# Has anyone tried Colombo ferts?



## ChrisP (21 May 2016)

So went in to Maidenhead Aquatics on York road today looking for some fert. The only brand they stocked was Colombo Flora Grow fertiliser and liquid carbon. They were £5.99 each so I thought why not. Must admit I have never heard of the brand. Has anyone used them or got any experience of them?

Cheers


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## alto (21 May 2016)

You might check these journals from George Farmer - I believe all 3 tanks were done with the Colombo range

Superfish Home 60

Superfish Expert 70

Superfish Home 80

there may be additional video's on his YouTube page


If you go into the Journals subforum & search "this forum only" using _Colombo_ as your search word, you should get a good number of threads to wander through


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## ChrisP (21 May 2016)

Ah ha excellent thank you. I'll take a read


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## Crusader58 (22 May 2016)

Brands are fine if you dont mind paying for 96% water....cheaper to buy dry ferts and mix your own stock solution. Same for carbo products, theyre just a solution of gluteraldehyde - a lovely biocide with a low carbon source.


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## zozo (22 May 2016)

Colombo is a Dutch product http://www.colombo.nl/ it was always aimed at fish keeping, since i'm in the netherlands i regularly encounter colombo products in the shop but didn't use any of them. I more consider them as a trademark buying products and retail them on with their own name. Since aquascaping is getting more popular they also launched a new product line more aimed toward planted tanks.. Last year i crossed the line and bought a bag of colombo flora base pro becuase of it's availability in the lfs since i'm dutch. But very soon had my regrets, it's very soft, much to light and after a while degrades into dust. For so far their stated research  they obviously didn't, it's just another product they did put their name on.

But i guess in todays world evrybody works with contractors and all kinda became just trademarks.. They all still claim to produce, they do, but no longer under their own roof all do in mainly foreign country contractors. Without us knowing we buy a lot identical products claiming to be different but still is the same product only with a diferent name.

Maybe a not so suitable example, but i experience it oftenly with another hobby of mine, i'm trying to maintain an oldtimer Mercedes Benz.. I took out a broken part 32 years ago made in Germany by SWF, a rather heavy aloy cased part, went to the MB dealer to order it. They came back with a plastic equivalent, the part i still had was taken out of production 25 years ago. The new flimzy plastic replacement part, came in a nice box printed as Genuine MB part with small lettering Made in Czech Republic. 
So i'm actualy pimping my oldtimer Mercedes into a Skoda with new original mb replacement parts..


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## ChrisP (22 May 2016)

Crusader58 said:


> Brands are fine if you dont mind paying for 96% water....cheaper to buy dry ferts and mix your own stock solution. Same for carbo products, theyre just a solution of gluteraldehyde - a lovely biocide with a low carbon source.



Hi there, yes I am aware of that, I used to mix up my own ferts from powder form and have a giant Co2 bottle sitting next to my tank which is the cheapest way. But having just got back in to the hobby and sticking small (for now while I see if the interest is still there) it makes sense to go with the liquid ferts. One of these small bottles is going to last months and months on my little 50L. If I upgrade to something bigger I'll no doubt be getting a batch of dry ferts and rolling the gas bottle out


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## ChrisP (22 May 2016)

zozo said:


> Colombo is a Dutch product http://www.colombo.nl/ it was always aimed at fish keeping, since i'm in the netherlands i regularly encounter colombo products in the shop but didn't use any of them. I more consider them as a trademark buying products and retail them on with their own name. Since aquascaping is getting more popular they also launched a new product line more aimed toward planted tanks.. Last year i crossed the line and bought a bag of colombo flora base pro becuase of it's availability in the lfs since i'm dutch. But very soon had my regrets, it's very soft, much to light and after a while degrades into dust. For so far their stated research  they obviously didn't, it's just another product they did put their name on.
> 
> But i guess in todays world evrybody works with contractors and all kinda became just trademarks.. They all still claim to produce, they do, but no longer under their own roof all do in mainly foreign country contractors. Without us knowing we buy a lot identical products claiming to be different but still is the same product only with a diferent name.
> 
> ...



Thank you for the reply  It is the first time I have seen the stuff over here to be honest, so giving it a shot. Nice bit of insight from you there!


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## George Farmer (23 May 2016)

I've used the Colombo range a few times with good results. Good price too.  Very similar to Tropica Premium and Specialised. I always use their "Pro Special" version with NP added.


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## GHNelson (23 May 2016)

Hi
I have used Colombo flora base also....never found it too light...or going to dust or compacting much!
Haven't used Tropica....l will be surprised if it's as good at growing plants!
Did use ADA Africa that was a disaster that did produce to much dust on leaves...and completely compacted. ....I ripped it out eventually....what a waste of £40.00.
Cheers 
hoggie


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## zozo (23 May 2016)

Mine did Hoggie, i used the powder type grain and as long it isn't touched its ok but once you start to pook around it crumbles.. Found it already very soft when still dry. Also the small grain, especialy in the beginning, probably because its porous clay the trapped air bublles in it, made it even lighter.. Almost imposible to plant small carpet plants when it's flooded.. Also with using a air driven vacuumer it sucked up more substrate than dirt.. It'funny how people can have such different experiences with same products.

I guess it all comes back to the trademark principle, the quality varies but the package discribtion doesn't change accordingly..

I once red a article about JBL substrate (forgot the type) a user was complaining very unstable KH values whit this substrate while the package states otherwise.. He did contact JBL personaly and sended them a sample.. He recieved an e-mail of JBL service employee, he also posted this reply publicly. They confirmed the fault and stated the cause was due to the substrates clay was from another source than before and so on had other properties.. They gave excuses and sended him a complete JBL test lab case as compensation.  This article probably still to be found somewhere.

As long nobody complaines, they put in the bag what ever they want, clay is clay in their opinion obviously.  No feedback is good feedback and less research + more money in the pocket...


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