JamesC
Member
There's been a bit of talk about Aqua Essentials and Garden Direct chelated traces recently so I thought I'd compare the concentrations of the different elements with Tropica Plant Nutrition. I've always made up solutions from the traces I've brought using 15g of trace added to 250g of water. This is always what I've been led to believe is similar to the concentrations in TPN, but now I'm not too sure. Below are my findings.
Aqua Essentials trace - http://www.aquaessentials.co.uk/index.php?main_page=product_info&cPath=145_146&products_id=546
Garden Direct trace - http://www.gardendirect.co.uk/chelated-trace-element-mix-p-887
Tropica kindly supply a breakdown to whats in their trace solution:
Boron (B) 0.004%
Copper (Cu) 0.006%
Iron (Fe) 0.07%
Manganese (Mn) 0.04%
Molybdenum (Mo) 0.002%
Zinc (Zn) 0.002%
Aqua Essentials trace:
Boron (B) 1.06%
Copper (Cu) 0.23%
Iron (Fe) 8.2%
Manganese (Mn) 1.82%
Molybdenum (Mo) 0.15%
Zinc (Zn) 1.16%
Garden Direct trace:
Boron (B) 0.88%
Copper (Cu) 1.7%
Iron (Fe) 3.35%
Manganese (Mn) 1.7%
Molybdenum (Mo) 0.023%
Zinc (Zn) 0.88%
Now the amounts when 15g is added to 250g of water:
Aqua Essentials trace solution:
Boron (B) 0.06%
Copper (Cu) 0.014%
Iron (Fe) 0.50%
Manganese (Mn) 0.10%
Molybdenum (Mo) 0.009%
Zinc (Zn) 0.07%
Garden Direct trace solution:
Boron (B) 0.05%
Copper (Cu) 0.10%
Iron (Fe) 0.20%
Manganese (Mn) 0.10%
Molybdenum (Mo) 0.0014%
Zinc (Zn) 0.05%
As you can see these figures are much higher than the concentrations in the Tropica Plant Nutrition. Perhaps I've always been adding way more than I've needed. What I did next was to lower the concentrations in the two dry mixes by only adding 2.2g of trace to 250g water. I've put Tropica's figures in brackets after to make a comparison easier.
With Aqua Essentials modified trace solution:
Boron (B) 0.01% (0.004%)
Copper (Cu) 0.002% (0.006%)
Iron (Fe) 0.07% (0.07%)
Manganese (Mn) 0.016% (0.04%)
Molybdenum (Mo) 0.001% (0.002%)
Zinc (Zn) 0.01% (0.002%)
With Garden Direct modified trace solution:
Boron (B) 0.01% (0.004%)
Copper (Cu) 0.015% (0.006%)
Iron (Fe) 0.03% (0.07%)
Manganese (Mn) 0.015% (0.04%)
Molybdenum (Mo) 0.0002% (0.002%)
Zinc (Zn) 0.01% (0.002%)
What does all this mean? Not sure really but it may mean that I've always been adding way more traces than I've ever needed to. I have suspected for some time my iron levels have been high as I get quite a red/brown sediment build-up in the filter which is indicative of high iron levels.
Questions is shall I lower my traces and see what the effect is. I have loads of Garden Direct traces so might try it with that. The Garden Direct traces are lower in iron, but as I have some chelated iron lying around as well I may add this to make the levels the same as Tropica's.
Copper levels in the Garden Direct trace is also quite a bit higher but the modified solution has the same amount as what I'm dosing now so don't see that to be a problem.
Rather long winded but hopefully might be of interest to some.
James
Aqua Essentials trace - http://www.aquaessentials.co.uk/index.php?main_page=product_info&cPath=145_146&products_id=546
Garden Direct trace - http://www.gardendirect.co.uk/chelated-trace-element-mix-p-887
Tropica kindly supply a breakdown to whats in their trace solution:
Boron (B) 0.004%
Copper (Cu) 0.006%
Iron (Fe) 0.07%
Manganese (Mn) 0.04%
Molybdenum (Mo) 0.002%
Zinc (Zn) 0.002%
Aqua Essentials trace:
Boron (B) 1.06%
Copper (Cu) 0.23%
Iron (Fe) 8.2%
Manganese (Mn) 1.82%
Molybdenum (Mo) 0.15%
Zinc (Zn) 1.16%
Garden Direct trace:
Boron (B) 0.88%
Copper (Cu) 1.7%
Iron (Fe) 3.35%
Manganese (Mn) 1.7%
Molybdenum (Mo) 0.023%
Zinc (Zn) 0.88%
Now the amounts when 15g is added to 250g of water:
Aqua Essentials trace solution:
Boron (B) 0.06%
Copper (Cu) 0.014%
Iron (Fe) 0.50%
Manganese (Mn) 0.10%
Molybdenum (Mo) 0.009%
Zinc (Zn) 0.07%
Garden Direct trace solution:
Boron (B) 0.05%
Copper (Cu) 0.10%
Iron (Fe) 0.20%
Manganese (Mn) 0.10%
Molybdenum (Mo) 0.0014%
Zinc (Zn) 0.05%
As you can see these figures are much higher than the concentrations in the Tropica Plant Nutrition. Perhaps I've always been adding way more than I've needed. What I did next was to lower the concentrations in the two dry mixes by only adding 2.2g of trace to 250g water. I've put Tropica's figures in brackets after to make a comparison easier.
With Aqua Essentials modified trace solution:
Boron (B) 0.01% (0.004%)
Copper (Cu) 0.002% (0.006%)
Iron (Fe) 0.07% (0.07%)
Manganese (Mn) 0.016% (0.04%)
Molybdenum (Mo) 0.001% (0.002%)
Zinc (Zn) 0.01% (0.002%)
With Garden Direct modified trace solution:
Boron (B) 0.01% (0.004%)
Copper (Cu) 0.015% (0.006%)
Iron (Fe) 0.03% (0.07%)
Manganese (Mn) 0.015% (0.04%)
Molybdenum (Mo) 0.0002% (0.002%)
Zinc (Zn) 0.01% (0.002%)
What does all this mean? Not sure really but it may mean that I've always been adding way more traces than I've ever needed to. I have suspected for some time my iron levels have been high as I get quite a red/brown sediment build-up in the filter which is indicative of high iron levels.
Questions is shall I lower my traces and see what the effect is. I have loads of Garden Direct traces so might try it with that. The Garden Direct traces are lower in iron, but as I have some chelated iron lying around as well I may add this to make the levels the same as Tropica's.
Copper levels in the Garden Direct trace is also quite a bit higher but the modified solution has the same amount as what I'm dosing now so don't see that to be a problem.
Rather long winded but hopefully might be of interest to some.
James