Question on dry ferts

[Smitty]

Howdy!

I recently purchased dry ferts for my aquarium from Green Leaf. It probably would have been smart for me to ask this question, and I probably could still call, but thought I would also ask here.

First, I have a 55g aquarium with what I would say is high lighting. I also have CO2 from a 5lb tank. Lots of plants, medium bioload.

I purchased the fert package that has k2SO4 (Potassium Sulfate), kno3 (Potassium Nitrate), kh2pO4 ( Mono Potassium Phosphate) and also plantex csm+b.

I was told to does the plantex every other day, and the rest on every other day (opposite days). The question is how much? I tried using the calculator from Chuck's Planted Aquarium pages but was kinda at a loss. Can someone give me an idea on what to start with? Having no clue about this stuff is why I've waited 1.5 years before going to dry ferts, I'm at a loss and now stressing out!

 

[neilanh]

You got the right stuff. How much you dose is dependant upon what method you want to use.

The EI method doses macros and micros on opposing days (like you mentioned). The idea is to dose enough to ensure the plants always have plenty of ferts available to them, then on the 7th day of the week do a large (50+%) water change to get rid of the excess.

The PPS-Pro method doses both macros and micros daily and attempts to only dose what the plants use in a day, so that there is no excess build up.

 

[Smitty]

Well, I am going for the EI method with the large water change. What I'm looking for is where to start? Should I put 1/2 teaspoon of each in, or 1/4 or full teaspoon? That is what I'm looking for. I know I don't need a lot but I'm not sure where to start for the 55g tank.

 

[Purrbox]

As a general rule, you want to dose enough for 20ppm Potassium, 20ppm Nitrate, 1-2ppm Phosphate, and 0.1-0.2ppm Iron in a week. Figure the dosage using Chuck's Calculator and adjust from there.

 

[Smitty]

Yea... I was trying to use the calculator but didn't quite understand it... part of the confusion is the mix with water. I'm trying to figure out the amount to add to amount of water to mix with to give the PPM. I can put a teaspoon with 1 ML and get 16 PPM but with 10 ML it is only 1.6 PPM. That doesn't make since because I would still be adding 1 teaspoon to the 55g! Maybe if someone can explain that to me...

 

[Purrbox]

You only need to worry about the mix with water if you are mixing a solution for dosing. Generally this is only necessary for smaller aquariums. For a 55 gallon like yours, you'll probably be dry dosing instead. If you look closer you'll see that the ppm is based on dosing 1ml which is why you see the change when mixing with 1ml vs 10ml.