Can I dose CSM+B?

jaidexl · #1 10/12/2007, 12:19 PM

Hello everyone, plant nerd here currently reading up and learning how to care for marine plants and macros. I'm still caught in the current between FW and SW but it's all clearing up quick enough. My question is, I have lots of dry NPK that I use in my FW planted tanks, can I dose Plantex CSM+B in SW for the Fe? Will the other traces be useful? Or should I just get ahold of some Fe?

Here's the makeup of Plantex CSM+B if it'll help anyone answer easier.

Fe 6.53%
Mn 1.87%
Mg 1.40%
Zn 0.37%
Cu 0.09%
Mo 0.05%
B 1.18%
Co 0.00%

lancer99 · #2 10/12/2007, 03:05 PM

Copper is highly toxic to inverts, so unless you don't plan on keeping any, you're probably better off not chancing it....

-R

jaidexl · #3 10/12/2007, 03:44 PM

Yeah, this macro tank is also a mantis tank for the time being, so good thing you pointed that out, I wasn't sure if that was a negligible level or not. Better safe than sorry I suppose. Thanks R!

Samala · #4 10/17/2007, 09:07 PM

I'm not sure that it isnt a negligible level actually. Remind me, isnt Plantex sold in dry form and then mixed to a certain percentage with water? Then you dose from that stock solution?

So far with marine planteds we've been playing it very safe and adding back in trace elements with water changes (hoping that salt mixes provide enough) and playing with iron because of past anecdoctal evidence that it was needed more readily and made an impact on growth rates.

If you want to experiment, I would look into Copper levels from seagrass beds and near-reef environments and see how that would play out with dosing Plantex. Maybe you would still be far under toxic levels. (?)

>Sarah

piercho · #5 10/19/2007, 11:32 PM

Sarah glad to see you still cruise by at random intervals. I'd like to poo-poo fear and loathing of Cu as a superstitious holdover from those ig'nant enough to bomb a reef tank trying to treat ich. But if you go back to the surveys Shimek did of some reef tanks (2001), Cu typically is found at much higher levels in our tanks than in NSW. It could be present in a chelated, relatively non-toxic form, but there is still an abundance of it. So I'd be reluctant to add it on purpose, myself. It Is Still in the Water

jaidexl · #6 10/23/2007, 06:37 PM

Yeah, it might be negligible, but better not to add it on purpose when there are plenty of Fe alternatives. More Plantex for my FW plants, that's all.

Thanks for the responses, everyone.