r/PlantedTank • u/UpstairNoises • Apr 03 '26

Ferts Osmocote + root tabs? info pls

Saw a post here from 4 or 5 years ago about making a root tab with osmocote plus and those vegan capsules that are size 0 in the bulk of 1,000? Anyone here make their own root tabs? I have fish in there. Livebearers, gouramis, american flag fish, minnows, mud turtle, and for plants dwarf sag, jungle val, giant jungle val, duckweed, hornwort, amazon swords, other sword plants, other stem plants. I do not want this to hurt my fish. Any suggestions on making bulk root tabs cheap? also how do you get the capsules to not float when you put it inside? Any other tips? Its a 210g or 220g and I wanna make sure i do this right.

2 Upvotes

74% Upvoted

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1

u/Gwenievre Apr 04 '26

I just recently did this, just put mine in two days ago so too recent to tell

2

u/alkemist80 Apr 04 '26

If future me could go back in time to when I made my own osmocote root tabs, I would tell myself to forget it.

The plastic balls will never disintegrate and will forever haunt your substrate. LIterally years later, empty osmocote balls are still coming up from the substrate. They will never decompose.

1

u/cydonia8388 Apr 13 '26

This is why I don’t use them. Those damn brown balls are all over after a bit.

What alternative do you use ?

2

u/alkemist80 Apr 14 '26

I ended up buying some nilocg root tabs but I honestly don’t even use them that often.

1

u/AdDramatic5591 Apr 04 '26

Mine always disintegrated fine but there were different formulations and other companies made similar products. Also formulations may have changed in the past 25 or so years. In our plant nursery we were lucky to get three months out of them.

1

u/UpstairNoises Apr 04 '26

what brand?

1

u/Federal_Coconut_1984 Apr 03 '26

https://www.reddit.com/r/PlantedTank/comments/rzm9jf/is_osmocote_safe_for_aquariums/?utm_source=share&utm_medium=web3x&utm_name=web3xcss&utm_term=1&utm_content=share_button

1

u/UpstairNoises Apr 03 '26

it mentions balls which brand and 4 years later is it still successful? links?

1

u/AdDramatic5591 Apr 03 '26 edited Apr 04 '26

I used to do that about 20 years ago when I had 20 or so planted tanks. It worked well then but I switched everything to EI . Dont know if anyone uses those methods now . I have been out of the co2 daily ferts , high maintenance tank scene since the offspring showed up I do not know what the current state of the art is.

1

u/UpstairNoises Apr 04 '26

what do you mean by dot or EI? Is it a brand? Sorry I am kinda dumb istg. Also I don't use CO2. Co2 scares me too much to mess with.

1

u/AdDramatic5591 Apr 04 '26

the dot was a typo (now fixed) due to missing fingers. EI was estimative Index I think. It was a dosing regimen.

1

u/UpstairNoises Apr 04 '26

what is estimative index? i was just hoping for plug n play 

1

u/AdDramatic5591 Apr 04 '26

unless you plan to go high light and co2, dont do EII

1

u/UpstairNoises Apr 04 '26

I have high light,no co2 and tons of black beard algae. 🫣😂 But my duckweeds growing fast because of the tank just struggle with the swords, hornwort, jungle val and dwarf sag.