overdosing help

E

evil_elmo

AC Members
Apr 21, 2006
8
0
0
New Zealand
i started dosing ferts last week and ever since then i've lost a few of my fishes and now i'm questioning my dose

here is what i'm doing for my 130Gallon tank

Stump Remover - 1 Teaspoon
Fleet Enema - 1ml
No Salt - 3 Teaspoon
Epsom Salt - 3 Teaspoon
Calcium Sulfate - 10 teaspoon

i dose all at once when i do a 50% water change, am i dosing too much as i got these figures from this calculator http://www.aquaticplantcentral.com/forumapc/fertilator.php?

i find my fish swimming like crazy, jumping all over the place then they sink to the bottom and die..please dont ask me for number as i have no test kits at all (didnt want to spend $150nz on test kits)

so please can someone help me, am i doing something wrong, all advise welcome :sad:
 
Unfortunately, without those test results we can't tell you much.

In all honesty, those test kits pay for themselves in the long run. Not to mention that the kit has enough chemicals for a few hundred tests, so it lasts a long, long time.
 
Your numbers don't look bad, but I am a great believer in 'easy does it' and would have started off at 1/2 dosages and worked up to them.
It's difficult to know whether all those quantities are necessary without knowing your lighting (wattage) and plant mass.
I am not a great fan of heavy Ca dosing. I have experimented with it with, in most cases, negative results. Rather a nice trace mix which would supply come Ca and a light supplement of that element would be the way I would go.
If you could supply lighting info. and plant mass, or send a picture it would be of great assistance.

Len
 
i run 4x5ft tubes, each 58watts, i also have a pressized CO2 system

here is a pic of the tank a couple of months back, you can see how much plants i had. alot of plants died cause i didnt use ferts but want to build it back up now

DSC01467.jpg


i only dose Ca cause i find alot of my plants are very white when new leafs grow and i remember reading somewhere that its lack of Ca

Thanks
 
OK, IMO you have a moderate lighting situation and what looks like a moderate fish load.
Based on your reply, it's difficult to assess what kind of plant mass you've got in the tank presently, but......
Here is what I would suggest for your tank:
After water change:
2tsp. KNO3 now with a target of 3tsps. as plant mass increases.
1.5mls. (24 drops out of the bottle) Fleet with a target of 2.0mls.(32 drops)
as plant mass increases.
1.5 tsps. KCl. You will need less K+ with the additional KNO3.
This is very subjective, but I would cut the Ca at least from 10 to 5tsps. and if it was my tank, I'd cut it to 2tsps. I don't care what's in the literature regarding this element. IME it has not shown to be effective. The Mg uptake does not seem to increase (IME) at all and my plants suffered as a result of 'over-dosing' Ca. Which brings us to..........
4 tsps. of Mg with a target of 5 or 6 as plant mass increases.
I would also suggest buying a good trace mix. I use Plantex CSM+B from Greg Watson, or Flourish (not Flourish Trace) at Big Al's or your LFS. If you buy from Greg Watson, pick up some KNO3 from him as well unless you have a cheap source of KCl, which NO-Salt is not, IMO. If your fish load remains on the low side you will be able to cut out the KCl as you increase the KNO3.
Dose all of the above at water change except the traces. Dose them daily starting the day after water change at the rate of 5mls./day with a target of 15mls./day as plant mass increases.
You have relatively low/moderate light. No sense over doing it with the elements unless the plants show you they need more.
Water change, in your case should be 50% or 70gals. of water, every week.
Following this regimen will keep things in check for you.

Len
 
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