Need advice , started a planted 75 gal tank

[Rivercats]

Macro Mixes

1 litre bottle: (1000ml)

59 grams of K2SO4, Potassium Sulfate
6 grams of KH2PO4 Mono Potassium Phosphates
Fill with RO or Distilled water and shake well. Let sit overnight.

In 1 liter bottle: (1000ml)

65 grams of KNO3
Fill with RO or Distilled water and shake well. Let sit overnight.

Micro Mix
In 1 liter bottle: (1000ml)
80 grams of dry Trace Element mix.
Fill up both bottles with RO or Distilled water and shake. Wait over night until dissolved.


Dose 1ml each solution for every 10 gallons of water daily before lights come on. Each week right before your WC take a nitrate and phosphate reading. You want 10-20ppm nitrates and 1-3ppm phosphates. The readings will show you if you are dosing too much, too little, or the right amount of macro's. You can adjust the amounts used from week to week if needed. I rarely ever dose nitrates in any of my tanks.

You want to go by what your drop checker color is. Don't worry about what it says about CO2 in the thread.

 

[Katrinag]

Macro Mixes

1 litre bottle: (1000ml)

59 grams of K2SO4, Potassium Sulfate
6 grams of KH2PO4 Mono Potassium Phosphates
Fill with RO or Distilled water and shake well. Let sit overnight.

In 1 liter bottle: (1000ml)

65 grams of KNO3
Fill with RO or Distilled water and shake well. Let sit overnight.

Micro Mix
In 1 liter bottle: (1000ml)
80 grams of dry Trace Element mix.
Fill up both bottles with RO or Distilled water and shake. Wait over night until dissolved.


Dose 1ml each solution for every 10 gallons of water daily before lights come on. Each week right before your WC take a nitrate and phosphate reading. You want 10-20ppm nitrates and 1-3ppm phosphates. The readings will show you if you are dosing too much, too little, or the right amount of macro's. You can adjust the amounts used from week to week if needed. I rarely ever dose nitrates in any of my tanks.

You want to go by what your drop checker color is. Don't worry about what it says about CO2 in the thread.

Ok I ordered everything. Thank you.

 

[Katrinag]

Until RiverCats chimes in I thought I would give you what advice I can. I follow her dosing recommendations. Yes, you split into three bottles and dose from each one daily. Or at least all but the nitrate bottle. If you have a lot of fish, you may have enough nitrates. You want them to stay around 10, no more than 20 is what I aim for. In three of my tanks I do not dose potassium nitrate because the nitrates stay around 5-10. In my 10 gallon I have so many plants that the nitrate is 0 so I dose 1 ml a day. I keep the CSM+B bottle in the fridge because it tends to mold. I added the 1 ml of Metricide to it as suggested to keep mold from growing but it still did. I put some out in a small dropper bottle weekly and keep the rest in the fridge. It has worked great. I keep the others in light blocking bottles in a drawer to keep the light out. Has worked so far. You do not dose the Mono Potassium Phosphate/Potassium Sulfate bottle in the same area of the tank you dose the Potassium Nitrate because it will make a white particle form like snow. Looks bad. I do not know if they neutralize each other. My head was spinning from all the research so I just did what RiverCats said to do. LOL

RiverCats was nice and sent me a mixing list to make liquid ferts out of the dry stuff. I printed that off and have been using it to mix each bottle. I can forward the pm to you if you would like. You just need a scale with gram measurements. I got mine from Walmart.

Thank you wild rose, its a lot of work but hopefully worth it. I am at my 4th week and hope the tank will be cycled soon. I lost plenty of plants so far but I am looking at it as a learning experience. My pH dropped to 6.0 I hope to figure that out. Did that happen to you ?

 

[wildroseofky]

PH drop during cycling is very common. You need to get the PH back to at least 7. The bacteria dies when the PH reaches 6. That causes the cycle to stop. It has led to a lot of frustration to many on here. You need to add some type of buffering material. You can add baking soda, say a half teaspoon to start. Mix the baking soda with some tank water and then pour back into the tank. Wait about 10 minutes and check PH again. Do that until the PH gets above 7. Then add one of these crushed coral, eggshells, cuttlefish, oyster shell, any seashells. You can put in a knee high stocking and place under the outflow or in the filter itself. Or you can just put it in the tank directly. This help provide calcium to the water and limit how much the PH can drop. The baking soda stops working in about a week and has to be refreshed if you do not add some other buggering material. CO2 will lower PH too. That is why it is suggested to turn it off at night. With DIY it is harder to do that but it can be done by adding a three way connector and attaching a balloon to the line somewhere along its length. Then place a shutoff valve after that. At night you shut off the valve and the CO2 flows into the balloon. The next morning you open the valve and the CO2 leaves the balloon and enters the tank. Works quit well.

 

[Katrinag]

Of course they said double up as then you'll have to buy even more refills which last maybe 4 weeks or so.

This is what I use for CO2...

New Premium Aquatek CO2 Regulator with Integrated Cool Touch Solenoid | eBay

New Aqautek Bubble Counter with Integrated Check Valve | eBay

Glass Aquarium CO2 Drop Checker Test Optional 4oz 4DKH Liquid US Seller | eBay

I bought my CO2 cylinders from AquariumPlants.com but you can buy them from ebay and other places along with welding shops and such locally where you would get refills from. A 5 pound cylinder would be fine. I use a huge 20 pound cylinder on my 220g but it lasts a long time. And you need some airline tubing.

Got the drop checker with the 4dkh fluid, do I need to add another fluid ? The 4dkh fluid is clear. Is it supposed to be blue ? Thank you

 

[Rivercats]

You use the ph regent in your testing kit. You add the 4dKH into the drop checker and 2-4 drops of the ph liquid, enough to make it darker blue.

 

[Katrinag]

You use the ph regent in your testing kit. You add the 4dKH into the drop checker and 2-4 drops of the ph liquid, enough to make it darker blue.

Thank you. That was easy

 

[Katrinag]

Macro Mixes

1 litre bottle: (1000ml)

59 grams of K2SO4, Potassium Sulfate
6 grams of KH2PO4 Mono Potassium Phosphates
Fill with RO or Distilled water and shake well. Let sit overnight.

In 1 liter bottle: (1000ml)

65 grams of KNO3
Fill with RO or Distilled water and shake well. Let sit overnight.



Micro Mix
In 1 liter bottle: (1000ml)
80 grams of dry Trace Element mix.
Fill up both bottles with RO or Distilled water and shake. Wait over night until dissolved.


Dose 1ml each solution for every 10 gallons of water daily before lights come on. Each week right before your WC take a nitrate and phosphate reading. You want 10-20ppm nitrates and 1-3ppm phosphates. The readings will show you if you are dosing too much, too little, or the right amount of macro's. You can adjust the amounts used from week to week if needed. I rarely ever dose nitrates in any of my tanks.

You want to go by what your drop checker color is. Don't worry about what it says about CO2 in the thread.

Do I wait until my tank is cycled to start with these ferts ? I started the rank 2/10/14

 

[Rivercats]

Since your running CO2 I would start dosing them BUT I would not dose the KNO3, nitrates until your tank done cycling or unless nitrate levels drop below 10ppm. During the cycle your plants will have ammonia and nitrates to feed off of which is normally enough.