Seachem Product Question

Yo man, do not add this. It's bad logic.

Listen, number one rule IN LIFE, not just fish stuff, "If it ain't broke, don't fix it". Are your plants dying? Are your fish dying? Is your water nasy? If you don't have any problems, don't start trying to fix s#!*. You should avoid adding chemicals if at all possible.

If you start noticing a problem, try to determine what the problem is, then find out how to resolve it.

This stuff isn't a fertilizer anyway. It's for RO/DI water. With RO water, your GH and KH are ZERO with a pH of 7.0. With a hardness of zero, any fertilizers or co2 you add to the water is going to cause HUGE pH swings. It's called buffering capacity. Hardness is used to determine how well your water can handle these additions.

In order to use RO/DI water, you have to reconstitute it. Meaning, you have to put the buffering capacity back in so it can handle the pH swings(what it does is, it minimizes the effect. With zero harness, the addition of co2 has the potential to drop your pH from 7.0 to 4.0, instead of from 7.0 to 6.4...just an example, not exact figures). This stuff is intended to reconstitute RO/DI water. It's not meant for tap water.

I realize you spent two bucks on it, but, give it away or something. You don't need it. Go on www.drsfosterandsmith.com, put together an order of stuff you want, and include the API Master Test Kit for $15.00 or whatever it is and get a GH and KH test. Truthfully, all you really need right now is pH, GH, and KH. The other tests can wait. If you suspect you'd like to mess with GH, you MUST test first. Messing with GH without the ability to test is Russion Roullette. You are BEGGING to screw something up. Water chemistry is delicate. Your fish and your plants will not be happy if you start messing with their water without knowing what's going on. You'll never know how high you get your GH, nor will you be able to judge just how high it'll raise.

Until you have the cash to get a test kit, I promise your water is fine as it is.
 
Jeffrey is the MAN and I bow to his knowledge, Not to knock others, just he's been a abig help in the past. I wont add it then. it does say its ok with tap just check first. i know, i know. i -was- in the thinking it'd be ok if I under dose and look at it as a fert more than a buffer since my water is tap and I would be under-dosing.

But not to further a argument and im totally calm- but im still lost a bit. Im not going to add it. but again, with comments youve made im lost like.

"If it ain't broke, don't fix it". Are your plants dying? Are your fish dying? Is your water nasy? If you don't have any problems, don't start trying to fix s#!*. You should avoid adding chemicals if at all possible.

people dont have plants dying but add ferts? and then just do WC each week with tap?

So like with my tetra florapride. i add 10ml a line on the bottle each week after a 50% WC on sun. Thats messed up right? cause I dont know my pottasium and iron concentrations already?

Kinda like when I added co2??? I didnt test? People said its impossible with 1 2L and a normal mix to o.d. a 5g and 10g?

I guess I just need it worded diff ways? I get some of it. Like it would be a better situation or question about it, if it didnt mess with gh too. if it was just a fert mix in a bottle instead of a fert with GH functions.

I thought if I under dosed that it really wouldnt effect my GH and lend more of its use to the plants?

I thankyou. and I hope your not cursing your screen at me?
 
FtwayneFish said:
Jeffrey is the MAN and I bow to his knowledge, Not to knock others, just he's been a abig help in the past. I wont add it then. it does say its ok with tap just check first. i know, i know. i -was- in the thinking it'd be ok if I under dose and look at it as a fert more than a buffer since my water is tap and I would be under-dosing.

But not to further a argument and im totally calm- but im still lost a bit. Im not going to add it. but again, with comments youve made im lost like.

"If it ain't broke, don't fix it". Are your plants dying? Are your fish dying? Is your water nasy? If you don't have any problems, don't start trying to fix s#!*. You should avoid adding chemicals if at all possible.

people dont have plants dying but add ferts? and then just do WC each week with tap?
Click to expand...

People add ferts when there is a deficiency(i.e., problem). You start seeing your plants turn yellow, the leaves are very small, growth is stunted. These are problems, the cause is a deficiency, and the solution is to add ferts. Problem--->Solution. Something was broken, so people fix it.

FtwayneFish said:
So like with my tetra florapride. i add 10ml a line on the bottle each week after a 50% WC on sun. Thats messed up right? cause I dont know my pottasium and iron concentrations already?
Click to expand...

It's hard to know your K and Fe levels. That's why a lot of people use EI. So, first off, it's safe to assume there is no potassium(K) in your tap water. Second, you can get information about your tap water from your water board, including iron concentration. Usually you can find it online at your water board's website. This will give you an idea of where your iron is coming out of your tap. This is a great tool.

Don't get too excited though, the information from your water board will also tell you pH, gH, and KH of yoru water. However, this information has the ability to change once the water goes in your tank, and therefore doesn't pertain to your aquarium water. Once in the aquarium, all three of those numbers have the ability to change.




FtwayneFish said:
Kinda like when I added co2??? I didnt test? People said its impossible with 1 2L and a normal mix to o.d. a 5g and 10g?

I guess I just need it worded diff ways? I get some of it. Like it would be a better situation or question about it, if it didnt mess with gh too. if it was just a fert mix in a bottle instead of a fert with GH functions.

I thought if I under dosed that it really wouldnt effect my GH and lend more of its use to the plants?

I thankyou. and I hope your not cursing your screen at me?
Click to expand...

So, co2 can affect your aquarium in two ways. One, it's a poison to animals. We(as in anmials, including your fish), can toleate certain levels. If you get the level too high, we can't tolerate it anymore. Therefore, this would be an overdose. Death to fish.

Next, co2 drops your pH. We are all aware of this. Adding as much co2 as we(plant keepers) do, it has the potential to drop your pH a lot. Therefore, it is suggested that your gH be at least 4 to add co2. This gives you a minimum buffering capacity that is strong enough to minimize the pH effects of co2 at the levels we are dealing with. Clearly, if you start adding more co2(levels higher than 30ppm), your pH will start to drop even more, because you are exceeding GH=4's buffering capcity. However, this isn't really a concern, because you want to avoid higher levels of co2(higher than 30 ppm) anyway, because your fish will be dead.
 
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k, gettin clearer. but like the plants. I thought people add ferts when there plants arnt dying. they add a lil bit not to over do it and the plants thrive? and then you cut that back if you get too much algae? cause you cant as easily cut back the hrs or co2 output. I mean you ca, but your lights are on 10hrs and then your output with 2L is whatever it is.

I totally feel like your swearing at the screen for sure. but I think im not getting my thinking worded right. I understand the casue and effects. but if my dosage is so minute that it wouldnt make a ripple in the chemistry of GH. but it would fert the plants just a bit. I mean maybe a pinch. literally a pinch you'd add like salt on something.

I "mis-use" tetra florapride now then? and havnt had any ill effects. I thought something must be wrong I dont have any mistakes? i mean b4 the co2 at 5,2wpg on my 5g the glass algae was bad. not cant see bad. I'd say i'd take 5 days to make it so you couldnt see that well in the tank. I added co2 and 5 ottos and havnt had to clean it in the 2 weeks since co2 addment.

So im still not goin to add the equilibrium GH buffer and plant fertilizer, maybe when I get my GH-KH test kit. Then I'll be back again to ask a whole bunch more ?'s lol.

Thanks Jeffrey. I know it looks like your spinning your wheels. I'll try and find that thread aswell that gave me some of my ideas.
 
But you aren't adding ferts by adding Equilibrium. In fact if you add too much calcium and there isn't enough macro ferts then yuo will cause damage to your plants. Same thing with Magnisium. Ferts need to be dosed in such a way that there is no single excess. Balance is very important to not end up stunting the growth, having algae blooms or just plain melting away certain plants like Crypts.

If you want to check on adding ferts to plants and getting better growth I would I highly suggest going to a site like aquaticplantcentral.com where they have lots of stickied articles in the forums for different fert regiemes. They also have a forum devoted to Seachem products where Seachem reps answer your questions.
 
I think you were meaning to say KH of around 4 for buffering capacity, not GH. The KH thing is also not all the important, many add unnecessary crushed coral and baking soda. other add co2 with KH that doesnt even register a full 1, no problems (just expectedly lower pH). GH test kits measure total magnesium and calcium, both of which are important for plants. it is not unheard of to add such products for the sake of the plants, so for a second here I am going to take opposite stance... its just beneficial to actually test your GH first. If its through the roof or even 'normal' you dont probably need to worry about it. If it is very soft, and you have a high light / high growth tank, you could become calcium or magnesium deficient. For example many have used Tom Barr's GH booster to ensure non-limiting calcium and magnesium (plus potassium and sulfur) http://www.aquariumfertilizer.com/store/barrs_gh_booster.php but I do not know how this compares to Seach. Eq. though. Or just use calcium sulfate and magnesium sulfate.

I would also try do a search on more plant specific sites like APC, ThePlantedTank, TheBarrReport, for GH related info and plants.

I want to clarify that I am not saying that adding this to the tank is bad. Adding anything to a tank without a reason or understanding is bad. it could very well be your water is so soft that the whole bottle you bought would hardly do anything... but you dont know unless you test it or observe the plants, and understand when it is appropriate to add.

[edit]A few have posted during the 2 hours I had this on the screen and forgot to hit the send button...

TKOS said:
But you aren't adding ferts by adding Equilibrium.
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That might just be a matter of terminology. Fetrs, nutrients, trace elements, things that plants need... etc

TKOS said:
In fact if you add too much calcium and there isn't enough macro ferts then yuo will cause damage to your plants. Same thing with Magnesium. Ferts need to be dosed in such a way that there is no single excess. Balance is very important to not end up stunting the growth, having algae blooms or just plain melting away certain plants like Crypts.
Click to expand...

This is pretty much been disproven for quite some time. I cant speak for calcium and magnesium in particular, but in general its been proven that a slight excess of ferts over long term has no ill effect, nor huge excess of nutrients over the short term. You'll see folks like Barr using the term 'non-limiting' nutrient levels rather than 'balanced' levels now-a-days.
 
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Actually Seachem's Equilibrium is exactly what you need. Equilibrium does NOT affect pH at all. (Seachem makes other products for that). Equilibrium is designed for planted tanks, to give plants extra nutrients.

Equilibrium is not a buffer.

I have a tank of large Amazon Swords, and for a long while they looked bad and failed to grow. I tried Equilibrium and their growth took off.

Kent Marine makes a product called RO Right. It does affect pH. I think it is just marine salts repackaged.

I have used both products, and Equilibrium is better for plants.



Potassium, Magnesium, Iron, etc.

Sounds like plant food to me. Works like plant food too.

If it was just a GH booster it would NOT contain potassium, iron, or manganese.

Potassium, iron, and manganese are plant nutrients.

The Equilibrium bottle even has plants on the label. Seachem designed it for planted tanks.

Trust me. I've done the research. And I've used the product for years.
 
clips from thread^^^


loaches r cool. see thats what im thinking. Just a bit wont hurt for the plants sake.

I wonder if tombarrs is close in comparison?
 
Guaranteed Analysis of Equilibrium(Amounts per 1 g)Soluble Potassium (K20)
23.0%​








Calcium (Ca)
8.06%​








Magnesium (Mg)
2.41%​








Soluble Iron (Fe)
0.11%​








Soluble Manganese (Mn)
0.06%​










Guaranteed Analysis of FlourishTotal Nitrogen
0.07%​








Available Phosphate ( P2O5)
0.01%​








Soluble Potash
0.37%​








Calcium (Ca)
0.14%​








Magnesium (Mg)
0.11%​








Sulfur (S)
0.2773%​








Boron (B)
0.009%​








Chlorine (Cl)
1.15%​








Cobalt (Co)
0.0004%​








Copper (Cu)
0.0001%​








Iron (Fe)
0.32%​








Manganese (Mn)
0.0118%​








Molybdenum (Mo)
0.0009%​








Sodium (Na)
0.13%​








Zinc (Zn)
0.0007%​





Yes, for symantec's sake, we can call equilibrium "fertilizer". It's minerals. And yes, plants do use them, but they are traces. You're plants don't need a lot. They need a trace amount, hence "traces". At these levels, Equilibrium is more of a GH booster, not a fertilizer.​


Rex Grigg put it best, Traces are to plants what vitamins are to us. Traces are a vitamin pill, NPK is the meal.​

You are getting distracted by these "fertilizers". These things won't help your plants grow without NPK(nitrogen, phosphates, potassium). NPK are what the plants need, not more traces. It's all about balance. In order for your plants to need this level of calcium and magnesium, you'd have to dose so much NPK you'd be growing a forest.​

I love this part:​

Rusty Ray said:
The Equilibrium bottle even has plants on the label. Seachem designed it for planted tanks.​


Trust me. I've done the research. And I've used the product for years.
Click to expand...


If it's got plants on the bottle, it MUST be a fertilizer. Man, the logic is undeniable.:wall::liar:​
 
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