Laterite ???? who, what, where, when & why
William Krosney
in freshwater tanks to help promote plant growth. I used to use peat
plates in the gravel.
What is laterite, how do you use it and how well does it work?
Thanks....Bill
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< E-mail: kro...@ccu.umanitoba.ca >< Phone: (204) 896-0006 >
< Wm. Krosney, 29 Blossom Bay, Winnipeg, MB, CANADA, R3R 2W1 >
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tmro...@telenet.com
Bill,
DON'T use it if you have a UGF!! I bought some without really putting
much thought into it and hosed my tank. Fish were fine, you just
couldn't see 'em through the laterite cloud! I wound up having to
extract all the laterite (not easy!), do a 60% water change and it still
took 3 days to clear it up to the point of being able to see the fish.
A terrible mess indeed!
However, if you don't use a UGF, go for it.
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the opinions expressed herein are my own, albeit confused, deranged,
irrational, etc.
Grant Gussie
>
> I read with interest a couple of postings mentioning the use of laterite
> in freshwater tanks to help promote plant growth. I used to use peat
> plates in the gravel.
>
> What is laterite, how do you use it and how well does it work?
>
Gee, a posting from my old alma mater of the UofM. Greetings.
Anyway, laterite is essentially Indonesian dirt, which makes you wonder how
Dupla can sell it for $120/kg retail. I wonder what the Indonesian farmers
would think if they knew that Canadians paid a year's worth of their wages
for a kg of their dirt.
So, OK, what I said is not strictly true. It is (usually) Indonesian and it
is dirt, except that it is a nutrient impoverished, iron rich material that
is not suitable for agriculture. It is however beneficial to aquarium
plants, since it acts to supply plant roots with iron in a proper form for
its assimilation into the plant. The fact that laterite is nutrient
impoverished is not important to aquarium plants because in a fish tank,
the traditional "fertilizers" of phosphorous and nitrogen are usually very
abundant, while the "micronutrients" of iron and maganese are not because
of their low solubility in oxygen rich environments. Some laterite in the
substrate material serves to overcome the deficit in micronutrients.
The recommended way of using lateite is to mix it in with the lower 1/3 of
a gravel bed. The use of heating coils in the bottom of the gravel is also
recommended to provide a very slow exchange of water into the lower gravel
through convection. This slow exchange is required to maintain slightly
anaerobic gravel condtions to prevent the oxidation of the micronutrients.
The heating coils are however as yet a VERY expensive proposition, although
the net has been buzzing with cheaper DIY alternatives to commercial units
(which run about $700 Canadian retail).
As far as how well laterite works, you can only answer that by looking at
the tanks of aquarists that swear by it. They are gorgeous. But I don't
know how important the laterite actually is in producing those results.
Maybe someone has done some comparitive studies of plant growth in
otherwise identical tanks with and without laterite?
Peter Tang
up the gravel for that matter. If you have fish that like to dig, I'd recommend
against it. It works great but it IS a mess to clean up when it clouds the
water.
--Peter
Steve Jankowski
had a similar problem and solved it by switching brands.
DON'T USE CHEAP LATERITE
The stuff you can get for $2 mail order or $4 in fish store is crap.
I put one plug in a glass of water. An hour later it had completely
lost form and the water was cloudy. It never settled.
(actually, I think the brand has been discontinued)
We relinquished our pocket-books and bought Dupla laterite. Been
completely happy with it. And if my word's not enough, George Booth(tm)
as made similar comments.
We have UGF so use the ball style laterite rather than the loose dirt.
We loose some with each gravel vacuum, but not much.
booga
Louis Hemmi
I have an undergravel filter, and added Duplarit (tm) laterite. While I
had a red cloud for a few hours, it dissipated and I added a lot of new
gravel.
In the last four months or so since I did that, I have been rewarded
very substantially with a more beautiful planted aquarium than I've ever
had before. The Dupla brand is worth the premium price, because it
doesn't cloud, even when I vacuum the gravel. I've heard bad things
about the cheaper laterite additives.
---
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Niels M. Sampath
it settled fast. No more clouding. Can't vacuum gravel anyway due
to too many plants/roots.
--
Niels M. Sampath Internet: ni...@lofgren.demon.co.uk
CompuServe: 10002...@CompuServe.com
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George Booth
What is laterite, how do you use it and how well does it work?
Laterite is an iron-bearing clay that has been subjected to tropical
weathering on a geological time scale, i.e., a looong time. The best
laterite, IMHO, is from Sri Lanka, packaged by Dupla and is available
from Daleco and Pet Warehouse.
There are two forms, compacted balls and powder. The balls are used
in tanks that are already set up and are simply placed around the bases
of plants. The powder is mixed with the lower 1/3 of the gravel when
a new tank is set up.
Besides supplying initial doses of iron to plant roots, the laterite
also attracts and chelates trace elements, holding them in a form
well suited to plant root adsorption. This is the main advantage -
a renewable source of nutrients in the substrate. They are particularly
effective when used in conjunction with substrate heating coils. The
coils create slow convection currents bringing fresh nutrients into
the substrate and the extra heat helps the biological processes
involved in adsorption.
It works very well.
NOTE: Besides Dupla, Aquarium Products also packages laterite. Many
*.aquaria users have noted poor results with this product - it seems
to cloud the water with fine red clay particles at the slightest
provocation. Dupla laterite settles out within minutes if it stirred
up. Caveat emptor.
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George L. Booth Founding Member, The Colorado Aquarium, Inc
bo...@hplvec.lvld.hp.com __ Aquatic Gardener's Association
Software Development Engineer / \ /\ Colorado Aquarium Society
Manufacturing Test Division /\/ \/ \ Rainbowfish Study Group
Hewlett-Packard Company / \/\ / \/\ Modern Aquascaping
Loveland, Colorado _________/ \ \/ \ \___x__________________________
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