Jobe's plant spikes

[Skippy]

I have seen severeal references to using these in planted tanks. I am having toruble finding those at the stores I frequent around Dallas.

I have although seen miracle grow spikes, and some "mainstay" spikes which seem to be the WalMart in house brand.

Is there any comparison anywhere as to which of thse are more or less effective in planted tanks and why? I havent been able to find one yet. Has anybody out there had experience trying to use all three for comparison?

 

[MMX]

I bought both the Miracle-Gro & "Jobe's 16-2-6: For Lush Ferns & Palms" from Walmart the other day.

I dare not put Miracle-Gro in my tank as I've heard that Miracle-Gro may have too much phosphates for aquarium use.

My amazon swords respond really well to Jobe's with emergence of new "green" blades.

 

[odessa]

If you do use jobes spikes make sure they stay buried at all times or you will be a great candidate for algae outbreaks. So if you do allot of pruning or moving of plants every time you disturb the substrate you risk leaching into the water column. I wouldn't use them, most plants utilize nutrients better from the water column than the substrate,unless you are growing swords or crypt sp.

 

[djlen]

Thank you for that post Odessa.....I always wondered if it was worth the risk of leaching to put them into the substrate. And I was unaware that plants get most of their nutrients from the water table. Appreciate it!!!
Len

 

[downloader]

Are those sticks safe to use with fish?

 

[plantbrain]

Plants will get the nutrients from the roots mostly if nothing is in the water column.

But if there are nutrients in the water column then plants will take it in there instead.

It's not the PO4 that's the issue with algae using these or regular house hold fertilizers like Miracle Grow, things in bags with N-P-K and three numbers on the side.
Those have a fair amount of urea and NH4, ammonium. That's the stuff that causes the algae in planted tanks.
Read the labels.

I can add lot and lots of PO4. No algae. I can add lot of K, no algae.
I can a fair amount of NO3, no algae. I add a smal, amount of NH4, I get algae. I add 1-2 too many fish, I get algae(Their waste is NH4 and urea etc, some PO4 also).

You can try this yourself with the individual chemicals later on someday.
I have not found jobes to be that effective.
They are find for a slow growing tank with few nutrients in the water and a light fish load.
Adding a few more fish or better yet, more algae eaters, will take care of some of that(Add more N but not too much).

Regards,
Tom Barr

 

[Skippy]

Thanks for the responses guys.

I was just noticing some people saying they were using them, and wondering what the differences were. I am currently using some root tabs int he substrate along with my flourish and c02 injection and seeing nice results, but was wondering if that might be an easier way to accomplish the same.

Looks like I'll just stick with my root tabls for now instead.