Ferts.

[phanmc]

Actually KH2PO4 is potassium di hydrogen phosphate mainly to supply phosphate to aquarium.

Sorry, meant to say monopotassium phosphate which is the same thing as potassium dihydrogen phosphate.

Tom, could u please explain me about Gh booster and the reason u're using.

GH booster is a blend of calcium sulfate, magnesium sulfate, and potassium sulfate and is used to add those three nutrients. Depending on your water hardness you may not need to use the gh booster, but using it ensures that you have enough of both calcium and magnesium since a gh test doesn't differentiate between the two.

U don't use K2SO4.

This is simply because Tom has found that KNO3 usually provides enough potassium for most applications and that using K2SO4 may be overkill, though there are no negative effects from overdosing K.

 

[plantbrain]

Tom, could u please explain me about Gh booster and the reason u're using. U don't use K2SO4. I read a suggestion not to use K2SO4 cause it can cause anaerobic air pockets in the substrate causing roots to die and releasing H2S with egg-rotten smell. Any idea.

Whoever told you that, run away from them.
haha

Seriously though, that's the first time I've ever heard that myth, new ones come along all the time, but that's out there in left field. I've been posting and dealing with ferts for 12 years on line pretty much non stop. So that's a new one on me.

GH booster as mentioned above, is about 50% K2SO4, and 3:1 Ca:Mg for the other 50%.

So it hits everything else.
Adding more GH with this will do no harm even if you do not need more Ca, Mg, and or K+.

You only get salt stress at very very high levels of any of these 3 ions, see hydroponic studies for more(300-500 ppm or higher). Mg is the one with the most issue, but it's very rare that it's ever going to go over say 10ppm. I lived in Davis where it's 52ppm out of the tap, no issues to speak of there for a few years.

I've had well over 200ppm of Ca, and K+ over 100ppm are common in the 1990's without any issues, most know that you do not need more than say 30ppm of K+, so adding more is really not required, but doing so does no harm until you get very high levels.

Regards,
Tom Barr

 

[plantbrain]

Actually KH2PO4 is potassium di hydrogen phosphate mainly to supply phosphate to aquarium. But phosphate dosing is really difficult to manage. Overdosing cause green water. K2SO4 is potassium sulphate mainly for potasssium and KNO3(potassium nitrate) to make a bomb.:lol:. lol, it's for potassium and nitrate in aquarium.

PO4 dosing is not hard to manage in the least.
I've been doing it 15 years and have never once been able to demonstrate any algae with excess dosing ever............not once.

I have, as well as many others, noted a decrease in green spot algae on glass and on Anubias etc, starting back about 1998 or so as we increased the levels up to 2-3ppm ranges. This is pretty much standard practice for gardeners today.

KNO3 does not make a good bomb, it makes blackpowder, Ammonium Nitrate makes a good bomb, but so does gasoline.

If you want to induce green water, add lots of light, NH4 and water and wait. Pretty much 100% inducement.

This is why we see green water in new tanks without good plant growth, high light and no bacteria and where they tried to do fishless cycling with NH4.

There must a dozen or more post here on AC where I've explained this to folks over the years about FC and green water blooms.

Regards,
Tom Barr

 

[cichlidcichlid]

So what exactly should i order from them?

They sell the separate dry chems but i am not sure in what portions i should be mixing them. Do i just take an amount say 1 tbs and do the ratio from that?

Do i need to buy there premixes or do you think it is plauseable to be able to create a mixture from the separate ferts. I looked at it and it seems to me that for about the same price i would beable to come up with 4 pounds vs. 1lb of the premix.

My plants are making bubbles but not as many as when i do water changes for som reason.

 

[phanmc]

The PMDD pre-mix leaves out phosphates, Alan's staying true to the old formula, so you need to get that as well.

The better idea is to buy each component individually and then dose them according to a fert calculator, I use the fertilator at www.aquaticplantcentral.com. This allows you to tailor your dosage should you believe you need a little more of something or less of another.

You can simply dump the dry ferts into your tank but if you want to mix your dry ferts then Rex's site (rexgrigg.com) has simple instructions.

Again, you'll need:
KNO3
KH2PO4
CSM+B (or another micro alternative when Alan starts selling it)
GH Booster