I put Rose Fertilizer in my Tank

[ThePurple12]

Last summer I put probably 2 cups of this stuff (https://jobescompany.com/product/jobes-organics-knock-out-rose-granular) in my tank to fertilize the sand bed for my seagrass. I’ve been having problems with my corals ever since. I wonder if something’s been slowly leaching out of it?

I’ve covered every other possibility I can think of. My params are stable and at good numbers.

The ingredients in the fertilizer are located on the website. Any wisdom?

 

[josvanmeer]

Parameters stable and good numbers? Your corals are down for a reason. Fertilizer is nitrogen and phosphorus neither which should be added to a reef tank unless you have low nutrient issues, and even then dosing it is for experts.

Post all parameters here please incl trace elements and phosphates.

 

[ThePurple12]

Parameters stable and good numbers? Your corals are down for a reason. Fertilizer is nitrogen and phosphorus neither which should be added to a reef tank unless you have low nutrient issues, and even then dosing it is for experts.

Post all parameters here please incl trace elements and phosphates.

My nitrate is 5 and phosphate .1. I’m purposefully dosing both to make sure dinos stay away.

Calcium 400, Alk 8. That’s all I test for. Stable

 

[josvanmeer]

Are you running carbon? If not I would advise to run it for a while to clean any contamination from your tank, if yes I would send of an icp test to triton if I were you.

 

[ThePurple12]

I am running carbon, but was under the impression that it only removes organics?

I will look into an ICP test.

 

[Jilly92]

Are you running carbon? If not I would advise to run it for a while to clean any contamination from your tank, if yes I would send of an icp test to triton if I were you.

How do you send icp test?

 

[cwerner]

How do you send icp test?

Those are ICP Tests. You take a sample of your Tank Water and RODI water and send those to a lab who run an ICP Test on it and send you the results. I've had good results from this and Triton.

 

[Crabby48]

i would stick with triton or I hear good results with ati icp. I have zero trust in icp analysis from prior experience

 

[ThePurple12]

i would stick with triton or I hear good results with ati icp. I have zero trust in icp analysis from prior experience

Can you elaborate?

 

[Crabby48]

Can you elaborate?

I had two results that seemed odd with icp analysts so I don’t trust them. Searching around seemed others had the same problem. One thing was uranium levels was so high the tank would flow half wAy around the world.

I trust triton and friends had good luck with ati and triton.

Just my experience as others would probably disagree

 

[Skynyrd Fish]

Plus one on ATI and it does your RO/DI water. Triton is great also, no ro tes though.

 

[flampton]

You added two cups of a 3:4:3 fertilizer with chicken feathers, chicken manure, chicken bones and random dirt microbes, which is 2/3 pound or around 300 grams.

So you added 9 grams of nitrogen, 12 grams of phosphate, and 9 grams of potassium.

I don't know how big your tank is but let's say it's 100 gallons, which is around 375 liters.

This means you added 24 ppm nitrogen, 32 ppm phosphate, and 24 ppm potassium.

Plus whatever else is in the feathers, bones, manure and bacteria

Not surprised corals aren't happy. I'd rip the bed and add fresh substrate.

Don't bother with an ICP as it doesn't tell you anything about problematic organics or organisms. Plus all you can do if a mineral is off is rip the bed anyways.

 

[ThePurple12]

You added two cups of a 3:4:3 fertilizer with chicken feathers, chicken manure, chicken bones and random dirt microbes, which is 2/3 pound or around 300 grams.

So you added 9 grams of nitrogen, 12 grams of phosphate, and 9 grams of potassium.

I don't know how big your tank is but let's say it's 100 gallons, which is around 375 liters.

This means you added 24 ppm nitrogen, 32 ppm phosphate, and 24 ppm potassium.

Plus whatever else is in the feathers, bones, manure and bacteria

Not surprised corals aren't happy. I'd rip the bed and add fresh substrate.

Don't bother with an ICP as it doesn't tell you anything about problematic organics or organisms. Plus all you can do if a mineral is off is rip the bed anyways.

What do you mean by "problematic organics or organisms"?

The tank is 125 gallons-- very close! My n and p are at good levels, so that's not the problem. Potassium worries me, as I was dosing potassium n and p for a while before switching to sodium n and p. Before I rip the sand bed and remove all the seagrass and microorganisms (or just rinse it, should produce the same result?) I'd like to make sure it's not something that can be fixed with a large water change.

 

[Jilly92]

Those are ICP Tests. You take a sample of your Tank Water and RODI water and send those to a lab who run an ICP Test on it and send you the results. I've had good results from this and Triton.

Awesome ty

 

[josvanmeer]

What do you mean by "problematic organics or organisms"?

The tank is 125 gallons-- very close! My n and p are at good levels, so that's not the problem. Potassium worries me, as I was dosing potassium n and p for a while before switching to sodium n and p. Before I rip the sand bed and remove all the seagrass and microorganisms (or just rinse it, should produce the same result?) I'd like to make sure it's not something that can be fixed with a large water change.

When something is leeching, which your sandbed is probably doing your water samples will only read so much at a certain time, leeching happens constantly and over time so the real problem is not taking care of the source which is your sand bed. You probably have to strip that tank. For future reference, dont ever put fertilizer in a reef tank. I didnt read what was in that specific bag but as said above there usually is literal cow **** in those bags. As you can imagine; people probably dont take a deuce in their reef tank for obvious reasons, you kind of did but without the graphic content. If you catch our gist, I think you have to redo that whole substrate and use something brand new.

 

[ThePurple12]

When something is leeching, which your sandbed is probably doing your water samples will only read so much at a certain time, leeching happens constantly and over time so the real problem is not taking care of the source which is your sand bed. You probably have to strip that tank. For future reference, dont ever put fertilizer in a reef tank. I didnt read what was in that specific bag but as said above there usually is literal cow **** in those bags. As you can imagine; people probably dont take a deuce in their reef tank for obvious reasons, you kind of did but without the graphic content. If you catch our gist, I think you have to redo that whole substrate and use something brand new.

Oh yeah, didn't think of that. While I don't have a problem with cow poop (is it really any different than fish poop?), there must be something else leaching from it. Looks like I'm in for a lot of work.

Putting that stuff in my tank was probably the stupidest thing I've ever done;Drool;Drool

 

[ThePurple12]

Can I thoroughly rinse the sand and reuse it? Should wash out all the fertilizer particles, right?

 

[kenchilada]

Just curious, what prompted you to use rose fertilizer? I’m always suspect of putting anything in my tank that are not food-grade or lab-grade.

 

[ThePurple12]

Just curious, what prompted you to use rose fertilizer? I’m always suspect of putting anything in my tank that are not food-grade or lab-grade.

I grow seagrasses, and they need fertile/mature sand beds. I thought adding the stuff would give them a boost, which it probably did. I didn't think about the coral part.

 

[kenchilada]

I grow seagrasses, and they need fertile/mature sand beds. I thought adding the stuff would give them a boost, which it probably did. I didn't think about the coral part.

That’s really cool. Thirty years ago lagoon tanks with lots of macro were very popular and I’ve thought about setting another one up. They are a lot of fun. Never heard of using rose fertilizer though, very interesting.

I kept freshwater planted tanks for a few years using the Tom Barr method that focused on dosing macro/micro nutrients with large weekly water changes so that no nutrient was ever limited. Curious if marine macro can be managed a similar way.