New Tropica Fertiliser - Plant Growth Specialised Fertiliser

tat

Junior Poster
Oct 16, 2012
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Hi,

It seems Tropica is replacing TPN and TPN+ with new products.

From my understading, TPN+ is replaced by Plant Growth Specialised Fertiliser:

Tropica Plant Growth Specialised Fertiliser Properties Specialised Fertiliser contains all essential nutrients needed including nitrogen (N) and phosphorus (P)


View attachment 4163

Anyone know anything more about this new products? Is the formula already public?
 

tat

Junior Poster
Oct 16, 2012
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1
Hi,

I got some feedback from Tropica:

Hello

Thanks for your mail and the nice feedback regarding our products!
Yes, the specialised fertiliser is the samen as Plant Nutrition +, only the packing and name has changed.
Kind regards,

Lene


Regarding micro fertilization, using Tropica product, do you confirm, the recommended dosing is around 5ml 3x week, for a 20G tank?
 

Tom Barr

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Tat, yes, that's a very old range, you might try and bit more than that these days due to increases in PAR from lighting changes in the last 20 years.
 

Petex

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The Tropica+ fertilizer contains imo (too) much N and just only very little P04.
Depending on setup there may be also some K, Fe and so on the lean side - but you will mostly end up with plenty N.

MasterGrow->Plant Nutrition->Specialised Series
Seems Tropica likes to rename things - but it is somehow odd that they never improve(d) at last their "old" fertilizers.
 
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Tom Barr

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FYI, I've never used the macro fertilizer from Tropica.

That was developed from a discussion Claus and I had back in 1998.
I think many have since started adding a lot more PO4.

Many of the products stay the same even if trends in the hobby move around.
Sometimes they adjust, but rarely IME.

Easier to come out with yet another product to fill those gaps.
 

Petex

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I use the Tropica stuff since longer time and it doesn´t matter if Soil or No Soil:
The tanks show after a while mostly 20-35ppm N03 and nearly zero (0) Po4.
Some tanks also lack FE, K.

So, I mostly dose addional Fe-traces and also 2x week additional Po4 (sometimes K, too).

I am not pleased about this,
imo if they would reduce the Nitrogen amount just a little bit, you could overdose it more -without building up more and more N03.

Well, there is also another fertilizer like TPN+ around, it is called TNC complete (looks a little bit like a "Tropica-plagiat" :D ):
http://www.thenutrientcompany.com/portfolio/tnc-complete-aquarium-plant-food/
 
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Paulo Soares

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Aug 1, 2014
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Petex said:
I use the Tropica stuff since longer time and it doesn´t matter if Soil or No Soil:
The tanks show after a while mostly 20-35ppm N03 and nearly zero (0) Po4.


Some tanks also lack FE, K.


So, I mostly dose addional Fe-traces and also 2x week additional Po4 (sometimes K, too).


I am not pleased about this,


imo if they would reduce the Nitrogen amount just a little bit, you could overdose it more -without building up more and more N03.


Well, there is also another fertilizer like TPN+ around, it is called TNC complete (looks a little bit like a "Tropica-plagiat" :D ):


http://www.thenutrientcompany.com/portfolio/tnc-complete-aquarium-plant-food/



Good afernoon Petex and Tom ,


I can´t figure out why a brand like Tropica would do such a thing concerning the PO4.

"Many of the products stay the same even if trends in the hobby move around"

Or that they don´t change it in time if they were aware of the lack of PO4.


I know the Tropica Spec is not made for heavy planted tanks. So if we use it we need to increase a lot the amount given each day/week.


But that would increase also PO4 and not only N.


I know the premium is to work in accordance to Specialized.


For instance if you intend to reduce N or P and increase K than you reduce your weekly dose of Spec and balance with Premium.


Specialized contains :


N - 1.340


P - 0.100


K - 1.030


So.. in your opinion how much should Specialized have of P?


Best Regards
 

Paulo Soares

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Or in another words.. by your statements i assume that someone´s using Specialized should be alongside incrementing PO4.


So..in your point of view what would be the weekly target amount of PO4 (salt dissolved) we should increase to the tank to achieve a well balanced fertilization along with the Specialized?


Best regards
 

Amanda Adkins

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Phosphates, PO4, have a tendency to build up in the substrate and also find their way into tanks in fish food and as impurities in other fertilizers. This can contribute to an algae bloom. Potassium is a more vital nutrient to be adding than phosphates. Macros are structural ingredients for growth and development. How can you build a strong building or plant without the proper and enough building materials. You can achieve the same results with dry fertilizers that cost less to buy and ship. When you buy liquid fertilizers, you are paying fertilizer prices for water.
 

Paulo Soares

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Julia Adkins said:
Phosphates, PO4, have a tendency to build up in the substrate and also find their way into tanks in fish food and as impurities in other fertilizers. This can contribute to an algae bloom. Potassium is a more vital nutrient to be adding than phosphates. Macros are structural ingredients for growth and development. How can you build a strong building or plant without the proper and enough building materials. You can achieve the same results with dry fertilizers that cost less to buy and ship. When you buy liquid fertilizers, you are paying fertilizer prices for water.



Hello Julia,


This would lead us to a conversation i had plenty of times about costs versus benefits. For a couple of years i used dry salts in my tank and the problems and headache i had with it didn´t compensate. Sorry but IMHO the Estimate Index doesn´t pay off.


In my ultimate assembling i´m using Tropica ferts and guess what.. no Diatoms ( those bastards everybody used to say that is normal in recent or new tanks!! another thing i don´t believe also ) no algae that couldn´t be solved in a couple of days. Just had an apointment of BBA cause of a failure of my co2 but allready solved with H2O2. Not Seachem Excel like many does.. and here i agree with you that would be a waste of money dealing with BBA with Seachem Ecell instead of H2O2 witch is a lot lot lot cheaper. 1 liter 1 euro ;)


Sorry but for my experience the use of "Ei" is not worth it. I´m no chemistry or fisician or something in course.. to kept trying and trying diferent formulas, or try to understand wich salt is in lack or if my formula precipitates.. cause maybe .. just maybe.. also the chemistry of my tap water need a diferent aproach in Ei. So bottom line how many formulas should i try till i get a cool one? To many equations do you understand?


And in result? Always with problems.


Now.. let´s face it.


Glasses? Difuser? Lily Pipes ? Always clean!


With the Ei every week i had to clean and clean.. had GSA.. GDA.. Brown Algae.. you name it!


At this moment my tank is the same, my lights are the same, my substrate is Tropica´s complete line, my filter is the same, everything is the same Julia. Just one thing i did change in this last assembling. The ferts. And now i´m happy. Explain this?


Why great aquascapers (most of them) only use tropica or Elos or ADA? Why so much friends of us deal badly with Ei? If you´re in foruns you know what i´m saying. But then again,.. is never Ei the issue. People Always blame CO2 or someting else as the most common answer i watch where problems exists.


I´m not saying Ei is the issue. Maybe i´m to dumb.. but i have to speak for my experience.


Best regards
 

Tom Barr

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f you have the salts, then you simply adjust the KNO3 and the KH2PO4, then you get about 15-20ppm NO3 and 3-5 ppm of PO4.


Many do not add much PO4, there is a long stigma about PO4. And if one thing is limited strongly or even moderately, then the others build up more, but water changes prevent much issue there.


Also, a scape does not imply anything about the ferts to the water. A scape is based more on art, less on actual long term routines.


ADA and Tropica soil etc, there's a lot of ferts in there. I see plenty of ADA tanks in bad shape also. You only seem to suggest that the ADA and Elos tanks are always nice, they are not. All methods have issues, the issue is less to do with the methods, rather, the user.


ADA and Elos often sell the entire packages, which means they sell the lights............which are lower power in most cases than most other brands. I've measured a number of these full set ups and have provided the data to support this. That really makes a huge difference. They also suggest redoing the tank every 1-2 years and replacing the soil. This is because the soil runs out of N mostly. It is easier for many hobbyists in that respect, but many hobbyists will no pay the $ for the pricy brands and names, products etc. So ADA cannot be all things to all people, not by a long shot.


I would use H2O2 over Excel or Easy carb also if I needed it.


As far as EI, if you limit something, say PO4 moderately, then the issues with CO2 will go away, because PO4 is a bit more limiting than CO2, and algae responds better to PO4 limitation than CO2 issues. This has been shown for a very long time. But the relationship is indirect, and in accordance with Liebig's law. As we also have nice examples of tanks that operate very well with no issues with high PO4/NO3/Traces etc...and no algae issues of any sort.


This goes back to the lighting, the routine, the aquarist. Not the general ranges of ppm of a nutrient.


Those are relative minor compared to light and CO2. you can vary the ppm's and ratios over a very wid erange without issues for logn time frames....if..the light and CO2 are balanced well. And the lower moderate light with rich CO2 tend to be the most robust of all.


I've had these same conversations for 20+ years.


Example: my 70 Gallon Buce tank, which I dose EI, actually higher, and I have zero such issues with any algae.





Soil will help some as well tannins, and lower the KH some in many cases, that has a strong effect in many cases.


Over time, that effect wears off.


Generally, rich soils will help over time for most aquarist.


But they are not required, but they can add the primary or a good backup for the water column fert sources.


I use both.


Still, a specific goal is not going to have every method equally the same end result.


But..........we can rule out what is not the issue. Then that leaves us with more likely issues, mostly limiting another nutrient, CO2, or light.


Light alone is poorly tested and measured, that leads to all sorts of headaches.


CO2 use, also poorly adjusted and tested. Nutrients are pretty easy on the other hand.


So they tend to be the thing hobbyists blame. Ask Tropica about this. Light(too much) and poor CO2.