Seachem Nitrogen

[Wizzard~Of~Ozz]

I've read the instructions, looked at their formula, it all makes no sense.. according to their formula I'ld have to add 60ml to increase the nitrate in the tank (currently at 10) to 20. now that is a little rediculous.

Taking their other numbers, it only get's worse @ 187ml..

Has anyone played with this stuff, and how much do I need to add to a 75 Gal tank to make up for the lack of nitrogen.

PH = 7.4
Temp = 79 F
NO3 = 10 PPM
GH = 10 Deg.
KH = 5 Deg.
Co2 = 5.97 PPM (calculated)
Po4 = 2 PPM

The Phosphates @ 2, Nitrates @ 10 sort of explains my sudden burst of algae, tho I'm surprised it wasn't green water...

 

[Skyrmir]

Personally I'd add more fish, but it looks like your pretty well stocked already hehe.

Haven't had to add nitrate yet myself, but i'm curious about the answer.

 

[bman]

Whoa! I just looked at the back of the bottle and did a calculation for my 20 gallon tank. My nitrates are usually at 10 and my dosing regime has been sufficient to keep it more around 20. I guess I used the trial and error method.

FWIW, I dose nitrogen at 1 ml every day, and 3 ml after weekly pwc. I came about this amount by testing before adding the chemicals, dosing, then testing about an hour later. I also tested for nitrates daily for about a week, PITA but it gave me a great determination of the amount I needed to raise my tank to what I wanted.

Not to say that your tank will react the same as mine, but if you consider my results, maybe try dosing about 4 ml daily, and testing daily to see the results. You can always go from there. But I highly recommend testing daily to figure out your tank's dosages.

60 ml is a lot of liquid. For my tank the formula says 50 ml (that would have been half the bottle!)

 

[Wizzard~Of~Ozz]

I could add more fish, I think there is 2 or 3 spare square inches in there that still have water in them

I guessed and added 1 capful, seems to be my usual guess, it says on the bottle that 80% is undetectable by nitrate test (but they have one coming soon!!!!) like I'm getting in line for another test.....

Guess I'll have to wing it.. if there is no noticable changes in the plants I'll add 1.5 capfuls 2morrow, if nothing after taht, I'll dump the rest of the bottle in like their stupid formula says and get a real fert (it's a 250ml bottle) and I'm only kidding, I'ld rather not use it if I have to use a bottle a week.

Edit: In hindsight, I get 0.05*75*10(desired increase in Nitrate) = 37ml... I guess I'll go with 40ml twice a week, see how the plants do. This is a bottle every 3 weeks. (good thing they include a precision 1ml doser)

ugg, guess I just added a heap load of potassium to the tank, every bottle is 1.5% nitrogen, 2% potassium.. and I added a capful of potassium.. gonna come home to a tank with fish pressed to the glass :? :?

Since my PO4 demands 20mg/litre of nitrates or more, this is not going to be practical.. what are better sources available in Canada of Nitrate (potassium nitrate would be nice, kill 2 birds with 1 stone)

 

[bman]

Just be careful, because once I got my nitrates up, I did not have to add as much regularly. Now, you do have to take into consideration that I use the test for nitrates to judge my level (which you have stated and so does the bottle that this does not accurately depict the actual nitrogen level). Anyway, it seems to be working for me, as I have tested an hour after adding the nitrogen, and noticed that my level had gone up to where it needed to be.

If you need further advice, www.plantgeek.net has a Seachem forum where you can ask this question directly to them. I have asked them some direct questions, and have gotten some good answers, from the company themselves.

HTH

 

[malkore]

Wizard,

Nope, your math looks right. Seachem stuff is good, but weak for a high light tank, and not economicial for a large, high light tank. It takes about 2oz of SeaChem's potassium to give you 20ppm in a 75gal tank. At $7 per 4oz bottle...that's ludicris.

Now you see the advantage of gregwatson.com dry fert dosing.

 

[Wizzard~Of~Ozz]

Looks like a good price, Thanks, much better then seachem dosage..

What is Plantex CSM+B?

 

[Zezmo]

I started by using the Seachem Nitrogen and was also surprised at how much I had to add. That is why I switched to KNO3 after my first bottle was quickly used up.
I plugged your tank size into my EI spreadsheet. For a 75 gallon tank, assuming you do 50% weekly PWC. You are looking at 5 teaspoons 3 times a week to get you around 20ppm.

Here is the spreadsheet if you want to play with it yourself.
http://webpages.charter.net/zezmo/FertDoseRoutine.xls

 

[malkore]

Plantex is a trace fertilizer...it would replace Flourish comprehensive fert.
You basically mix a tablespoon to 250mL of water, and dose 5mL. So a pound of it for $11 is gonna last you years, even with several planted aquariums.