A little help with dosing schedule.

[Peyton]

Ok can someone help me out also with my dosing schedule? I have not started this yet as I have just been testing everyday to see what I need as far as N and po4 is concerned. This is using Travis Simonson's schedule from another post as a rough guide then multiply by .20 (it's a 20 gal).

N= I belive my bioload takes care of this. I test every day and it's almost always at 20ppm.

Po4= 8ml sat, 6ml mon and wed. (250ml water+ 1 tsp monopotassium phosphate= .18ppm per ml)

K= .5 tsp (added directly to tank) = 17.72ppm. sat, .25 tsp (8.86ppm) mon and wed.

Trace= OK this is where Its a little fuzzy. Travis adds 2 tbl to 1000ml of water. I'm using a 250ml bottle so trace= 250ml water + .5 tbl (or 1.5 tsp) of plantex csm+b on sun, tue, and thur.

Friday is a 50% water change.

Does this sound ok? Math was my worst subject and I'm having a rough time with this stuff!

 

[travis simonson]

Your math looks excellent Peyton

My dosing schedule is designed for a high light (3+ watts per gallon) CO2 supplemented tank. If you're running less light and/or not using CO2 you will not need to dose nearly as much as my schedule recommends. But, dang, you did your homework

 

[Peyton]

Thanks for the reply Travis. It is a high light tank, currently about 95w so close to 5wpg and DIY co2. I plan on starting this schedule today.

 

[Peyton]

Ok started this sunday. Dosed 7ml csm+b. Today I tested for N and found 0ppm. This is only the second time N = 0ppm (usually tests at 20ppm). I went through my log to look at the other time it measured this low and the only thing I can find in common was that the ph was 6.6. Using chucks co2 calculator that puts co2 levels at 59ppm. Am I to assume that the higher than normal (37ppm average) co2 level led to depleted N levels that fast?

Also even though I have had it for a while I have noticed the brush algae

http://www.plantgeek.net/articles/gg_algae_faq/bba3.jpg

is starting to spread pretty badly also. I think this might be because I have increased the frequency of my iron dosing lately. Any ideas on how to slow this junk down till I get this new dosing schedule going? I dipped my anubias nana in some hydrogen peroxide last night and it seems to have killed the algae on the leaves but I can't do this with every plant in the tank!

 

[travis simonson]

BBA is some nasty stuff. The most common causes are low CO2 levels (not likely in your case, unless your tests kits are way off) and poor water circulation. Although 0 ppm of NO3 can lead to all sorts of problems too.

Your best bet is to trim all affected leaves or dip the plants that are affected by BBA. This may sound harsh, but it is the only sure way to prevent it from continuing to spread. I'm not sure what sort of H202 solution you used but I would be careful because it can burn some plants pretty badly. I use a 19:1 (water:bleach) solution and dip affected plants for 1-1.5 minutes then rinse in water with plenty Prime (or other dechlorinator) in it before reintroducing them to the tank.

Let us know if you've any questions and good luck.