Switching from Flourish to Greg Watson

[Purrbox]

I currently dose the following Flourish Products.
Nitrogen
Phosphorus
Potassium
Excel
Flourish

I'm getting to the point where I need to order more Nitrogen, Phosphorus, and Excel. I was thinking about switching over to Greg Watson's dry ferts. It looks like I would need ot order the following.
Potassium Nitrate (Potassium and Nitrate replacement)
Mono Potassium Phosphate (Phosphate replacement)

Due to the amount of Potassium in the Potassium Nitrate, I probably wouldn't need to dose the Flourish Potassium anymore. I've got tons of the regular Flourish left so I don't think I'll need to worry about replacing it anytime soon. Obviously there is no replacement for Excel currently available, so I would need to order that.

Does it sound like I've got this figured out correctly, or should I be looking at ordering something different?

Thanks!

 

[sherry]

you may also need nitrates separately... chances are you'll need to dose those in addition to the potassium nitrate.. or at least that's what I get from reading all the stickys.

I'm still learning too.

 

[czcz]

If you are dosing more than 15ppm of nitrate a week, potassium nitrate will give a somewhat decent level of potassium. At Greg's prices, better to add K2SO4 to your order as a potassium source, so you have it around should you need it. Apologies for consistently switching your gender, by the way.

 

[crazycat]

just to clarify...

potassium nitrate (kno3) IS for dosing nitrates.

potassium sulfate (k2so4) or potassium chloride is for dosing extra potassium.

http://www.gregwatson.com

 

[Purrbox]

No problem czcz, just had to give you a hard time about it.

For further clarification, what is the difference between potassium sulfate and potassium cloride? Hmmm... not that it makes much difference, since it appears that he only carries Potassium Sulfate. Besides I currently dose tons of Flourish Nitrogen, so I may end up dosing enough to meet my plant needs.

After I posted this question, I noticed that he's located only an hour away from me. I think I'll check and see if I can pick up my order instead of having to pay for shipping. If so, that will make the switch well worthwhile and I'll probably end up picking up a couple of extras with the money saved on shipping.

 

[czcz]

KCl will soften the water (I bought 50lbs of it as sodium free water softener), and some are concerned of salts formed after K+ dissassociates. As with most ferts you do not need to worry too much about Cl- as it is used by plants and large water changes keep it under control. KCl also does not dissolve quickly. I have been using it for months and will probably continue to do so for years since I have too much of it

K2SO4 is the preffered K+ source of many aquarists.

 

[Purrbox]

Thanks czcz! I think I've got it all straight now. Time to see about making that order.

 

[Simpte]

KNO3 for Nitrates
KH2PO4 for phosphates
Both will eliminate the need for adding Potassium
All 3 macros in 2 bottles. This is my method.
I don't use his trace anymore but it works.

 

[Purrbox]

Well I called Greg Watson today to check if it would be okay to pick up the ferts instead of having them shipped. He usually doesn't allow this, but since I didn't sound "scary" he said it would be fine. So I am now in the possession of the following.
Potassium Nitrate
Mono Potassium Phosphate
Potassium Sulfate
CSM + B Plantex
And some more Flourish Excel in a "big" bottle.

For the dry ferts is there a general guideline as to how concentrated the solution should be made? I'm guessing that like many things you could reach a point where you've added to much for it to be readily absorbed. For instance I was thinking along the lines of 7tsp of the Potassium Nitrate in 250ml of water, so that 1ml would add 5ppm Nitrate to my 5 Gallon tank.

Geez this stuff sure is going to last me forever!

 

[travis simonson]

Here is a link to the calculator you need. It will even tell you when you are trying to mix too many dry ferts to go into solution properly. This thing is a must have for anyone using Greg's ferts.

http://www.csd.net/~cgadd/download/aquacalc_setup.exe

BTW Greg is a great guy isn't he? I think everyone should use his ferts

 

[Purrbox]

Oh cool... I was using the online version of this calc, but didn't realize that it would tell you when you tried to make too concentrated of a solution. Thanks much!

Yeah, Greg was really nice. I'll definately have no hesitation about recommending him in the future. Especially once I have a chance to try out the new ferts. I've still got enough of several of the Flourish ferts to last me another week or two.

 

[czcz]

FWIW, I would use 1.25tsp per 250mL, so 5mL is about 5ppm, and its easy to dose with the Seachem cap and recycle the Seachem bottles.

 

[Purrbox]

I'll be reusing my Flourish bottles. I've never used the caps for dosing since my tanks are so small, so I'd planned on continuing to use a medicine dropper for dosing. It measures in 1ml increments upto 5ml. Works pretty good, and was really inexpensive.

 

[czcz]

Yeah I keep small tanks too and can relate I used medicine droppers and still keep a "flavor injector" syringe with mL increments around for exact dosing, but nowadays I like mixing for 5mL/bottlecap/tsp doses for my diluted ferts because it is faster and easier for me, especially near the end of the bottle. Only for whatever its worth, of course

Joe