# How much Osmocote can I put in substrate?



## mrbigshot (Sep 14, 2014)

the normal dosage some would say one tab per every 5 square inches. i just put a tab under a heavy root feeder and another a few inches away at the next. mabey 6-7 for my 37g column total. ill add regular old miracle grow to my water change water once every 7 days, every other day just a plain waterchange of 5g


----------



## nilocg (Jul 12, 2010)

Are talking about putting each individual piece in or osmocote plus root tabs? If they are root tabs then space them out every 5".


----------



## justin12 (Oct 24, 2014)

I used the package dosing one-to-one for the aquarium substrate. 1 capful = 3 tbsp covers 4 ft^2. 3 gallon is maybe 12"x12" substrate, or 1 ft^2, so 1/4 capful = 3/4 tbsp covers 1 ft^2.

Typical "Osmocote+ tabs" are gelatin capsules (00) filled with O+ and sunk into the substrate. I measured 0.8921 g/capsule, meaning each capsule covers a 3.25 inch square. The gelatin dissolves quickly and does nothing more than hold the O+ in a nice little package that can be pushed into the substrate.

You can mix it right into the substrate.


----------



## jsarrow (Jun 10, 2008)

Interesting, I'm actually thinking of having a base of O+ sprinkled at about the volume you've spec'd here as the base under a plain sand substrate. Seems like it should provide fairly decent results.



justin12 said:


> I used the package dosing one-to-one for the aquarium substrate. 1 capful = 3 tbsp covers 4 ft^2. 3 gallon is maybe 12"x12" substrate, or 1 ft^2, so 1/4 capful = 3/4 tbsp covers 1 ft^2.
> 
> Typical "Osmocote+ tabs" are gelatin capsules (00) filled with O+ and sunk into the substrate. I measured 0.8921 g/capsule, meaning each capsule covers a 3.25 inch square. The gelatin dissolves quickly and does nothing more than hold the O+ in a nice little package that can be pushed into the substrate.
> 
> You can mix it right into the substrate.


----------



## Diana (Jan 14, 2010)

I scattered the O pellets (not capsules) over the floor of the tank before adding substrate at something less than 1 pellet per square inch.


----------



## jsarrow (Jun 10, 2008)

That's exactly what I want to do, I assume the results are good regarding plant growth all things being equal?



Diana said:


> I scattered the O pellets (not capsules) over the floor of the tank before adding substrate at something less than 1 pellet per square inch.


----------



## burr740 (Feb 19, 2014)

Diana said:


> I scattered the O pellets (not capsules) over the floor of the tank before adding substrate at something less than 1 pellet per square inch.


I did the same thing in a 20H using sand substrate. Layed down about 1/2" of sand, then scattered loose O+, then capped with another couple inches of sand. Roughly I used one pellet for every nickel sized area, probably a tad more than one per sq inch.



jsarrow said:


> That's exactly what I want to do, I assume the results are good regarding plant growth all things being equal?


Worked pretty well for me. You can see the tank under (View User Tanks) It's the 20H.


----------



## jsarrow (Jun 10, 2008)

Ha! The tank I'm going to use the O+ in is also a 20H for grow out purposes. Looks like DIY CO2 and lighting served you well also. Thnaks so much for the info. Your tanks look great by the way.



burr740 said:


> I did the same thing in a 20H using sand substrate. Layed down about 1/2" of sand, then scattered loose O+, then capped with another couple inches of sand. Roughly I used one pellet for every nickel sized area, probably a tad more than one per sq inch.
> 
> 
> Worked pretty well for me. You can see the tank under (View User Tanks) It's the 20H.


----------



## burr740 (Feb 19, 2014)

jsarrow said:


> Ha! The tank I'm going to use the O+ in is also a 20H for grow out purposes. Looks like DIY CO2 and lighting served you well also. Thnaks so much for the info. Your tanks look great by the way.


Thanks!


----------

