Hello guys, I came across this already mixed liquid fertiliser from solufeed. Any of you have experience with it? It seems quite good and the 5lt option is cheap. Thanks
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Anyone tried Easy-Feed Extra from Solufeed?
- Thread starter jacopo16
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Hi all,
cheers Darrel
No, but it looks absolutely fine.
Cheaper than "Aquarium" fertilisers, but more expensive than dry salts.
cheers Darrel
Hi all,
The advantage of horticultural products is they have to be both <"cost effective and efficiently promote plant growth">, the disadvantage is that they often contain a lot of <"TAN (NH3 / NH4+)">. This product is fine, because it has very little ammonia (NH3) content.
In the case of "aquarium fertilisers" that process of dissolving a small amount of cheap chemicals in a volume of water makes them more <"valuable"> than champagne. It really is alchemy, and about as scientifically valid. Plants can only take up nutrients as ions, charged particles in solution, and every potassium (K) ion is the same as every other potassium ion, there aren't any special, more valuable ones, that have come from Seachem, the 2Hr Aquarist or <"ADA">.
cheers Darrel
Probably here, with a different couple of Solufeed products- <"Solufeed 2:1:4 and Solufeed Sodium Free TEC or Solufeed Coir TEC Combination">.
The advantage of horticultural products is they have to be both <"cost effective and efficiently promote plant growth">, the disadvantage is that they often contain a lot of <"TAN (NH3 / NH4+)">. This product is fine, because it has very little ammonia (NH3) content.
There aren't really any <"aquarium fertilisers">, or even really liquid fertilisers, they are all just combinations <"of chemical salts dissolved"> in a volume of water. Liquid formulations are always going to be more expensive than dry salts, you have the cost of transporting the water, and the added step of adding the water to the dry salts.
In the case of "aquarium fertilisers" that process of dissolving a small amount of cheap chemicals in a volume of water makes them more <"valuable"> than champagne. It really is alchemy, and about as scientifically valid. Plants can only take up nutrients as ions, charged particles in solution, and every potassium (K) ion is the same as every other potassium ion, there aren't any special, more valuable ones, that have come from Seachem, the 2Hr Aquarist or <"ADA">.
cheers Darrel
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john6
Member
How would you begin to work out the dosage on this product?
Hey Daniel, I think I’m with you now. When you say dry salts, you refer to Happy’s recipe (for example) which you still need to dilute into water in order to use it as aquarium fert. Do you use happy’s combination using the solufeed products? Thanks Jacopo
Hi all,
The IFC calculator has all of this built in, if you are an Excel user? <"IFC Aquarium Fertilizer Calculator">
cheers Darrel
You would, but if you had a large volume tank? You could add them as <"dry salts straight into the tank">. Most people make up a liquid stock solution, and then dose a volume of that, because it saves time and means you don't have to <"weigh out small amounts"> of dry salts accurately.
The IFC calculator has all of this built in, if you are an Excel user? <"IFC Aquarium Fertilizer Calculator">
I do, bought from the Solufeed shop front, and before that I was using <"Miracle-Gro">.
cheers Darrel
Hi all,
As an example I'll use nitrogen (N) and a 100 litre aquarium.
cheers Darrel
You would just choose a nutrient you want to set a level for, and then all the other values would be proportional to that value.
As an example I'll use nitrogen (N) and a 100 litre aquarium.
- 5.06% nitrogen (N), so I'll convert that to a nitrate (NO3) value, by multiplying by 4.43 (<"Nitrate nitrogen (NO3-N) or nitrate (NO3-) – Know the Difference! | Announce | University of Nebraska-Lincoln">), (RMM NO3 / RAM N ~ 62 / 14 ~ 4.43) and that is 22.41% NO3.
- One ml of <"Easy-Feed Extra"> contains 0.224 ml of NO3-.
- There are 1000 ml in a litre and a 1000 mg in a gram and "mg / l" is equivalent to "ppm". (I'm going to assume "Easy-Feed Extra" has a density of 1, it won't it will be a bit higher, but not enough to really make much practical difference. We could do all of this as weights, but you wouldn't practically gain much in terms of accuracy).
- When we add 1 ml of "Easy-Feed Extra" to our 100 litre aquarium we've added (224 / 100) 2.24 ppm of NO3. I'm going to aim for a bit more, so I'm going to add 5 ml and that is 5 * 2.24 ~11.3 ppm NO3 or 2.56 ppm N.
- Divide the nitrogen content (5.06%) by the phosphorus content (0.74%) = 6.84 and then divide 2.56 by 6.84 = 0.374 ppm P
- If we want to convert this value to phosphate (PO4---) we need to multiply by ~3, the full calculation is here: <"percentage for dry fertilizers">.
- 3.03 (%K) / 5.06 (%N) = 0.65 and
- 0.65 * 2.56 (ppm N added) = 1.67 ppm K.
cheers Darrel
Hello Darrel, in the main Happi’s post I’ve seen many recipes some tnc complete like and some different. Which one do you use? And which one specifically you recommend?
Thanks again for your help in this matter, very kind of you
Cheers, Jacopo
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Cazza
Member
I use Happi's TNC Complete substitute mix and the plants LOVE it! Works out so much cheaper as well.
Hi all,
Cheers Darrel
I used the ratio in the initial post, but I'm pretty <"ad hoc"> with dosing, I just use the <"Duckweed Index">.
@Happi (and @Zeus. & @Hanuman with the IFC) did all the work.
I think that is a good option.
Cheers Darrel
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Thank you!
You’re talking about one of those two recipes right? From Happi:
Recipe #1
1000 ml, 20 ml per 60 liters
10 ml White Vinegar
0.5 gram potassium sorbate
4 gram TEC - Sodium Free
44.66 gram KNO3
3.63 gram KH2PO4
5.15 gram K2SO4
N 2.063
P 0.275
K 6.875
Fe 0.11 (EDTA Fe)
Mn 0.027
B 0.012
Zn 0.015
CU 0.003
Mo 0.002
Recipe #2
1000 ml, 20 ml per 60 liters
10 ml White Vinegar
0.5 gram potassium sorbate
5.07 gram Sodium FreeCoir TEC
44.66 gram KNO3
3.63 gram KH2PO4
5.15 gram K2SO4
N 2.063
P 0.275
K 6.875
Fe 0.11 (DTPA Fe)
Mn 0.047
B 0.0062
Zn 0.0346
Cu 0.0038
Mo 0.0028
Hi all,
If you want a simple option you can use this one:
cheers Darrel
If you want a simple option you can use this one:
You can either dose it three times a week to replicate EI, once a week, or use it with the <"Duckweed Index"> etc.
cheers Darrel
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Cazza
Member
Yep.
@jacopo16
The main recipe discussed in this thread is heavily centered around the use of Solufeed products—specifically Solufeed 2-1-4, combined with either Solufeed Sodium-Free TEC or Solufeed Coir TEC. I’ve also included TNC Complete as a reference in the same thread (see this post) for anyone interested in replicating it. if you have a hard water, I would recommend using the Sodium FreeCoir TEC
The main recipe discussed in this thread is heavily centered around the use of Solufeed products—specifically Solufeed 2-1-4, combined with either Solufeed Sodium-Free TEC or Solufeed Coir TEC. I’ve also included TNC Complete as a reference in the same thread (see this post) for anyone interested in replicating it. if you have a hard water, I would recommend using the Sodium FreeCoir TEC
Bradders
Member
Why doesn't someone just start selling the ingredients to people on UKAPS to mix?
@jacopo16 in case if you want to experiment with the Easy-Feed Extra
If my calculations are correct, add 110.3 grams (93.5 mL) of Easy-Feed Extra to 400 mL Distilled water of solution. Once it's fully dissolved, top up with a little distilled water to make a total of 500 mL. Dose 20 mL per 50 gallons (approximately 190 liters) of aquarium water. This will deliver the following nutrient levels into your tank:
N 1 (0.98 N-NO3, 0.023 NH4-N)
P 0.144
K 0.65
Ca 0.48
Mg 0.384
Fe DTPA 0.00885
Mn EDTA 0.00512
B 0.00116
Zn EDTA 0.00326
Cu EDTA 0.00116
Mo 0.000536
Alternatively, you can skip the stock solution and directly dose 4.411 grams (or 3.74 mL) of Easy-Feed Extra into a 50-gallon (190-liter) aquarium.
If my calculations are correct, add 110.3 grams (93.5 mL) of Easy-Feed Extra to 400 mL Distilled water of solution. Once it's fully dissolved, top up with a little distilled water to make a total of 500 mL. Dose 20 mL per 50 gallons (approximately 190 liters) of aquarium water. This will deliver the following nutrient levels into your tank:
N 1 (0.98 N-NO3, 0.023 NH4-N)
P 0.144
K 0.65
Ca 0.48
Mg 0.384
Fe DTPA 0.00885
Mn EDTA 0.00512
B 0.00116
Zn EDTA 0.00326
Cu EDTA 0.00116
Mo 0.000536
Alternatively, you can skip the stock solution and directly dose 4.411 grams (or 3.74 mL) of Easy-Feed Extra into a 50-gallon (190-liter) aquarium.
It’s a solid idea, but in the UK it’s not so simple. Selling raw ferts, means dealing with agri-chemical regulations, labeling laws, and liability risks. That’s why most people either go DIY for personal use or stick with commercial blends. Selling to others gets legally messy.
I don’t live in the UK, so I’m not an expert on all the rules, but here in the USA, you can easily obtain most of these chemicals, including NH4NO3
Thank you very much Happi! I’ve decided to follow the above advices and give a crack to your TNC Complete recipe. I’ve ordered all the ingredients and I’ll let you know how I get on
Awesome! Glad to hear you're giving it a go. Feel free to reach out if you have any questions while mixing or dosing — happy to help. Also, just remember you're not locked into the TNC Complete recipe — it's highly customizable. You can tweak the N, P, and K to suit your specific needs. The Fe and micros are a bit more fixed, since raising Fe also bumps up the other traces. And if I'm not around to reply, no worries — folks like Darrel are basically on call with 24-hour service! 😄
