Fetrz help

[TheNamelessPoet]

OK, so I am sure some of you have seen my Slum Lord thread.

I need some help on fertilizer. I want to make my own because the Flourish and Flourish are is going to get pretty expensive.

I currently use Flourish, Flourish Advance, and Fe Propel. The propel REALLY seems to help the red plants (as told by my LFS) in keeping them a vibrant red.
Here is a pic from the other thread to get a rough idea of the tank itself. I am running CO2, and I will have a new canister filter at the end of the week, along with hopefully a reactor chamber as well.

I am looking for something I can dose daily or every couple days. basically I need to know WHAT to by. I know that I cant mix TOO much at once because I may get breakdown and/or mold in the bottles. I am going to get a light block bottle to put it in. I THINK I have a small 1l pump bottle that is dark blue that I have used before. I do have a tiny scale that goes down to I THINK .1G, or at minimum 1G.

From what I have read on here it seems like I most likely will need 2 bottles, one for Macro's and one for Micro nutrients. Is it possible to figure out the right concentration so that it is; for example, 1 pump of one bottle daily and 2 of one bottle every other or something like that? I am just thinking long term for ease of "dosing" so that if I am away on vacation or business my wife can do it without actually measuring.

Also, What about root tabs? I have seen some on here that people have made themselves. I would LIKE to make the tank as hands off as possible aside from the obvious vacuuming and trimming. I like the idea of a relatively self sustained ecosystem if possible.

I am not trying to get insane rapid growth, mostly because I do not want to have to trim every few days, but I WOULD like good growth. My goal, besides the obvious beautiful tank, is to have the plants pearling. I had that once and it was one of the coolest things I have seen before. I also had a small flower grow in the plant on top of the red rock (kind of hard to see but it is not part of the tall plant) and I would LOVE for that to happen again. That is the one plant that has made it through multiple tank disasters over the last 10 years.

 

[Bert2oo1]

Hey mate, best options is PPS pro to be honest. That's designed for 500ml bottles so you can just double the solution to make 1l.

Once you have made the solution it's just a matter of pumping it into a measuring cup (like the little clear ones you get with some medications or ferts) to see how much "ml" comes out per pump.

I use 500ml hand lotion pump bottles and it works out at 5 pumps = 7ml macro and 3 pumps = 4ml micro. These work perfectly for my tanks.

You will need to purchase these chemicals in powder form (they can be ordered by the pound):
Kh2po4
Kno3
K2so4
Mgso4 (Epsom salts)
Micro mix (csm+b)

These ferts can be purchased at nilcoG.com if your in the US.

Here's a link to PPS pro's solution make up. Make sure you use RO water to make the solutions.
https://sites.google.com/site/aquaticplantfertilizer/home/pps-pro

To make your solution you will need to add:

Macro bottle 1L

58.6g k2so4
65.2g kno3
6g of kh2po4
40.4g mgso4 (Epsom salts)

Micro bottle 1L

57.2g of micro nutrient mix (generally csm+b) but any micro nutrient mix will work.
3ml of seachem excel (will stop mold)

Dose 1ml to every 10g of tank water for macros and 0.1g of micro mix for every 10g.

I found the micro mix too hard to dose at 0.1ml per 10g so I used this calculator to make a less concentrated mix to suit my dosage. https://rotalabutterfly.com/nutrient-calculator.php

If you get confused with the calculator you can give me the tank size and the amount you want to dose (1 or 2 pumps in ml's) and I can tell you how much to mix.

That's the nutrients out of the way. Now for co2.

You want your co2 to drop your ph by 1.0-1.2 points through the day. So if your ph is 7.4 at the start of the day you want it to be 6.4-6.2 by lights off. This will give you the 30ppm concentration of co2.

Hope this helps [emoji106]

 

[Bert2oo1]

Forgot to add, if your getting a canister and feel your decent with hands on projects and have the room in your cabinet is build a Griggs or cerges reactor. I've got 1 of each and can't fault either of them to be honest.

I've even got a spare water filter housing for the reactor of my next tank already [emoji16][emoji23] (one day)

Here's the links to make the Griggs (or you can buy one from nilcoG)
http://rotalabutterfly.com/rex-grigg/diy-reactor.htm

Here's a link to cerges: https://glassboxgardeners.com/threads/how-to-build-a-cerges-co2-reactor.346/

Cerges takes up more room but is easier to clean. If you go with a Griggs one id leave out the bio balls on the inside as they arnt needed.

 

[TheNamelessPoet]

Thanks!!!

This is the exact info I was looking for!

Is there any test kit I need besides the standard one for nitrates and pH?

 

[Bert2oo1]

Thanks!!!

This is the exact info I was looking for!

Is there any test kit I need besides the standard one for nitrates and pH?

To be honest I'm a bad person to ask about that lol I don't use test kits at all. I know all my levels due to the amount of ferts etc I add and what my base parameters are. I haven't used a test kit for well over 12 months lol

Unless you have nitrates or ammonia in your tap water I don't think you'll need to worry to much about testing. Although if you have a heavy fish stock in the tank you many want to change the amount of Kno3 your dosing so you don't get above 40ppm nitrates per week.

 

[Bert2oo1]

Here's the reactor setup's I have in my 2 high techs. The cerges is on the 60g and the Griggs is on the 30g.

The 30g also has plumbing setup to a hose connection for easy water changes. I just flick the valve and the filter drains the tank through the intake and out the door onto the garden [emoji106] flip another valve and a submersible pump in the bathtub fills the tank back up using the outlet of the filter.

http://pho.to/AnGy3

 

[Fresh2o]

PPS-Pro is an effective, easy to use, and economical fertilization system. I bought a kit for about $30 back in DEC 2013 and still have quite a bit of all but one of the components. Another US PPS-Pro supplier is Green Leaf Aquariums.
In addition, I've added a separate 500mL bottle for the KNO3. Allows better control of the nitrates (nitrification is another source). Also, I am triple dosing phosphate in the macro bottle.
Dosing 2mL Macros per day in my 20g means that each bottle will last approximately 250 days. Micro are dosed less. For dosing I use graduated plastic pipettes.
CO2 has been covered in good detail in the previous posts.

 

[TheNamelessPoet]

I have lots of reading to do today! Thanks to all of you