dosing and solutions recomendations

[omartinez]

I was waiting for my seachem product to run out to start with full EI, now i'm ready....this are the dry fert i've

KNO3
K2SO4
KH2PO4
CSM+B
Fe Gluconate
CaSO4
MgSO4

all from aquariumfertilizer.com

also have a digital scale to be more accurate...

Now, i want to dose full EI.

Oh...my tank is a 55 Galon tank, with CO2 and 128W in 4xT8 tubes, i use tap water for changes. I have the following plants :

Vallisneria Risada
Cabomba caroliniana
Anubia nana
red tiger lotus
Cryptocoryne sp.
Microsorum pteropus 'windelov'
Limnophila sessiliflora
Lindernia rotundifolia 'Variegated'
Eichhornia diversifolia
Echinodorus sp.
Hydrothrix garderi

i've others but don't remember them.

How do i prepare the solutions? how much of each and what can i mix together to just have 2 (maybe 3) final solutions

[omartinez]

no one?

I got the FE gluconate, additional to the CSM+b because i read that echinodorus consume much iron, and i have a couples of this plants.

Currently my plants are growing but i have to say that it is not a very healthy grow...hope that dosing now with EI all improve....

[tjbuege]

Hi omartinez,

Have you had a chance to read through the stickies in this forum? In particular, check this one out:

http://www.barrreport.com/showthread...ss-techy-folks

Tom gives recommended doses for various tank sizes. Yours would be in the 40-60 gallon range. I'd start with that. All you really need to start with is KNO3, KH2PO4, CSM+B (usually good enough for supplying the required Fe, some add addition Fe though) and a GH Booster. The others can be added to address specific problems. Also, remember you want to dose enough so that the ferts are non-limiting. Accuracy is not as critical when you do that.

If you want to dose solutions, then I would make two separate solutions: one for the macros (KNO3 and KH2PO4) and one for the trace (CSM+B). And use distilled water, not tap. How much ferts you put in with how much distilled water depends on how often you want to dose the aquarium. Daily? 3 days a week? Tom also lists target ppm ranges for each:

EI target ranges
CO2 range 25-35 ppm
NO3 range 10-30 ppm
K+ range 10-30 ppm
PO4 range 1.0-2.0 ppm
Fe 0.2-0.5ppm or higher
GH range 1-2 degrees "extra" 17-40 ppm or higher

Others may have more to add.

[omartinez]

thanks for answering tjbuege.

i did read that article, and a lot of other stuff, i'm just asking recomendation for my particular tank....

Also i want other recomendation to see if i've read properly that article, most of it is a little complex, but i'm getting to it now more easily.

This is my general idea :

i'll do it daily, 3 days macro and the other 3 days micros, plus saturday 50% water change, solutions will be with 500ml distiled water and 5ml dosing.

I want to add additional Fe aside the CSM+b, that's why i got the Fe gluconate, my plants are not that green and the red plant i have got turn greenish after a while, i was dosing with seachem products but have run out yesterday. If i add more Fe than 0.5ppm, for what i read, i will not get any problems for that, right?

should i add ca and mg in a third solution? to add after the water change from tap, My Gh is 6 right now and i'm not adding any of ca or mg.

[Jim Miller]

Why make solutions? Get a set of measuring spoons (stainless or plastic) from any store and dose by powder directly. I understand solutions if you want to use some liquid feeding autodoser but for manual use measuring spoons work fine.

Jim

[omartinez]

i have not tried that, but I think it takes more time that way, isn't it? depending what i dose of course

I dose early morning before going to work, i've just like 5 minutes to dose and feed the fish...i can do it daily but as quick as possible

[Jim Miller]

tsp in bag, dump in tank. replete for next product. for macro day it's n and p.

for micro day its just csm+b.

less than a minute.

jim

[tjbuege]

Hi omartinez,

If you want to does 15ml of solution a week (5ml x 3 times a week), you are going to need some very concentrated solution to do so. I don't think it will be practical, or even possible to get the ferts to dissolve in 500ml of water. For example, you would need to add about 50 Tbsp (that's TABLESPOONS!) of KNO3 and 7 Tbsp of KH2PO4 to 500ml of distilled water. Dosing 15ml of that a week would add about 25 ppm NO3, 17 ppm K and 3 ppm PO4 to your 55 gal tank. You might be able to do this if you dosed 30ml each time: that would only require 9 Tbps KNO3 and 1 tsp (teaspoon) of KH2PO4 to 500ml of water. And you'd have to mix up a new batch every 15-20 days.

I think I would follow Jim's advice, and dry dose.

[omartinez]

i may give it a try for a few days to see if i can handle....

it is best to dose at morning before lights turn on each day or at night after lights turn off each day?

so this is what i need to add directly?

40-60 Gallon Aquariums
+/- 1/2 tsp KN03 3x a week
+/- 1/8 tsp KH2P04 3x a week
+/- 3/4 tsp GH booster once a week(water change only)
+/- 1/8 (10ml) Trace Elements 3x a week
50% weekly water change

if i dont have the Gh booster, how do i replace it with the fert i got?

[Jim Miller]

You really don't need the booster if your tap provides it. Do a quick KH GH test and if it's within reason fuggedaboudit.

Jim