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Lean dosing pros and cons

Hi guys, it was me that removed the content and yes, since one post was a quote for a banned member post it was also removed. Said person had opportunities back in the day over and over again, but just decided to be rude and abusive towards members and mods. Sorry but we do not tolerate such behaviour, we have given second chances to people in the past and after a while it just goes back to the same thing, and we have to then clean up the mess once again. At the end of the day, we have banned 3-4 people from the forum since 2008! So when we do, there is a very good reason for doing so, and we do give members the opportunity to reflect on what has been said.
 
so far i have way better result using lean dosing, but maybe because i have a rich substrate to backup ?!! i have fluval stratum and 6 osmocote tabs in there

the fluval stratum is 3 months old, maybe it'll get tricky in few months
 
eminor said:
so far i have way better result using lean dosing, but maybe because i have a rich substrate to backup ?!! i have fluval stratum and 6 osmocote tabs in there

the fluval stratum is 3 months old, maybe it'll get tricky in few months
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I would think that maturity of the substrate by then will make up for that, but you may have to keep up adding the osmocote or other root pellets.. What say you @Happi ?
 
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MichaelJ said:
I would think that maturity of the substrate by then will make up for that, but you make have to keep up adding the osmocote or other root pellets.. What say you @Happi ?
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i'll pray =)

think that i like about lean dosing is that i can bypass water change for 2-3 weeks which was hard with EI
 
MichaelJ said:
I would think that maturity of the substrate by then will make up for that, but you may have to keep up adding the osmocote or other root pellets.. What say you @Happi ?
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oh man don't even remind me of the Osmocote, it never went well for me. if you are adding Urea/NH4 in liquid form, I wouldn't even worry about the Osmocote. however, one pellet here or there is ok

when you add Nh4/Urea into the water, the substrate is also grabbing + charges
 
eminor said:
so far i have way better result using lean dosing, but maybe because i have a rich substrate to backup ?!! i have fluval stratum and 6 osmocote tabs in there

the fluval stratum is 3 months old, maybe it'll get tricky in few months
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Curious how are the results way better? And what exactly is the lean dosing? Any pictures of the tank??
 
MichaelJ said:
I would think that maturity of the substrate by then will make up for that, but you may have to keep up adding the osmocote or other root pellets.. What say you @Happi ?
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You might be on to something. Xiaozhaung Wong is running a tank right now with a processed blend of osmocote at 5 times more than usual and 1/2 APT EI and the tank is a picture of health and stunning. I was talking to him about this and think I might explore and go down this road a bit myself.
 
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GreggZ said:
You might be on to something. Xiaozhaung Wong is running a tank right now with a processed blend of osmocote at 5 times more than usual and 1/2 APT Complete and the tank is a picture of health and stunning. I was talking to him about this and think I might explore and go down this road a bit myself.
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How long has that tank be running for?

Personally I think the major drawback of osmocote is the unsightly plastic yellow beads one have have to deal with. I used to put osmocote in a small tank I have and it worked well but then when you uproot stuff or if you have Malaysian trumpet snails those beads always end up on the top of the substrate. A pain to remove one by one.
 
GreggZ said:
You might be on to something. Xiaozhaung Wong is running a tank right now with a processed blend of osmocote at 5 times more than usual and 1/2 APT Complete and the tank is a picture of health and stunning. I was talking to him about this and think I might explore and go down this road a bit myself.
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All his tanks are stunning and healthy though! Is there a way to tell if it is the substrate/ferts or just his skills at optimising every other factor?
 
Hanuman said:
How long has that tank be running for?

Personally I think the major drawback of osmocote is the unsightly plastic yellow beads one have have to deal with. I used to put osmocote in a small tank I have and it worked well but then when you uproot stuff or if you have Malaysian trumpet snails those beads always end up on the top of the substrate. A pain to remove one by one.
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Two months. I am sure he will be posting pictures of it soon. He's using a new root tab that he will be selling soon. He said he will send me some once he gets them in stock.

And I have never really used much osmocote either. Will take some change in horticulture habits as well. More trimming, less uprooting. Idea is richer substrate less water column nutrients. Somewhat like Vin's Rotala kill tank. But at 1/2 APT EI still not what I would call lean.

I'm always open to something new so plan to give it a shot. Worst case is going back to what I know works.
 
GreggZ said:
You might be on to something. Xiaozhaung Wong is running a tank right now with a processed blend of osmocote at 5 times more than usual and 1/2 APT Complete and the tank is a picture of health and stunning. I was talking to him about this and think I might explore and go down this road a bit myself.
Click to expand...
Happi said:
oh man don't even remind me of the Osmocote, it never went well for me. if you are adding Urea/NH4 in liquid form, I wouldn't even worry about the Osmocote. however, one pellet here or there is ok
when you add Nh4/Urea into the water, the substrate is also grabbing + charges
Click to expand...

@Happi and @GreggZ, I think I might consider it. Not going overboard, but just that little bit here and there....

Meantime at my ranch: Arrived today - I am ready to go lean and mean on my plants! :lol: - unfortunately I am going on a business trip for a few days, so I cant really kick off my lean-experiment until next week.

TheJuice.jpg

Cheers,
Michael
 
JacksonL said:
All his tanks are stunning and healthy though! Is there a way to tell if it is the substrate/ferts or just his skills at optimising every other factor?
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There is a lot of maintenance in his tanks. He also uses rich substrates. He doses his own fert APT 3 or APT E so not exactly lean lean but also not the EI full. He doesn't use CO2 reactors to my knowledge, only inline CO2 diffusers.

All in all he just optimizes things and balances them. That's how he get those nice plants and pictures. Horticulture skills make the big difference, not the ferts.
 
JacksonL said:
All his tanks are stunning and healthy though! Is there a way to tell if it is the substrate/ferts or just his skills at optimising every other factor?
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Good question. I am sure he will post his findings at the 2 hr Aquarist site once he comes to any conclusions.
 
Hanuman said:
Personally I think the major drawback of osmocote is the unsightly plastic yellow beads one have have to deal with.
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Hi @Hanuman These are in capsules... Wont they eventually just dissolve when you pop them down in the substrate? I must say I've used Tropica caps in the past and if not dug in deep they would make their way out of substrate and float around 🙂

Cheers,
Michael
 
GreggZ said:
He's using a new root tab that he will be selling soon. He said he will send me some once he gets them in stock.
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Nice. I never get to receive anything from him other than when I pay. 😂

Jokes aside, the problem with osmocote and root tabs is that they have not been developed specifically for planted aquariums so the use of those products aimed at terrestrial plants can reck havoc in tanks if used inappropriately. Has that root tab been developed by him?
 
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