PPS Pro

[Fishperson]

I have a few questions about PPS Pro for a 10 gallon:

1. Is it really necessary to buy a $30 scale? Doesn't someone just sell the pre-mixed formula? I would rather do that!

2. Does the formula ever "expire"? Because on a ten gallon I will only use one ml a day, so it could theoretically last for years. But would the water become fouled at some point?

3. Does PPS Pro ALMOST guarantee growing at least low-medium light plants, when combined with pressurized co2 and a 20" finnex fugeray (43 PAR at 12 inches from the light, PAR found here: Finnex RAY II & FugeRAY PAR Data I plan on growing ludwigia, cabomba, bacopa, cryptocoryne wendtii "mi oya", water wisteria, staurogyne repens, cryptocoryne parva, vallisneria americana, and maybe AR or AR mini.

Thanks guys! Any help would be appreciated!

in advance!

 

[flitabout]

I bought this one American Weigh Scales AWS-1KG-BLK Signature Series Black Digital Pocket Scale, 1000 by 0.1 G : Amazon.com : Kitchen & Dining It works great and it was cheap. I keep mine in the fridge and I added excel to keep any mold from growing. As long as it's dry it should keep practically forever. You don't need to mix in their bottles. You can get smaller containers to mix smaller batches

 

[flitabout]

Nothing guarantees survival but you should be good some of the plants like the staurogyne repens will have the tendency to grow up rather than carpet in lower lights but they will grow.

 

[Fishperson]

Okay thanks. I was wondering because wouldn't it be cheaper if a company made and sold PPS Pro dosed with excel in it so it doesn't perish?

 

[flitabout]

No because again it doesn't last as long once the water has been added to it and excel isn't necessary. Also with the amount you would pay for shipping it would out weight and cost saved in the amount you get. Most of us plant heads have it on hand as we almost all dose our tanks with it because it is a great algaecide. I get a gallon jug metricide of it every 6 months for like $20 off of amazon.

 

[Old Scales]

That's the big cost savings with dry ferts. You're not buying and paying shipping on the water mixed in it like you do comprehensive or leaf zone, etc. If you have a big or multiple tanks liquid ferts can get expensive. OS.

 

[Fishperson]

Okay, I will just order the scale then. Now I realize that, but I figured that since the only tank I will be dosing is a ten gallon that gets 1 ml from each bottle a day, if the solution would keep then I wouldn't need a scale.

 

[Old Scales]

If you get the GLA dry ferts, go ahead and get 3 1000ml dosing bottles. For your 10g just mix them with 500ml. Then when you move up to bigger tanks(and I bet you will) you'll have big enough bottles. Mix your nitrate in a separate bottle from the potassium and phosphorus and then your micros in the third bottle. Most people with a good load of fish find they don't need to dose the nitrogen. You'll like how your plants grow. Lots of tips we can give you once you get started. OS.

 

[Fishperson]

I don't think my parents will let me get any more tanks. That's why I was overambitious on this one in the first place.

 

[azmodan]

I have a few questions about PPS Pro for a 10 gallon: 1. Is it really necessary to buy a $30 scale? Doesn't someone just sell the pre-mixed formula? I would rather do that! 2. Does the formula ever "expire"? Because on a ten gallon I will only use one ml a day, so it could theoretically last for years. But would the water become fouled at some point? 3. Does PPS Pro ALMOST guarantee growing at least low-medium light plants, when combined with pressurized co2 and a 20" finnex fugeray (43 PAR at 12 inches from the light, PAR found here: Finnex RAY II & FugeRAY PAR Data I plan on growing ludwigia, cabomba, bacopa, cryptocoryne wendtii "mi oya", water wisteria, staurogyne repens, cryptocoryne parva, vallisneria americana, and maybe AR or AR mini. Thanks guys! Any help would be appreciated! in advance!

There are people on TPT that sell pre mixed pps pro formulas in bottles for less than GLA charges, but it isn't an enormous difference. Considering the digital scale you can get for under $10 I'd say in the long run it's worth to just order the scale and ferts yourself, this way you can also customize your dosage if you need (such as dosing nitrates separately, as OS mentioned). I also keep my dosing bottles in the fridge to prevent any mold from growing and so far so good.

 

[Fishperson]

Today I ordered:
PPS Pro ferts
A gram scale
24 oz paintball tank
nano co2 diffuser (ceramic I think)
Aquatek co2 mini regulator

So excited!

 

[azmodan]

Nice! The journey truly begins now!

 

[Old Scales]

Ah yes. Welcome to the dark side of the force, young Luke! OS.

 

[Fishperson]

Haha thanks guys!

 

[Fishperson]

So all the stuff got in today. I am going on vacation this weekend for two days, worst timing ever, but oh well. I'm going to re-substrate and need to mix PPS Pro. Do I need to use distilled water? Where would I get that? And do I need to add anything besides the ferts and water?

 

[Old Scales]

Yes. You need to use distilled water when mixing up your dry ferts in your dosing bottles. This gives you a pure solution without any of the minerals that may be in your tap water from polluting it. You can get distilled water at any grocery or Wal-Mart store. One thing that also will help your plants will be to give them a source of carbon. The easiest way to do this, and cheapest, is to buy Metricide 14 which is a bulk size (one gallon)of the same thing Excel is made of. You can buy this on Amazon. OS.

 

[Fishperson]

Well I'll be using pressurized co2 so that shouldn't matter right?

 

[Fresh2o]

Well I'll be using pressurized co2 so that shouldn't matter right?

If you already have the CO2 + accessories then you should be fine without the Glut/Excel. Some folks run both.
Make sure you have a funnel for adding the dry ferts to to fert bottle after you have weighed them. I found the plastic condiment cups you get from fast food places very handy for placing on the scale when measuring out your dry ferts.
I was going to suggest that you can preweigh future batches and put them in separate, labeled zip lock bags but this is something you will not be doing very often. Also, you may find that the next batch of ferts might need some customization such an increase or decrease of a particular dry fert.

Welcome to the dark side.

 

[Old Scales]

I continue to dose glut after going to pressurized CO2. I was advised by several of our expert planters in here to do so for its algae fighting properties. That, plus their advice on adjusting my fertilizers kept me from having the common algae problems many have when first going pressurized. OS.

 

[Fishperson]

Ok I think I will add a bit then. You think one ml should be good?