# Kelp meal?



## mistergreen (Mar 3, 2007)

Hi,
I'm new to this forum...
I had this though a while back and might want to start a Walstad tank in the future.. Instead of using top soil on the bottom, maybe use kelp meal instead? Or maybe half kelp, half soil.. The kelp is a little expensive.. $13 for 4 pounds.

Kelp has little macro-nutrients but plenty of micros & hormones. And they say it releases the nutrients slowly so no danger of algae.

What do you guys think? Any experience with kelp meal?


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## TeutonJon78 (Nov 10, 2004)

Isn't kelp meal meant more as a nutritional supplement for people? I'm not sure.

I think that Diana espouses using soil because it more closely simulates the type of substrate these plants would have in their riverbeds and such. And I would hazard to guess that added hormones would be bad in an aquarium. Again, and unfounded assumption.


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## sb483 (May 29, 2006)

Since soil is so much cheaper, and the kelp meal idea so much weirder, I would say stick with soil. Probably no one's done experiments comparing kelp meal to soil, so who knows?


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## mistergreen (Mar 3, 2007)

Well then, I guess I'll be the first to experiment with it 

It's a suppliment for gardens and lawns.. I'll probably do half kelp & half topsoil since by themselves kelp's NPK is 1-0-1 (something like that)..


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## TeutonJon78 (Nov 10, 2004)

whohoooo...experiment away. That's forums like these are all about.


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## mistergreen (Mar 3, 2007)

shoot, to be truely scientific about this i'll need 3 exact tank with 3 different substrates (full kelp, full soil, half kelp & soil)... The full soil would be the control since all you guy have it and know that it works under certain conditions.

but I don't have 3 tanks and no space.
What about a nano setup using big goldfish bowls?
darn.. I still don't have window space for the nanos.


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## sb483 (May 29, 2006)

The concept of a water bottle test comes up often in this forum. One variant is this: get 3 large bottles of any sort, put the 3 substrate types in, maybe 3 specimens of an easy-to-find plant, and just let them sit in the sun (or whatever light you want to use eventually). See how algae and plant growth does in each bottle.


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## mistergreen (Mar 3, 2007)

Oh, good idea.
Any recommendations in the plants. I have lots of hygro polysperma..
But they grow really fast and easy or should I get something less weed like.


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## Jerry Smith (Mar 8, 2005)

Mistergreen

I was just browsing APC and came upon your post about Kelp Meal. This is actually my first post here at APC.

I use kelp meal in my vegetable garden as a soil supplement. Kelp meal is pure dried seaweed (Ascophyllum nodosum). I have the label of Thorvin Kelp in front of me now. It was sold by the Necessary Trading Company in New Castle, VA. I bought from them in the late 1980's. It is used as an animal feed supplement as well as a trace mineral addition in soil. Application rates are roughly 1 lb per 100 ft square feet mixed into the top 6 inches of soil per year, depending on the soil fertility to begin with. If you use pure kelp meal in your planted tank you will surely have a disaster. According to the label it is about 10 % salt (Sodium Chloride). A very small amount mixed into the bulk of your substrate will be fine. The application rate for houseplants is 1 tsp. per 6 inch pot. 

I didn't Google Kelp Meal, but I am confident you will be able to confirm what I have said.

Jerry Smith
Bloomingdale, NJ


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## mistergreen (Mar 3, 2007)

Oh, thanks. good to know...
here's a link of the kelp made by espoma.
http://www.espoma.com/content.aspx?type=p&intCategoryID=2&id=12

so there is no point to doing all kelp or even half kelp since the sodium is so high.


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## dymndgyrl (Jan 22, 2007)

Here on the coast, we use seaweed alot in our gardening. I've always heard that seaweed (and especially kelp) provides every macro and micro nutrient a plant needs except for nitrogen. I know gardeners who pile a foot or more of seaweed on their gardens every year (without rinsing) and the gardens are lush and spectacular!

That being said, powdered dry kelp is a fertilizer and with a Walstad tank it is recommended to use an unfertilized soil to start with. If you were going to do tests, I'd only try very small amounts of kelp.


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