Miracle Gro

[ilroost]

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.

[Mugwump]

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.

[ilroost]

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

[BallAquatics]

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

[BillT]

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.

[Mugwump]

I took a reading this morning, '0' Ammonia, and '0' nitrates.....assassin snails are scooting around just fine......the plant looks splendid...

[LizStreithorst]

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.

[ilroost]

Any update ,is the swordplant looking better

[Mugwump]

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...??

[Mugwump]

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...

[ilroost]

so would you say the experiment was a sucess?

[Rjb3]

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.

[Mugwump]

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.... ...The addition of the Miracle Grow seems to have no effect on the fish at all.   

[Ron Sower]

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.

[PaulineMi]

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.