dose miracle grow

[skybox]

Does anyone out there have any experience dosing miricle grow daily? I tried it for a few days but i think i was overdoing it as i woke up one morning and my fish were panting for air at the surface and 3 of my fish were dead. I had put in about 10 drops the night before which was obviously to much.

55 gallon community
ph 6.6-6.8
kh 2
gh 3-4
miracle grow african violet mix 5-10 drops daily for about 4 days and then i quit after the dead fish discovery

[got_nailed]

I don’t think Miracle Grow African Violet Mix is good for your plants much less your fish. There is a lot of junk that gets put in to it like dies, heavy mantels (copper being one of the main ones added), and I for get what acid is added to keep the soil’s hp from going off the roof.

BUT I have not tried using Miracle Grow and would not use it as a poor man’s fertilizer unless I saw on a lot of sites where it has been done. It might be safer for your plants but I don’t think that the fish will be able to live in the water.

Most of the cheap fertilizers would go towards… http://www.aquariacentral.com/forum...&threadid=12585

“For Traces - use Flourish - 10mls 2x week
For Nitrate (N) - use (KNO3), such as Spectracide Stump Remover, Salt Petre, Green Light Stump Remover, Grant's Stump Remover
For Phosphate (P) - use Fleet Enema (KH2PO4) - 3 or 4 drops after water change. Test at mid week and if under .5ppm dose again to reach 1.0ppm.
For Potassium (K) - use No-Salt / Nu-Salt (KCL) - 1/4 tsp. per 20 gals. after water change. Or you can mix a stock solution and keep in the refrigerator. Mix 1tbsp. K2SO4 with tap water in a 300ml bottle. Shake WELL until dissolved and dose 10ml 2x week in a tank of 30 gal. And over and 1x week in a tank smaller than 30 gal.”



In my tanks I’m using some of those items and a Flourish Excel to help with the Co2/organic Carbon because I’m to cheap to get a real Co2 setup.

Flourish $7.29 for 500ml, lasts about 2 months
Green Light Stump Remover $4.99 for 1 lbs (I think), should last about 3 months.
Fleet Enema $2.99 for a 2 pack (not on sale) 4.5 oz each, should last 6 months.
No-Salt $3.95 for 3 oz, should last 6 months.
Flourish Excel 500 ml, about 2 months.

This mix is being used in 4 of my 20 gallon and in my 75 gallon planted tanks.

The time that that chemical list will last me is a guess because I have not run out of all those things and the usage dose change depending on the weekly test of my water.

I did remove some of those chemicals form the original containers so no one would think I was doing something funny with the Fleet and my fish. Or I was trying to use stump remover to get rid of my drift wood.

[Tom.E]

The Miracle-Gro products use ammonia as a nitrogen source (ammonium nitrate, ammonium phosphate, etc). Not something you want to add to water with fish in it.


Tom

[QCppg]

If your tank is cycled you shouldn't need any fertilizer.

[TPIRman]

Most non-low-tech planted tanks need fertilizer for healthy growth. It has nothing to do with the nitrogen cycle. Skybox, got_nailed helped you out with a good link to a sticky on this forum. To help you further, we need to know what kind of lighting you have and what kind of plants you're trying to grow. I'm sorry to hear about your fish losses -- I would stop dosing the Miracle-Gro immediately, as others have recommended.

[plantbrain]

Stay away from any house hold indoor/outdoor plant fertilizers.

If you want to improve plant growth/health: add CO2 and maybe more light if you have less than 1.25 w gal or so.
CO2 will help much more because it(Carbon) composes roghly 40%+ of the dry weight of a plant while things like nitrogen might only have 1.5 % and K+ only 1% of the total dry biomass.

Low light tanks, non CO2 tanks can often use only fish waste to have enough N, K, P etc. Ideallly this is often the aquarist's goal.

Regards,
Tom Barr