Dosing question

S

sardesign

AC Members
Sep 28, 2005
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Phoenix, AZ
I've read alot on this forum, other forums, and the web and I've tried to put together a dosing regime that would work fairly well. I've failed so far... either my plants start to show signs of nutrient deficiencies or I get an abundancy of algae. Could anyone help me out?

This is the situation:

100 gallon tank
Temp 80 F
195 watts of PC lighting, mix of 10K and 65K
DIY Yeast CO2 (running 2 2 liter bottles)
Substrate 90% flourite 10% Profile
KH 6-7
PH 7.0-7.2
Nitrates 5.0
Ammonia 0.0
Nitrite 0.0
CO2 should be somewhere around 9-15

Plant Load:
10 Amazon Sword
4 Giant Bacopa
8 Italian Val
1 Anubias

Fish Load:
6 Golden Zebra Botia
5 Siamese Algae Eater
2 Bala Shark
2 White Molly
1 Clown Pleco

I am currently getting test kits for calcium, phosphate, and iron.

I mixed a 500 mL bottle of:
1 tablespoon trace mix (chelated from a place in Oregon :) )
1 tablespoon of Epsom Salt
2 tablespoons of K2SO4
1 tablespoon of KNO3
5 mL of Flourish Iron

I do 40 drops daily with this stuff and I get almost no result at all. No algae build up. I've added pictures to show what I mean.

P1010074a.jpg P1010077a.jpg
 
In my experience test kits are very innacurate. 5ppm nitrate is low anyway but if your testing is off you may have zero ppm. I would keep it at 10ppm minimum. I don't see anything for PO4. You need to have a source for this. Most folks keep their macro ferts separate from their traces. This may not be a problem yet until you start dosing PO4 but you should double check this.

Consider skipping the test kits and using the "estimative index". With this system you estimate the amount in your tank based on knowing what you are adding and protect from overdosing by doing 50% weekly water changes.

I'm sure someone else here could help you set up a specific dosing schedule if you wanted to go this route.

Bill
 
Well if I need PO4, what contains PO4 so I can dose it. I cannot find it anywhere and I certainly cannot find it pure. Thanks.
 
You can also get KH2PO4 online at "gregwatson.com". He sells pretty much everything you need for ferts and at reasonable prices. He also helped me out with my dosing regimen.

Bill
 
What would really help a lot is an overall picture of the entire tank. I find this particularly helpful in determining what your plant mass is like in order to advise on dosing regimen.
Then I would suggest that you dose the elements separately rather than mixing a stock solution. This will enable you to mix and match your nutrients as needed for your individual tank and it's plant/fish load.
My guess is that you don't need to dose Fe or K2SO4 at all, at this time and do need to dose PO4(Fleet Enema at your local pharmacy) in addition to your KNO3 and Mg.
N and K will do you no good at all unless you balance it with the other required elements.....PO4 and a good trace mix. You mention traces but not PO4.
It also looks like you have relatively soft water. You may need to dose extra Ca. This can make a HUGE difference in plant growth.
A kH of 6.5 and pH of 7.1 would give you 15ppm/CO2. You need to push for closer to 25 - 30ppm (pH of 6.9) if you have the capability.
Once again, please post an overall shot or two of the tank. And test your tap water for kH and gH so we can see what we're dealing with.

Len
 
Thanks Len,

I forgot to post my GH... the test (done twice) was 21. I live in AZ so I know we have VERY hard water. I got the dosage calculator and started to dose dry while adding the traces on the side. I also added another bottle for my CO2 and I now have about 7.0 PH and 7-8 KH. Which gives me somewhere in the area of 21 ppm for CO2. I don't feel comfortable going higher because of my fish :(

Thanks for your help again.
 
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