# TNC Complete



## Creature Seeker (2 Dec 2020)

Was wondering whether anyone uses TNC Complete which is available on Amazon. I'm fairly new to aquarium plant keeping and have been using Tropica Premium Nutrition, but was looking for something slightly cheaper.

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## Kezzab (2 Dec 2020)

Yes. Lots of us do. It does the job.


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## Zeus. (2 Dec 2020)

It can be worth going down the DIY route, esp if tank over 100l and high tech tank.


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## Creature Seeker (3 Dec 2020)

Zeus. said:


> It can be worth going down the DIY route, esp if tank over 100l and high tech tank.


What does the DIY route involve?

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## veerserif (3 Dec 2020)

DIY means buying bags of dry salts and mixing them with distilled water. It's way cheaper. I've just started doing it myself with the help of this forum! You can clone TNC Complete quite easily with the aid of a jeweller's scale or something else that does precise gram measurements.


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## Creature Seeker (7 Dec 2020)

I'll think I'll attempt to DIY method once I'm a little more experienced!

I've noticed the trace elements are fairly different between Tropica Premium Nutrition and TNC. Does this matter?






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## Zeus. (7 Dec 2020)

if you dose the weekly recommended dose for each product you get





TPN lacks NO3, PO4 which is best suited for tanks with high fish loads as the NO3 and PO4 will be supplied by the fish waste. The reason for the Higher K levels in the TNC is because the fert is made from a nitrates salt ie KNO3 so have the higher K levels, However TSN is made from ammonium/urea salt so the resultant K levels are lower. If going down the TSN route I would advise daily dosing to avoid nitrite and ammonium peaks which could be harmful to livestock esp if dosing in excess of the recommended dose in order to reach EI levels. 

However the trace element's of all three products are IMO all 'about' the same level

I would class all three as overpriced water esp if you tank is High tech and over 60-100litres


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## Creature Seeker (7 Dec 2020)

Thank you for the detailed response. Being fairly new to aquarium plants (and not knowing much about fertilising), are you saying it's not worth it if you have a high-tech set up?

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## Raws69 (8 Dec 2020)

I’m also new to the hobby, think these guys are saying that in the long run these kind of products just work out too expensive. For instance I’m actually dosing about 20ml daily with tnc complete and I’ve started seeing real growth in plants (quite heavily planted 184l tank).  But for me these products keep it simple until I can get my head around the diy approach.


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## Zeus. (8 Dec 2020)

Creature Seeker said:


> Thank you for the detailed response. Being fairly new to aquarium plants (and not knowing much about fertilising), are you saying it's not worth it if you have a high-tech set up?
> 
> Sent from my ONEPLUS A6013 using Tapatalk



TNC is a great, it does what its says on the label, but it still over price water, a starter Kit from APFUKs would be much more cost effective way to feed the plants.


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## dw1305 (8 Dec 2020)

Hi all,


Raws69 said:


> think these guys are saying that in the long run these kind of products just work out too expensive.





Zeus. said:


> TNC is a great, it does what its says on the label, but it still over price water, a starter Kit from APFUKs would be much more cost effective way to feed the plants.


That is a lot of it. People can argue about the merits of differing lights, filters etc., but it is different for nutrients.

If you have a look at the <"Nutrient Calculator"> that @Zeus., @Hanuman, @fablau  & @X3NiTH have developed <"it lays bare"> just what <"an incredible mark up"> there is on these ready made liquid fertiliser products. Even if you have quite a small tank, if you are using EI, then the initial cost of buying the dry salts and dosing bottles is dwarfed by the cost of the branded products. Some people are always going to prefer ease of use, but it really is a contest to find the <"World's most expensive water">.

Fertilisers are just much more straightforward than other products, where a premium price may buy you a premium product, there are no differences in quality from the plants point of view. All plants (including terrestrial ones like Cacti) can only take up nutrients, in the form of ions, from aqueous solution.  When we have a <"soluble compound"> ("salt"), like potassium nitrate (KNO3), it goes into solution as K+ and NO3- ions. Once it is in solution every K+ ion is the same as every other K+ ion, <"it doesn't "know" where it has come from">.



Hanuman said:


> One day I had fun calculating how much doing my own ferts cost me in actual ferts. Be the juge. The plastic bottle alone cost me nearly 3 times that. This is the cost for a 500ml bottle.



cheers Darrel


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## Zeus. (8 Dec 2020)

Heres the weekly cost for a *100l tank*



Also bear in mind that ADA is a complete system so more than one bottle needed, plus it looks like Seachem Flourish is cheap, but we had to take it off the clone and compare as the ppms yields was so low at recommended doses

TNC at recommend dose



and at the double triple dose (x6) to match EI dosing



APFUK starter kit about £20 and use teaspoon will last well over a year and you can still use your teaspoon to make drinks after a little rinse

I did do a price comparison for NO3 yield and ADA mightily brightly was about 900% mark up on the cost of the salt followed by Seachem Flourish


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## castle (8 Dec 2020)

I use TNC complete, seems good enough. 

DIY imo is really only worth it if your tank is high tech and you're dosing a lot, people like me dosing 4ml a week aren't going to benefit too much I don't think.


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## Hanuman (10 Dec 2020)

castle said:


> I use TNC complete, seems good enough.
> 
> DIY imo is really only worth it if your tank is high tech and you're dosing a lot, people like me dosing 4ml a week aren't going to benefit too much I don't think.


That is correct. For low-tech or even high tech with a small enough tank it is not worth the effort and the money. Because you also need to keep in mind that there is an initial investment cost which involves buying all the dried salts, a scale etc. There is also a steep learning curve initially. Perhaps with time you will get interested in doing DIY or perhaps not, but for me it was more the curiosity to learn that led me where I am today. I only have 2 tanks and I probably have spend more money than I should have in material/salts. The difference is that now I know how to do it and people locally are even asking me to produce the fertilizers for them. I have the knowledge, now the power. 😂


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