Here is the calculator many of us use: http://www.aquaticplantcentral.com/forumapc/fertilator.php?
"I think what djlen was getting at is that you may not need to dose the Flourish Iron at all. The regular Flourish will possibly provide all the plants needs. No point dosing extra FE unless you are sure there's a deficiency."
That's exactly what I meant. Over-doing the Fe can/will produce less than desired results in many cases. If your trace mix isn't adequate, as indicated by the plant growth and color, it may be necessary to dose some extra Fe. I personally have not seen the need......ever. And I keep some very Fe needy plants.
That's the main reason why I suggested dosing traces daily. The self life of Fe in the water table is not dependable. I think that if you keep them, your Crypts. and or Sword plants will show an improvement by dosing traces daily or at least every other day.
When starting out, I suggest dosing your macros - N,P,K after your weekly water change and the following day begin your trace dosing. Then test your N and P on Wed. to see what's been used. You may not need to dose at mid-week, but if you do, one of both of those two will be low.
Eventually you will learn your tank's usages and dose when needed without any testing required.
Some 'folks' will tell you that mid-week testing is not necessary at all if you do a large weekly water change. They are right. I'm just enough of a control freak to want to know what's been used.
Len
"I think what djlen was getting at is that you may not need to dose the Flourish Iron at all. The regular Flourish will possibly provide all the plants needs. No point dosing extra FE unless you are sure there's a deficiency."
That's exactly what I meant. Over-doing the Fe can/will produce less than desired results in many cases. If your trace mix isn't adequate, as indicated by the plant growth and color, it may be necessary to dose some extra Fe. I personally have not seen the need......ever. And I keep some very Fe needy plants.
That's the main reason why I suggested dosing traces daily. The self life of Fe in the water table is not dependable. I think that if you keep them, your Crypts. and or Sword plants will show an improvement by dosing traces daily or at least every other day.
When starting out, I suggest dosing your macros - N,P,K after your weekly water change and the following day begin your trace dosing. Then test your N and P on Wed. to see what's been used. You may not need to dose at mid-week, but if you do, one of both of those two will be low.
Eventually you will learn your tank's usages and dose when needed without any testing required.
Some 'folks' will tell you that mid-week testing is not necessary at all if you do a large weekly water change. They are right. I'm just enough of a control freak to want to know what's been used.
Len
