# [Wet Thumb Forum]-TMG vs. Kent Botanica



## Justin Fournier (Jan 27, 2004)

Well here is some interesting info I thought I would post to get everyoes opinion on. What I am going to do is compare these two and see what everyone thinks. I Compared these sizes because you need two seperate additives to equally compare against the TMG (just the way the product is developed) but the cost of the Botanica is signifigantly less then the TMG (18%)

Botanica.(247mL)..................Tropica Master Grow.(500mL)

Grow.Soluable Potash..1.00%.....Potassium.....0.79%
........Calcium.............0.15%.....Calcium........N/A 
........Iron.................0.10%......Iron............0.07%
........Magnesium........0.40%......Magnesium...0.39%
........Sulfur...............0.90%......Sulfur.........1.01%
Micro.Boron...............0.0027%...Boron..........0.004%
........Cobalt..............0.0003%...Cobalt.........N/A
........Copper.............0.0004%...Copper........0.006%
........Manganese........0.0431%...Manganese....0.04%
........Molybdenum.......0.0028%...Molybdenum..0.002%
........Zinc..................0.003%.....Zinc............0.002%

What do ya think about the diference in levels??

[This message was edited by Justin604 on Fri May 09 2003 at 02:18 PM.]

[This message was edited by Justin604 on Fri May 09 2003 at 02:19 PM.]

[This message was edited by Justin604 on Fri May 09 2003 at 02:19 PM.]

[This message was edited by Justin604 on Fri May 09 2003 at 02:20 PM.]


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## Justin Fournier (Jan 27, 2004)

Well here is some interesting info I thought I would post to get everyoes opinion on. What I am going to do is compare these two and see what everyone thinks. I Compared these sizes because you need two seperate additives to equally compare against the TMG (just the way the product is developed) but the cost of the Botanica is signifigantly less then the TMG (18%)

Botanica.(247mL)..................Tropica Master Grow.(500mL)

Grow.Soluable Potash..1.00%.....Potassium.....0.79%
........Calcium.............0.15%.....Calcium........N/A 
........Iron.................0.10%......Iron............0.07%
........Magnesium........0.40%......Magnesium...0.39%
........Sulfur...............0.90%......Sulfur.........1.01%
Micro.Boron...............0.0027%...Boron..........0.004%
........Cobalt..............0.0003%...Cobalt.........N/A
........Copper.............0.0004%...Copper........0.006%
........Manganese........0.0431%...Manganese....0.04%
........Molybdenum.......0.0028%...Molybdenum..0.002%
........Zinc..................0.003%.....Zinc............0.002%

What do ya think about the diference in levels??

[This message was edited by Justin604 on Fri May 09 2003 at 02:18 PM.]

[This message was edited by Justin604 on Fri May 09 2003 at 02:19 PM.]

[This message was edited by Justin604 on Fri May 09 2003 at 02:19 PM.]

[This message was edited by Justin604 on Fri May 09 2003 at 02:20 PM.]


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## Madpiano (Feb 4, 2003)

I have just ordered some of the Kent Botanica Range, but I have to admit, I ordered it because it looked cool (I think I need to get out more







). I would be interested to know how good people think it is compared to other fertlizers. At the moment I use AP Leaf Zone and it seems to do the trick.


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## imported_Svennovitch (Feb 1, 2003)

Looks pretty similar to me! Buy the cheapest one









But these products are only for dosing micros, you will need macros as well.


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## Justin Fournier (Jan 27, 2004)

Well a LFS here just ordered a bunch of these things, and I know the guy there well. He said he is gonna give me a smokin deal on them, so I am thinking about picin up $100 worth or so. He has the whole line comming up, Including potassium, nitrogen, phosphourous, iron ect. What are the 3 macros again? Potassium, Nitrogen and phosphorous?


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## Justin Fournier (Jan 27, 2004)

I guess I should add, the reason I am looking into Kent's line is oZ. for oZ. they are roughly half the price of TMG.


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## Rex Grigg (Jan 22, 2004)

And ounce for ounce bulk fertilizers, KNO3, K2SO4, KH2PO4, Plantex CSM are about 10% or less the cost of any commercial product.

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## Justin Fournier (Jan 27, 2004)

Rex,

KH2PO4??

Plantex, i just found a source for this locally, do you happen to have a breakdown of it? I would like to compare it to the TMG/Botanica lines!

Thanks!


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## Rex Grigg (Jan 22, 2004)

KH2PO4 = mono potassium phosphate. Great for add phosphates.

Check out The Krib. It's under the planted tank area.

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## Justin Fournier (Jan 27, 2004)

The breakdown of Plantex looks pretty weak compared to TMG or Botanicas. Are the extras these two products contain not needed in aquaria? Or more likely they are added via different means?


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## chbak014 (Feb 3, 2003)

i really like the kent stuff. i use the kent's for my micro nutrients. and i dose my macros (NPK) from solutions that i have made. i will post up pictures this weekend so you can get a look at what kent's can do. 
-charley

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## Guest (May 14, 2003)

Well the old Kent vs the tmg, the TMG creams the Kent, not sure about the new stuff but they sure seem to be chasing/copying SeaChem.

This is good for the hobby as it will get folks more into CO2 plant tanks and they spend $$$ on marketing and promoting of planted tanks.

If cost is the concern, blending Plantex with Seachem or Kent etc would be a good move. There's simply no way you will beat the Plantex stuff etc. It's missing Boron and a few others but mixing or alternating every 3 days with the other will solve any of those issues.

Regards, 
Tom Barr


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## Rex Grigg (Jan 22, 2004)

But the boron is easy to add. I use Plantex and Flourish. And my plants are weeds.

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## Justin Fournier (Jan 27, 2004)

Well I want something somewhat simple as I want this tank to be enjoyable, not a chemestry class. I think if Plantex was a stand alone I would be all over it. However I have acess to these Kent Botanicals, at such a low price, That it's not even worth playing around with. I am also gonna use the rest of the botanica line to supplement the macros unless my tank gets out of control or something and I start going through this stuff like water. At this time though it's not happening. I am sure time will tell. My tank is so new I think that is why I don;t dose hardly anything yet.

I have a hard enough time just finding decent plants to put in my tank, and I don;t have the skill required to make different fertilizers. It is gonna cost me around $80 to set up 5L of this micro mix, at my current dosing regime, that should last me around 4 years. Keep in mind I am total rookie and have no idea what I am doing. I managed to grow staghorn algae without high iron. I also can;t find Stem plants without rotting roots and am having trouble with that too. Ohhhh well! Thanks for your guys input, it's much appreciated!


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## imported_molahs4 (Feb 3, 2003)

I have just sent away my check for the Plantex and am eagerly awaiting its arrival. When it arrives, what would be a good routine in combination with Flourish & Flourish iron for a 90 gallon? I am currently dosing NPK and 15 ml flourish twice a week, and 2 ml iron daily.

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## Rex Grigg (Jan 22, 2004)

$80 for 5L? OUCH! You don't have to make the fertilizers, you just have to dose them. Maybe mix some powder with water. That's all.

molahs4,

I mix two tablespoons of Plantex with 500 ml of water. Then for your tank I would say start dosing 10 ml twice a week. What is your light level? If you are high light three times a week. I'm dosing three times a week, NPK, 10 ml Flourish, 7 ml Plantex, 5 ml Flourish Iron.

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## Justin Fournier (Jan 27, 2004)

Ok Rex,

Here is what I will do. I will make my own Macros, and If I can figure out how to do that without screwing up everything, then I will attempt to learn how to make my own trace. How does that sound? What do I need to get from the hydroponics store to dose macros?


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## Rex Grigg (Jan 22, 2004)

You need KNO3 (potassium nitrate) to dose nitrates and some potassium. If you want more potassium you need K2SO4 (potassium sulfate). If you need to add phosphates I prefer to use KH2PO4 (mono potassium phosphate). The KNO3 and K2SO4 you can dose dry. To figure out how much to dose use the calculator at Chuck's page http://www.csd.net/~cgadd/aqua/art_plant_dosage_calc.htm Just enter 1 ml as the amount of water you are using to make the solution then add the amount of dry to your tank that the calculator gives you. But please run the numbers by us first as some people have made some mistakes using the calculator.

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## Tenor1 (Mar 3, 2003)

Thanks Rex, this was the information I wanted.

Regards,
Carlos

==============================
I try to keep the tank plain and simple but it never stays that way!


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## Justin Fournier (Jan 27, 2004)

Rex,

Got the KNO3, made the mix according to the site you gave me. What I did was mix 2 tbs with 250mL to give me 0.29ppm per mL of my mix. Adding 3mL per day till I get 5ppm. Then will adjust accordingly. Sound right?


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## Rex Grigg (Jan 22, 2004)

That sounds good.

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## Justin Fournier (Jan 27, 2004)

The only thing wrong with this idea is I would sure be a lot happier if I had an accurate scale to measure the amounts rather then TBS which are not uniform between people...


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## Rex Grigg (Jan 22, 2004)

When using measuring spoons you should dip the spoon into the powder till it is more than full. You then use a straight edge to scrape the excess from the spoon. It's pretty consistent if you do it right.

And I have heard this refrain many times that measuring spoons are not consistent, but every set I have tested has come out within 5%, and that's pretty close to the margin of error in my testing method. Buy a quality set of spoons, not the $0.99 cheapies and you will have no problems. Tom Barr calls it an estimative index for a reason. It's not like we are building nuclear bombs here where we need tolerances below 0.0001% on a plutonium pit. 10% either way is not going to cause problems in your tank.

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## Justin Fournier (Jan 27, 2004)

the KNO3 I have is actually small white pellets, approx 1-1.5mm in diameter. Does this affect anything?


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## Rex Grigg (Jan 22, 2004)

Nope. What you have is called prilled, same thing I sent out.

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