# Planted Tanks > Fertilisation and Algae >  Liquid fertilizer choice for local aquarists (POLL)

## Phillipians

I have always wondered what most aquarists use for their fert regime and while it seems like most have a preferred choice, it would be good to see what is the overwhelming choice for Singaporean aquarists.
The previous poll done on aquatic soil did not have that many participants (20 plus i think) but i hope to find out what liquid ferts most of us use. I guess it would help the newbies as well. 
Rather than give different types of permutation of the same brand, I will just make it easy if you select the brand that you use. We all know ADA is one of the best but my guess is that it is too expensive in the long run, thus I would like to find out what we 'normal' salary/pocket money drawing Singaporeans use  :Grin: 

1) ADA 
2) Borneo Wild
3) Seachem
4) Tropica
5) Lushgrow by Dr Mallicks (Including their powder/salts mixtures)
6) JBL 
7) Wondergrow series
 :Cool:  Eiho
9) Mixture (if you can indicate what mixture you use)
10) DIY liquid fert from salts/powder only
11) SERA flore series
12) Others

Of course in your separate posts, you can also describe your dosing procedure and maybe rationale for using that fertiliser you have chosen. I will start the ball rolling.

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## Phillipians

I use Lushgrow aqua/micros (the macros and micros combo) by Ecocity hydroponics. They actually deliver to doorstep. One set can last approx a year.

As I dose the EI method, I use approx 7 - 8 ml of aqua everytime I change water (mine is a 2x1.5x1.5ft tank) and then 4 to 5 hours later I use 1 drop of micros. (I have since made my own diluted solution of micros which I placed into a pump from Muji) I also supplement dosage of Iron (Fe) from any brand I can find. So far I use EIHO and it works fine. Oh yes I also dose Potassium (K) as it is not found in Lushgrow Aqua and micros. I made a simple solution from powdered KSO4. Also from Lushgrow Package.

Rationale: The price is cheap ( i can get by paying about 50 plus to 60 plus dollars and it lasts at least a year) I dose twice weekly. Mid week once, and Saturday once after a water change. I started this hobby 10 years back, and lushgrow has been there since. So far, this works for me. I make the series nicer by placing all the ferts in nice pump bottles from MUJI and labelling them. Maybe I will post a picture of my ferts in bottles.

Oh yes, I do not dose Phosporous - this gives me green spot algae. I do not know why too

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## Everlance

i use tropica specialized 1 pump every 2 days and ada brighty k 2 pumps daily for my mini m. photo period is 7 hrs daily with totally no algae at all except for green algae on the glass due to the aquasky being too powerful.

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## atolylica

I get dry ferts from Ecocity Hydroponics. More specifically, I get CaNo3, KH2PO4 and K2SO4 for Macro requirements. 
For Micro, I dose Seachem Flourish. 

Dosing EI at the moment.

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## Phillipians

So far, as expected, noone is using ADA hahah... really too expensive in the long run. Come on the rest, get your votes in.

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## AQMS

camping here.... :Razz:

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## furyprix

I do a mix. Seachem for potassium, iron and micros.
drydose for phosphates. And KNO3 from ecocity for nitrates, but seldom dose because my nitrates always hover at 10-20ppm from my ADA Amazonia xD

ADA and tropica is simply just too expensive for me  :Sad:

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## Phillipians

You managed to get KNO3 from ecocity ? Must have been a long time back ? Heard that substance was banned by authorities some time back.

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## furyprix

> You managed to get KNO3 from ecocity ? Must have been a long time back ? Heard that substance was banned by authorities some time back.


yup, i guessed i did  :Cool:  alot more economical than using seachem nitrogen.

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## Phillipians

At this point, Seachem and Lushgrow seems to be the majority. As suspected still none chose ADA. Come on ADA users. Stand up and be counted.

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## stressed

I do Lushgrow and Seachem

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## tureblue82

I use *Tropica* the premium and specialised one.

With ferrotabs from *JBL*.

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## absb

Borneo Wild and Seachem 


As Above So Below

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## Phillipians

We have some ADA users, finally. Any ada user care to tell us how much you need to spend on ferts per month or year? Curious to find out

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## babiwangi

Seachem flourish and azoo

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## Phillipians

With 26 respondents, it seems like Seachem is the overwhelming choice followed byLushgrow. Not surprising though.

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## milk_vanilla

I use ADA, but just it's bottle :P i love it's pump precision.
All my ferts use ecocity dry salt and micro lush gro.
Been using EI method for 2 years. Turned up side down when i customize the dose, i'm enjoying this hobby lot.

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## bennyc

> I use Lushgrow aqua/micros (the macros and micros combo) by Ecocity hydroponics. They actually deliver to doorstep. One set can last approx a year.
> 
> As I dose the EI method, I use approx 7 - 8 ml of aqua everytime I change water (mine is a 2x1.5x1.5ft tank) and then 4 to 5 hours later I use 1 drop of micros. (I have since made my own diluted solution of micros which I placed into a pump from Muji) I also supplement dosage of Iron (Fe) from any brand I can find. So far I use EIHO and it works fine. Oh yes I also dose Potassium (K) as it is not found in Lushgrow Aqua and micros. I made a simple solution from powdered KSO4. Also from Lushgrow Package.
> 
> Rationale: The price is cheap ( i can get by paying about 50 plus to 60 plus dollars and it lasts at least a year) I dose twice weekly. Mid week once, and Saturday once after a water change. I started this hobby 10 years back, and lushgrow has been there since. So far, this works for me. I make the series nicer by placing all the ferts in nice pump bottles from MUJI and labelling them. Maybe I will post a picture of my ferts in bottles.
> 
> Oh yes, I do not dose Phosporous - this gives me green spot algae. I do not know why too


Hi Phillipians,
I am confused, i am using Lushgro Aqua as well. The packaging shows it has K and not P. so it is short of which?

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## Phillipians

Mine says there isnt any K. That is why i supplement with K2SO4.

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## Phillipians

Let me check again when i return. Maybe you check on ecocity hydroponics. I am sure there is not any K. But there is P there. But i may have seen it wrongly.

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## Phillipians

If you look at this package deal and info from ecocity, you will find that there is P but not K.
http://www.ecocityhydroponics.com/lu...ua-liquid.html
For K, I use K2SO4, potassium sulphate.

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## Suzerolt

I'm sure Lushgro Aqua contains Potassium (K).
It does not have Phosphate (P) because Dr Mallick believes the tank will get sufficient phosphate from the end product from the nitrogen cycle (from fish food & waste). If its not sufficient, then dose with Monopotassium phosphate (KH2PO4)

I believe the documentation on the EcoCity Hydrophonics website is incorrect. They are the re-seller of the product.

This is what's stated on the label of Lushgro Aqua : http://www.singaporehydroponics.com/images/stories/j25%20aqua.jpg
This is the excel that has the details of the content of Lushgro Aqua. Excel originated from the maker of the fertilizer. http://www.ntu.edu.sg/home/kfloh/dmdd.xls

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## Phillipians

I have gotten by not dosing any phosphates for the past 1 year. just using lush grow aqua gets me by. So i am not sure about that. The excel sheet you have is pretty old. Looks like the one i had when i was into aquascaping 10 years back. Perhaps it is a new formula ?

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## Suzerolt

I was chatting with Dr Mallick about 9 months back about Lushgro Aqua. That's where he mentioned about "no phosphates in his formula since it can be obtained from food/waste....not a must to dose additional but its up to you"

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## bennyc

i tend to agree with suzerolt, i find signs of phosphates deficiency when i solely dose lushgro aqua. I think it is a must if you are going EI method.

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## Phillipians

I see. Then someone better alert ecocity hydroponics. However i do seem to get better results even though i dose extra potassium. Probably excess potassium does not affect algae growth i guess ?

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## Phillipians

At this point. I dose
1) Lushgrow Aqua
2) Lushgrow Micros
3) K2SO4
4) Iron from Eiho (if I see my plants turning pale red)

At this point, I am only lacking calcium which I will address by getting Calcium Nitrate. I find Urea too high in nitrates. No need for that now. I used to dose it when I was planting APP (elatine tiandra)

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## Phillipians

Last count, it seems Seachem is the winner. Lushgrow a close 2nd. Borneo wild has no takers even though it is a local startup?

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## Urban Aquaria

Looks like fertilizer choice tends to be linked to its availability at shops... Seachem is stocked at almost all LFS, so its convenient and easy to buy. The other fertilizer brands are only available at specific shops and places, so people have travel out of their way to find and buy them, hence less users.

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## WiNd08

Seachem is easy to find and buy for me (I live near Jln Kayu) and it's one of the cheapest per volume I think.  :Razz:

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## AQMS

I buy dry fert online cheaper but you need to buy a lot to make the shipping cost worthwhile.

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## IrvineChen

I also thinking of trying dry fertiliser.. Zerofighter, is it good?

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## AQMS

Yes,definitely. Save you a lot of $$$. All my macro and micro are dry fert,i will make them into solution
and dose appoarately.

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## tropic

I am using from ecocity ferts. The powder dose is approx 2g per 100l of water. Lets say I am using 6gram for 300l of water...how much should I get it mix in a 2litre bottle. I was hoping I can automate the dosing rather than manual as I have a 7 channel dosing pump on hand.

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## Urban Aquaria

> I am using from ecocity ferts. The powder dose is approx 2g per 100l of water. Lets say I am using 6gram for 300l of water...how much should I get it mix in a 2litre bottle. I was hoping I can automate the dosing rather than manual as I have a 7 channel dosing pump on hand.


I guess that depends on how many doses you want to supply with the 2 liter bottle... for example, say you need 6 grams per dose for your 300 liter tank, and lets say you want the 2 liter bottle to supply 5 doses, then just mix in 5 x 6ml = 30ml of powder ferts into the 2 liter bottle, then program the auto-dosing pump to only add 2 liter ÷ 5 doses = 400ml of mixed fertilizer solution per dose. 

Just adjust the amount of dosages simply by increasing or decreasing the powder ferts and dosing volume.

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## tropic

Thanks UA. Seems that the bottles that I have would run out in no time. Time to source for alternative sources for the dry ferts.

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## Phillipians

I use KNO3 5% mixture from dr mallicks kh2po4 and also micros for all round fertilization. All from dr mallicks. Much cheaper. Last quite long too.

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## tan.jxiong

hi i use ei dosing but my rotala rotundifolia is getting some black bends at the older leaves, any idea what nutrient I'm lacking? i searched online and found it could be low nitrates or potassium but i upped the dose of both and still getting the poor growth

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## Urban Aquaria

> hi i use ei dosing but my rotala rotundifolia is getting some black bends at the older leaves, any idea what nutrient I'm lacking? i searched online and found it could be low nitrates or potassium but i upped the dose of both and still getting the poor growth


How old are those older leaves? If those leaves have been around for many weeks and months, they could just be naturally aging and degrading. Its a normal cycle of leaf growth. The leaves have a certain lifespan and they don't last forever (unless they are plastic plants). For fast growing stem plants, you should be looking at the new leaves to detect nutrient deficiencies.

Older leaves with black marks or bends will not "heal" themselves, they will just gradually melt away over time. In most mature aquascapes, while the top newer leaves are all lush and full, but if you look further at the bottom of the background stem plants, they will usually be "botak" or with tattered leaves, thats why aquascapers use mid ground plants to hide those unsightly parts. At different stages in an aquascape's growth, keepers will eventually have to trim the healthy tops, uproot and discard the rotting bottoms, and then replant the healthy tops to resume fresh new growth (or just chop until the bottom and let new stems and leaves grow out again).

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## tan.jxiong

oh i see, thanks a lot! the new leaves occasionally have some of the same black bends too, but not all have it, shall monitor more! thanks!

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## FluffyBunny

Has anyone tried the new aquavitro series by seachem? Thinking of switching to them for my potassium.

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## milk_vanilla

Atas fertilizer  :Wink:  , never tried but they should/have to be better than seachem, as well known brand image


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## Bern C

I got the N synthesis(Nitrogen) recently as I am doing some green water & algae culturing experiment. It's a pure nitrogen with no potash. For normal Seachem Nitrogen, it contain of more potash. XD Not sure about the effectiveness but it comes with a 1ml pipette inside.

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## Stuart Phoon

so dry fertiliser.. can we add directly to the tank?

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## milk_vanilla

We could, but a bit tough to dose if your tank is small. Better dilute them in distill water


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## jackychun

I recently saw Aquatic Lawn liquid fertilizer advertised on carousell. I don't know anyone have been using it so far? And how is the results?  :Smile: 

https://sg.carousell.com/aquaticlawn/

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## Urban Aquaria

> I recently saw Aquatic Lawn liquid fertilizer advertised on carousell. I don't know anyone have been using it so far? And how is the results? 
> 
> https://sg.carousell.com/aquaticlawn/


Those are formulated by our fellow AQ member harryxing, you can check out his sales thread and maybe contact him for more info on it.  :Well done: 

http://www.aquaticquotient.com/forum...ic-Fertilisers

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## jackychun

> Those are formulated by our fellow AQ member harryxing, you can check out his sales thread and maybe contact him for more info on it. 
> 
> http://www.aquaticquotient.com/forum...ic-Fertilisers


Thanks for the info UA.  :Smile:

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## ACG

Has anyone tried DENNERLE S7 VitaMix, E15 FerActiv and V30 Complete?

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## Knifeslash

> Has anyone tried DENNERLE S7 VitaMix, E15 FerActiv and V30 Complete?


Hi ACG, yes I am currently siding V30 and S7 in my regime for about 1 month plus. I also use the Dennerle root tabs as well. Together with the introduction of these ferts, I increased my CO2 to about 2-3 bps for my 60l tank. 

My plants have been doing very well and producing runners. However, I notice that in the week I dose V30, green algae easily appears. But after 1 week and water changes and cleaning the algae, it doesn't reappear that quickly. 

I guess the initial dose is too strong and takes time to taper off. On that note, that's why I am considering to get the Dennerle Dosator to slowly inject V30 into my tank. Not a common product in our LFS. Can't find it so far. 

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