What if I put these in my substrate?

[Corbidorbidoodle]

I saw these at the dollar store, and thought of my tank, of course.

I'm sure it wouldn't work, but I thought I'd ask you guys...

Could they work as root tabs?

[Fish Folk]

I’m always nervous. Check the ingredients very carefully. Nitrates can peak hard, and lead to epic algae blooms. I’d be sure to do this at first with _no fish_.

I know guys who have buried a layer of Osmocote Plus between substrate. Same risk… but if enough plants are added, and enough time given for things to balance, maybe it could work.

My focus is always on fish, so added Chems raise my blood pressure 😅

[Jack.of.all.aquariums]

I've used them a few time in my 125 gallon. I didn't notice any negative effects. I didn't have any issues with deficiencies so I never could tell if it made a different though.

[Brandon p]

I would think it’s crazy to do a layer of osmocote is crazy.  I use osmocote but you are putting it gel caps. The gel caps last about 2 mins, just long enough to get the few balls of osmocote into the substrate. I would not use those in your aquarium. For the house plants they are ok. Osmocote and some good root tabs are coated and slowly let the fertilizer s out over a certain tested period of time. There are tons of costed fertilizers but osmocote is popular because it has a test know rate of release. Just because ba fertilizer is coated doesn’t make it the same. There are hundreds of coatings and osmocote is proven to have a steady release. A sulfur coated fertilizer should release at a different speeds depending on how thick the coating is. ( YouTube if you want to see it done) but if a crack happens in a sulfur coat it will become an Immediate release fertilizer meaning that all the nitrogen any other nutrients are immediately released. That would be my concern with those from the dollar store. I wouldn’t do it but I can’t say it hurt anything Either put it in a chance you’re willing to take 

 

[Torrey]

Depends on the size of the tank and the depth of the substrate, plus flow and type of filter.

[Corbidorbidoodle]

"So... You're telling me there's a chance!"

 

But in all seriousness, I'll error on the side of caution and stick with the Aquarium CoOp Easy Tabs.

Edited March 13, 2022 by Corbidorbidoodle

[AndreaW]

On 3/13/2022 at 10:39 AM, Corbidorbidoodle said:

"So... You're telling me there's a chance!"

 

But in all seriousness, I'll error on the side of caution and stick with the Aquarium CoOp Easy Tabs.

lol, yeah, but I would never want to risk the life of my fish or risk disrupting the nitrogen cycle I worked to establish!  My fish are more important than my plants.