrient isn't a thing to look for in a fertilizer. It really depends on the plant, the balance of nutrients to eachother and what the plant requires. You can actually retard growth or damage a plant if you over fertilize it or the ferts are in the wrong proportions or lacking something. So sticking with what the fert manufacturer says for dosing isn't a bad thing to do. But if you find a particular fert that works really really well for one species.. it might not be the best fertilizer preparation for a different species.


----------



## Kayakbabe (Sep 4, 2005)

Something else to know... when you normally inject CO2 and you have a nice HC carpet in your foreground... if your plants melt a little and the HC start to peel up in a big sheet.. it might mean that your CO2 isn't working like you think it is.

I'm not sure I want to keep the HC anyway. Now might be the time to take it in for a trade in. LOL.


----------



## medicineman (Sep 28, 2005)

@frozenbarb,
Perhaps the snails are just looking for extra nutrients.
Other than the N-P-K content, the tablet also consist of minerals like calcium. Snails probably just in search of those extra things they need, to mention one is material uptake for strengthening their shells.

@kayakbabe,
Too bad the tank was somehow neglected. Though I'm glad to find that the tabs work well and somehow it helped the plant to endure hard times better.


----------



## SPC (Jan 14, 2008)

Kayakbabe said:


> Something else to know... when you normally inject CO2 and you have a nice HC carpet in your foreground... if your plants melt a little and the HC start to peel up in a big sheet.. it might mean that your CO2 isn't working like you think it is.
> 
> I'm not sure I want to keep the HC anyway. Now might be the time to take it in for a trade in. LOL.


I didn't realize that stopping CO2 injection could lead to plants melting. How are people (and nature) able to grow plants without injecting CO2? Do the plants somehow change their anatomy in a CO2 injected tank?

Steve


----------



## dr.tran (Oct 8, 2007)

Forgive me if this was answered before, but how long are the woundergrow tabs suppose to last before replacing it?


----------



## Kayakbabe (Sep 4, 2005)

Medicine Man,

Thanks for the consolation. I'm not going to go into any details. I'll just say that family and friends are higher priority in my life than aquariums, house plants and gardens. They all need attention, but when the humans really need attention at the same time... the humans will get it.

I'm glad the wonder-gro tabs helped it too. It was interesting to find that out.

I really don't want to repeat that experiment on lack of CO2, since the tank overall does look pretty "ratty".

Kelly


----------



## Kayakbabe (Sep 4, 2005)

Medicine Man,

Just a suggestion if you are still looking for feedback on the wonder gro root tabs. 

I like to put a whole tab next to my big plants. But in places were I have a lot of closely spaced root feeders, I like to break the tabs up into quarters and spread them out among the plants. 

The tabs do have a relief line on them to make breaking it apart easier, but it doesn't work well at all. I have to use a knife to break the tablets apart. If the relief lines were a little deeper, that would be much easier and possibly make even make it easy to break them by hand. Ideally I could break them apart by hand.

just my 2 cents.


----------



## medicineman (Sep 28, 2005)

Feedback noted.
Maybe will be making tiny version if the tab get ever popular enough, capsule-shaped about 1/3 the original weight.

Growth comparison by me.

Watch one of those demanding plant, Echinodorus red flame (the plant at the left-back of the setup) in a 20g tank, DIY CO2 (keeping yeast tank for study), 72W CF lighting, plain silica sand substrate.

Feb 10, 2008









Continue daily dosing of liquid fertilizer (3ml of macro+ and 1ml of micro+) and root+ tablet on the echinodorus.

March 21, 2008
Switched to new bulbs for extra boost of tank overal growth rate









April 21, 2008









Notice the massive leaves, soaring for the surface. Plant has been cramped at the back, competing with other neighboring plants.


----------



## lauraleellbp (Feb 3, 2008)

SPC said:


> I didn't realize that stopping CO2 injection could lead to plants melting. How are people (and nature) able to grow plants without injecting CO2? Do the plants somehow change their anatomy in a CO2 injected tank?
> 
> Steve


Many high-light/difficult plants simply won't grow in non-CO2- injected tanks. Some of these plants normally grow emersed rather than submerged, benefitting from the higher CO2 concentration in the air plus direct sunlight.

The secret is selecting species of plants that are appropriate for your setup.

MedicineMan- I'm really looking forward to growing swords with these tabs; how often did you replace the tabs under that Red Flame?


----------



## medicineman (Sep 28, 2005)

Up to date (June 2008), a total of 4 tablets inserted under the base of the red flame. The background is just so full of the plant right now with leaves soaring up to water surface.


----------



## lauraleellbp (Feb 3, 2008)

I'm having great results with mine, I'm very happy  

My E. 'kleiner bar' is flowering, my E. angustifolius put out 7 plantlets in 2 weeks, Bacopa went from 4" to 16" in less than a month, and my E. tenellus is shooting up new leaves like nobody's business! (this is all in a low tech, not CO2 tank). I can definitely tell a difference between the E. tenellus with the tabs and those without. :thumbsup: 

x2 on it would be nice to be able to break the tabs a little more easily, though- I have to get my hubby to break mine up for me for the smaller plants.


----------

