what is pmdd????

There are more, but (here we go again) IMO those plus PO4 are all you need. Basically the main ones you'll use after your tank is established are pH, nitrates, and PO4. Occasionally testing kH if you have CO2.
Good Night Folks!
Len
 
PMDD - poor mans dupla drops.

It is a good and inexpensive fertilizer for fastergrowing tanks. Generally you are looking at PMDD when you are running 2.5+wpg and CO2.

Your tank can get depleted very quickly if you run CF lights at say 3+wpg with CO2. The plants will just suck the nutrients out of the water and at times I found myself feeding the plants more than the fish.

djlen is absolutley correct in that it takes a while to get used to dosing . You will end up tinkering back and forth with the dosing of different elements so I wouldn't mix the PMDD up into one batch rather keep the chemicals mixed up separatly and work with them to figure out what the ideal dosing is.

Testin is good but the general health of the tank will also tell you a great deal.

The tests I found useful for dosing were:
PH & KH for determining the CO2 level - very important when you are setting your CO2 bubbling rate.
NO3 (nitrate) you need a good lowrange testkit (saliferts @ $14-20) and you need to test a fair amount as I found this is the element most quickly used up by the plants. My tank used to go through 5-10ppm/day!
PO4 is important when the other (nitrate (N) and potassium(K)) are at optimal levels you will need to add it - when growth isn't at optimum high levels (can be present in your watersupply) can be detrimental and lead to algae problems.

To sum it up; if you are going for a fast growthrate/high tech then it is definitly worth to study up on the uses of PMDD as it will be very useful to you , but if you are growing at lower or normal rates you may be better off with some commercial fertilizer.
 
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