I've been reading up on trace element mixes and from what I've read, it seems that SeaChem Flourish Trace is significantly lower in micronutrients than any other trace element product out there. I do plan on purchasing a more robust trace mix when I run out of Flourish Trace; until then, would it be OK to double the dose of the Flourish Trace? Can anyone think of any problems I might run into by doing that? My tank is 55 gallon (containing about 40 gallons water), 1.75 wpg T5 HO lighting, Eco-Complete substrate, weekly 50% water change, non-CO2, moderately to heavily planted with low-light species, fully stocked with fish.
I am currently dosing:
*5 ml Excel daily (20 ml Excel on water change day)
*1/8 teaspoon SeaChem EQ weekly
*1/4 tsp KNO3, 1/4 tsp KCl and 3-4 drops Fleet NaPhos twice weekly
*20 ml liquid Fe+K (package dose for 40 gallons)
*Flourish Trace 5 ml once weekly
Thanks.

Hi gingerinaustin,

I would increase a small percentage (20-30%) at a time (maybe weekly) and judge your results. Adverse conditions should show pretty quickly as bad things happen quickly in a tank.

Remember that trace elements are already present in tap water, so you may not need as much as you think.

For trace a lot of folks (like myself) use TMG or Tropica Master Grow.

Best of luck to you.

I would treat the Flourish Trace as if it were CSM+B and dose it every other day, alternating with the macros. Since Flourish works well that way, and Flourish Trace is more diluted, I would just double the amount that EI calls for for CSM+B. You will be doing weekly 50% water changes which will remove the excess anyway.

I would also follow the EI recommended dosing schedule a lot more closely than you seem to be. Right now you seem to be underdosing nitrates and dosing a hodgepodge of micros and potassium. I'm not sure about the phosphate dosage you are using, but it needs to be near the EI amounts too.

Thanks to both of you.

Sorry Hoppy, you are correct: the amount of KNO3 is an old dose, I am actually dosing 1/2 teaspoon twice weekly; I went up on that dose about three weeks ago. (I have a terrible memory--this is why I keep the amounts written down on a pad next to the tank!) I am dosing less than EI calls for in a high-light, CO2-enriched tank, because I have a lower-light, non-CO2, Excel-dosed tank. Additionally, my tap water is low in KH and my plants have shown signs of both iron and potassium deficiency, so I've added in the SeaChem EQ (leftover from a non-Excel non-CO2 attempt), KCl (brand name Nu-Salt) and K+Fe (brand name API Leaf Zone). Since doing so, the KH has improved to a range of 4.5-6.7 dKH (it was 0-2.2), the pinholes I saw developing in the leaves of several plant species are no longer occurring, and the new growth on my H. difformis is slowly turning from yellow to green.

The three to four drops of Fleet monobasic sodium phosphate solution (approximately 1/16 teaspoon) added twice weekly is supposed to add about 0.5 ppm phosphate/week when added to 40 gallons water. Should I be adding more? My tap water already contains about 0.5 ppm and my phosphate levels in the tank run between 1-2 ppm.

Thanks, all--this is the closest to a consistent fert dosing schedule I have ever achieved, and the tank is looking exponentially better as a result. I plan to switch to all dry aquarium ferts once I'm out of the proprietary liquid products, but I'd like to use up this other stuff first if I can.

Sorry, I missed that this is a non-CO2 tank, using Excel. As I recall, tanks like that should have about 1/3 the growth rate as CO2 tanks. If so, that suggests an EI dosing schedule that is about 1/3 of the listed dosages. Maybe you are right on the money with the dosages. My brain isn't fully plugged in right now so I have to defer to others on that.