I've run across an old discussion from Pete Mang (lotsa fish) that describes dosing plants with Miracle Gro..no harmful effects to fish, and great growth. Anyone here try this? Dose is 1/4 tsp per 10 gals, dry premixed in water before adding,etc
I have been doing this for a couple of years now.
Been working fine so far, no problems with my fish at all.
Plants are growing like crazy.When i do water changes i pour the old water on my wifes house plants and they are growing good also. I wonder if this is because of the miracle grow in the water.
The best part is it is cheap to buy a big thing of miracle grow. lol
The fish poop in the change water helps too.... ;D I 'm going to try to pump my change water out to the garden this year...
I'm interested in anything that will help my plants. I was looking at Miracle Gro and there is alot of different ones. Which one do you use?
The standard, regular one....I believe....nothing special..
I thought there would be a little more debate on this topic
Quote from: ilroost on May 11, 2013, 06:23:59 PM
I thought there would be a little more debate on this topic
If Pete says it works without problems, that's good enough for me. I've never known Pete to just parrot something he heard somewhere. That said, I don't use it and probably won't start, but it's good to know at any rate.
Dennis
I dosed a 50 gal this morning...we'll see...no fish in there...
It would freak me out to put any soluble fert with a high nitrogen content in a tank with fish. But I'm out of my league here..
The nitrogen isn't too bad, especially if you're doing timely water changes. I wonder about the trace copper content, with snails.....I'll check the nitrates regularly to see....this tank is a good test, large amazon sword, which should devout the nitrates, and just a few snails...
I have been using the Miracle Gro fertilizer sticks, meant for potted house plants, in my dishes of sand with huge swords in them, for a year and a half now. All is well, swords and other plants grow like weeds in the pool filter sand with sticks in them. I add them every 2-3 mo. Most are in my discus tank but other tanks have a few too.
Barb
I looked at the sticks too....it might be an even better option down the line. I'll see how the granules do...I mix them in water and pour it in....
Never thought about the sticks. That would seem to be a better option for people who use pots in their tank
I'm sure the granules will do a great job in a tank without fish. It's a far cry from slowly dissolving sticks under the root system to dumping mineral salts into the water column with fish in the tanks. When you decide to do it in a tank with plants AND valuable fish let me know how it works.
Quote from: LizStreithorst on May 11, 2013, 08:22:11 PM
I'm sure the granules will do a great job in a tank without fish. It's a far cry from slowly dissolving sticks under the root system to dumping mineral salts into the water column with fish in the tanks. When you decide to do it in a tank with plants AND valuable fish let me know how it works.
I'll trumpet the event here. I know several folks that are using the granules, and now one that uses it in stick form. While the granules may sound more instataneous, and then dilute out, the sticks are delivering the same elements constantly. However, it seems neither has harmed fish.
Liz been doing it with my fish a couple years now with no problem. Now with that being said none of my fish are high dollar fish.
Quote from: ilroost on May 11, 2013, 08:36:49 PM
Liz been doing it with my fish a couple years now with no problem. Now with that being said none of my fish are high dollar fish.
LOL...sure they are....remember that Barb's using it with discus too. I think part of the Miracle Gro mystic is that it's new, some plant purists have argued it for years ( I googled some old plant forum posts) but almost all have agreed that it does no harm. With really high end plant setups, with CO2, and super lighting,etc, it becomes hard to recognize new things that are being tried with success. Sponges got the same reception many years back too.
The good thing about it is it is cheap. lol
So if it works good, you can really save alot of money on ferts for your plants
Quote from: ilroost on May 11, 2013, 08:51:05 PM
The good thing about it is it is cheap. lol
For you and I that's a good thing, but can you imagine Takashi Amano or any of his followers for that matter endorsing something simple and inexpensive. That's always been a sticking point in this hobby for me. When it comes to the big players, there's no market incentive for them to recommend a common sense solution. In fact, they would rather cast doubt on such practices and promote their $$$ solutions.
Dennis
I have used it on bare plastic containers containing floating plants I want to make more of.
Works well for that.
Have not tried it with fish for Liz's reasons.
It would be interesting to know the ammonia concentrations for several days after giving the fertilizer.
Some fish like Tilapia are known for their ability to tolerate high ammonia, but some aren't.
Mostly I don't know which is which however.
I took a reading this morning, '0' Ammonia, and '0' nitrates.....assassin snails are scooting around just fine......the plant looks splendid... ;D
If I get up the nerve, I will move several pots with plants into my Discus tank and give it a try. I have nothing to loose on the Discus. I messed them up and they don't breed. Might as well experiment with them.
Any update ,is the swordplant looking better
Inside top/runners/etc look great...some low inside and far outside low are browning out...I have two lamps on there but seems like the plants so dense that it's not penetrating....may have to trim a bunch runners/babies off, and try to spread it out some....maybe the old 'orange juice glass in the middle' trick to train the growth to spread out the broad leaves some...??
After taking about 30+ runners off this sword, it's making a nice recovery....lots of new leaves...this is good, with all the runners, the plant wasn't getting enough light, and the runners were drawing nutrients from the host plant......but it looks like it's coming around now...
so would you say the experiment was a sucess?
Some key ingredients for plant growth are chelated iron and iodide. Vitamins are also necessary including B-12. You'll want the nitrate and phosphate numbers low if there are fish in the tank.
There are guppies and a sword tail in the tank, all are doing fine....I'm using Capt'n Bob's root tabs and a diluted water mix of the Miracle grow. I only wish that we'd torn down the tank and then used Bob's substrate....
The nitrates are nil, with water changes. The iron and phosphates, I don't know...??...stilling getting new leaves started tho.... ;D...The addition of the Miracle Grow seems to have no effect on the fish at all.
Any more feedback from anyone on this topic?
When I restarted this hobby 3 years ago, one of the club members who has an exceptionally green thumb, aquatically and terrestrially, gave me a bottle of Osmocote Plus and showed me how to use it. I placed the little beads into plastic tubes with perforations all around them and capped them off. Then I shoved them into the substrate under and near the rooted plants like you would root tabs.
My plants grew phenomenally well and I never had a problem with my fish. After 3 months I'd pull the tubes out, empty the bead shells, refill them and place them back in the tank.
Now, for convenience sake, I'm using root tabs and Seachem Flourish.
After reading this thread, I'm thinking I might go the Miracle Gro route for a bit.
My swords in the sand filled pots in the discus tank weren't doing well at all. Holes were appearing in the leaves that were turning yellow and melting. I had done nothing to help them grow. Debated pitching them but instead, about two weeks ago, put Miracle Gro sticks in the pots. There is now new growth beginning in each of the pots. There's no notable effect on the discus or rams in that tank.
I now have Miracle Gro sticks in my angel tanks also. I break each stick into thirds and push them down next to the swords' roots.
http://www.miraclegro.com/smg/goprod/miracle-gro-indoor-plant-food-spikes/prod70156
are these the stick you use Pauline?
Yep....those are the ones.
Good stuff.....plants love em... ;D