Top complaints about fertilisers- Please post complaints.

redchigh

I'm a bit of an inventor and entrepreneur... The best way to invent something is to improve on a common product..

Anyone have any complaints about fertilisers that I could improve on?

Ideas-

Difficult to dose accurately
'Comprehensive' fertilisers are impossible to adjust for parameters (high nitrates, etc) and lighting levels..
Possible Toxicity
Expense\
High shipping costs

zof

Forgetting to dose, a slow release cube (for water column nutrients) would be awesome for ferts something that would last 2 weeks to a month would be awesome.

Mikaila31

why are liquid ferts so ridiculously expensive.

LasColinasCichlids

I find the price for the amount on my ferts to be acceptable. I use Flourish Comprehensive and I find the dosing to be easy, and the price okay considering I only pay like $8 for the bottle and the bottle lasts about 6-9 months for me. I say dosing is easy because the full cap is for a 60g, I have a 30g and a 15g...so half a cap for the big tank, and a 1/4 cap for the small tank.

My BIGGEST issue is my memory!!! I am ALWAYS forgetting to dose, or forgetting WHEN I last dosed, chancing an overdose if possible! Another issue is the bottles themselves, using the cap causing drippage of the ferts onto the bottle, which can leave a stain ring on light colored counters, and for Flourish, the smell is far from pleasant. So maybe bottles need a separate dosing unit, or a special lip on the bottle for an easy pour spout, or both.

zof

Use a oral dosing syringe, you will never use the caps again and you will have alot less spillage and be much more accurate then half a cap or quarter of a cap dosage. You can get them at your local pharmacy, some pet places sell them to like dr's for cheaper, I own 4 because I love them so much and they are so cheap.

LasColinasCichlids

OMG! I feel dumb for never thinking of that! LOL

Awesome thought, i will pick some up next Wednesday while at the pharmacy!

Thank you!!!

Byron

A kitchen measuring spoon also works. I use a half teaspoon, which is 2.5 ml, for Flourish. And with the largest (2 litre) jug, this easily goes in the mouth (you can tip the jug slightly as the volume lowers). 1/2 tsp treats 30g, so in my 115g it is 4 spoons, in the 90g 3 spoons, in the 70g 2 spoons, in the 33g 1 spoon, etc. And I always does the day following the water change, which is Wed every week, so less likely to forget.

redchigh

I thought about a cube, sort of like those magic shells, except with nutrients in them that slowly dissolve... A bonus is that they also produce CO2.

Downside? They raise the Kh. Right now I'm experimenting with a spray bottle... I dose dry ferts, so I mixed them with a little excel, and worked the math out so I dose 2 sprays per gallon. No measuring, no mixing, just squirt, squirt, and I'm off.


I'm pretty sure the biggest cost is the label...It's funny, the one thing that bothers me the most about off-the-shelf fertilisers is the assumption that-

this tank-

requires the same fertilisers as

this tank

(disregarding CO2)