# Seachem Flourish Tabs Alternate



## cheekycharly (13 May 2014)

Hi guys I'm looking for a cheper alternative to seachem root tabs.

I have seen these for sale on fleebay and wondered if anyone knew how they compared...

http://pages.ebay.com/link/?nav=item.view&alt=web&id=161203246972

Natural Fertilizer 48 CLAY&PEAT BALLS

I have seen the DIY Osmocote tabs videos but my last experience with a tab made up of them tiny circular balls was that they leave a messy substrate as the balls eventually end up on the surface as they are so light and then I was forever trying to remove bright yellow and blue balls out of a black substrate.

Anything that softens and becomes a dust or dilutes to nothing is preferred as I now have a Molay Clay based substrate.


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## Sacha (13 May 2014)

Why do you want root tabs? If you dose EI daily, you don't need any additionally fertilisers.


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## Alastair (13 May 2014)

Hi 
I personally couldn't comment on these. I'd imagine you'd need to get them in the substrate pretty quick. 

Might be worth messaging the seller to find out the percentage of each nutrient in them roughly. They seem a good idea and if I'm correct it was on here a few months back I saw a post about how to make these. Not sure if it was Darrel. 

I purchase my root tabs from www.aquariumplantfood.com


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## dw1305 (13 May 2014)

Hi all, 





Alastair said:


> They seem a good idea and if I'm correct it was on here a few months back I saw a post about how to make these. Not sure if it was Darrel.


 Probably this one 
<http://www.ukaps.org/forum/threads/best-root-tabs-clay-balls.32939/>, but I've used this method for a long time. <http://www.ukaps.org/forum/threads/diy-root-tablets-with-osmocote-advice-needed.24565/>. 

cheers Darrel


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## cheekycharly (13 May 2014)

Sounds good to me apart from the bit I said earlier about the Osmocote beads not breaking down then end up mixed loose in your substrate as empty husks.

Maybe things have moved on since I used it years ago maybe the tiny balls dissolve in water? Does anyone know? As I thought the balls (shells) stay and the fert slow releases through the shell.


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## Alastair (13 May 2014)

Yup your right there they do still contain the slow release beads inside which is why partly it'd said to plant Atleast 4cm under the substrate 

Sent from my D6503 using Tapatalk 2


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