Customizing PPS Q's

[Super_Blueberry]

Since setting up my new tank, I have been really watching everything closely as I try to find its balance point. So far I have made two adjustments to my mixtures and want to see if I did it correctly or if there is a better way to approach it.

The fist is I notices some , not a lot, just a relatively small area of GSA on the front glass. Researching I found upping Phosphates will help this. Seeing as how my P's are mixed with the Mg and K, and not knowing what a higher dose of those will affect, I decided to just double the amount of P in the mixture. Is this the best way to do this? I'm running around 5ppm P for now until the GSA disappears, then I'll back off to 2ppm or so.

I also can't get my 'ates to get above 5ppm naturally so I started dosing my kno3 daily. It had no effect. Out of curiosity I tested the mixture and it was around 10ppm itself. Well 20ml in a 100g...not going to have much if any effect. So this mixture I went heavy on and I'm just under the 160ppm the API test maxes out at. Probably not going to make much of a difference either in such a large tank, but better than 10.

Any unforeseen complication I might come across with doing these adjustments?

 

[Old Scales]

Custom PPS

Good morning Blue, hope you are well.
I am basically doing the same thing you are. I overdose my phosphates to maintain 3 to 5 ppm and also my potassium. I have a 29 gallon with quad T5HO, pressurized CO2 with Flora Max substrate. About half my plants are red species. I dosed glut for a year before going to CO2. Right after my 50% water change I triple dose the phosphate and recently started adding 1/4 teaspoon of the pure dry potassium, a tip from Rivercats to help fight algae with CO2.(God bless that sweet lady) then I add double dose of phosphate daily. I don't have to dose nitrates as my fish load supplies more than enough.
By adding extra mix to your bottles you are doing the same thing I'm doing when I double, triple dose. I have seen no problems whatsoever with my fish or plants in dosing extra. Indeed I've just seen benefits and above all, no algae. One thing I discovered after going to CO2 is the dosing of glut. I started to back it off from 25 mL per day to 20 mL then to 15 mL. At that point I saw some deterioration of the leaves on my Ludwigia's. So instead of eliminating the glut as I thought I would I will continue dosing 20 mL daily as it seems everyone is happy at that point.
The information you gave about your nitrate dosing bottle only being 10 ppm is interesting and surprising. I would've thought it would've been very strong. I'm going to test mine also just to see. I think I'll test my phosphate bottle also. Thanks for the insight in what you discovered. But again I have seen no problems with overdosing the PPS that we're doing at these levels. IMO, you're thinking in needing your nitrates higher than 5 ppm is right. With phosphates at 5 ppm having the nitrates in 10 to 15 ppm is a better balance between the two. Good luck, OS.