Adding nutrients lowered NitrAtes?

[Pezzep]

I added parts of the pps-pro solution (mono potassium phosphate and potassium sulphate) along with the micro nutrients. Didn't add any nitrates cause after my WC they were already around 20ppm and I have vey hard water so magnesium was not needed. Now since it's been 4 days since adding the solutions my nitrates have dropped to 5 ppm, is this because my plants are make more use of the nitrates now that the other nutrients have been added? Can anyone explain this? I'm not complaining, lower nitrates is nice aha but just want to learn the science behind it and if anyone can recommended how much potassium nitrate to add after my next WC to try and keep the nitrates around 10-20 ppm? It's an 8g nano tank, I added about 5.5ml after my WC of each solution, should I try 5.5 ml of potassium nitrate to start and adjust accordingly?

 

[Ian086]

You need 'The Plant Queen' to help you out here. If anyone knows, Rivercats will. I don't thinks she's online at the moment but if you PM her, she will help you out. She is highly knowledgeable, highly respected on here and very helpful and very friendly.....

 

[Billbug68]

I believe that is exactly what happened. PPS pro is daily dosing, though. Are you dosing EI method?

Oh, and lower nitrates aren't always a good thing in planted tanks. You'll want to keep them between 10-20 ppm.

 

[Pezzep]

Didn't think to PM her, maybe I'll send one her way.

No I'm dosing pps-pro, I remember talking to Rivercats and she told me she dosed the same way with Pps-pro, she put in what she needed on a weekly basis rather than a daily basis. I'm not sure if she does this for all her tanks or just the lesser gallon tanks since the thread where she said she did it weekly we did only talk about her smaller tanks like 6-12gallon tanks.

 

[Billbug68]

Didn't think to PM her, maybe I'll send one her way.

No I'm dosing pps-pro, I remember talking to Rivercats and she told me she dosed the same way with Pps-pro, she put in what she needed on a weekly basis rather than a daily basis. I'm not sure if she does this for all her tanks or just the lesser gallon tanks since the thread where she said she did it weekly we did only talk about her smaller tanks like 6-12gallon tanks.

Big or small, you still dose daily when using the pps pro method. You're just splitting the amount up. So in your 5g tank, you'd start off by dosing .5ml of each solution daily. Then at the end of the week before your WC, test parameters and adjust your daily dose up or down to get parameters where you want them.

Oh and yes, if you're using tap, most everyone leaves the magnesium out of their solutions. There's no real need for it unless you're using RO water.

EDIT: don't get me wrong, I guess you could dose all at once, just saying, "pps pro" is daily dosing. I like it, because to me, I feel like I know I'm giving the plants what they need each day, less chance of deficiencies...

 

[Pezzep]

http://www.aquariumadvice.com/forums/f24/help-me-plant-my-tank-275560-3.html

Page 2-3 me and Rivercats talk about dosing 1x a week with pps-pro, it's seemed to have worked for her? Doing daily doses on such small tanks just seems like such a pain, is there a harm in dosing 1x weekly? Unless I'm reading what she had wrote wrong.

 

[Billbug68]

http://www.aquariumadvice.com/forums/f24/help-me-plant-my-tank-275560-3.html

Page 2-3 me and Rivercats talk about dosing 1x a week with pps-pro, it's seemed to have worked for her? Doing daily doses on such small tanks just seems like such a pain, is there a harm in dosing 1x weekly? Unless I'm reading what she had wrote wrong.

I'm saying, pps pro is not the ferts you use, it's the METHOD, and the method is daily dosing, while its largely customizable, I wouldn't call weekly dosing "pps pro," it may cause some confusion... I don't really want to argue terminology... You've got a custom dosing regime, that's what you have.

Edit: to get back to the original topic, yes, adding the proper fertilizers definitely aided the plants in photosynthesis, thus, they used more nitrates then they were before.

 

[Pezzep]

Ahh I get what you're saying now, I wasn't trying to argue was trying to figure it out aha, Thanks for clearing that up.

That's good to know, I'm going to start adding the ferts to my 20g after this weeks WC the nitrates seem to start at 5-10ppm after the first WC then they rise anywhere from 20-50 by the end of the week, hopefully the ferts will help my plants use those nitrates more effectively. Thanks again!

 

[Billbug68]

Ahh I get what you're saying now, I wasn't trying to argue was trying to figure it out aha, Thanks for clearing that up.

That's good to know, I'm going to start adding the ferts to my 20g after this weeks WC the nitrates seem to start at 5-10ppm after the first WC then they rise anywhere from 20-50 by the end of the week, hopefully the ferts will help my plants use those nitrates more effectively. Thanks again!

Any time pezz.

That's a pretty hefty rise in trates in a weeks time. Is the tank a bit overstocked?

 

[Pezzep]

Any time pezz.

That's a pretty hefty rise in trates in a weeks time. Is the tank a bit overstocked?

Yeah it's a bit over stocked, I feed once a day too which might add to it, I know some feed like every other day or something. I've been thinking of doing WC on it every 4-5 days rather than once a week, especially since it's not that large of a tank so it's not like its big burden or anything.

 

[Rivercats]

http://www.aquariumadvice.com/forums/f24/help-me-plant-my-tank-275560-3.html

Page 2-3 me and Rivercats talk about dosing 1x a week with pps-pro, it's seemed to have worked for her? Doing daily doses on such small tanks just seems like such a pain, is there a harm in dosing 1x weekly? Unless I'm reading what she had wrote wrong.

I didn't go back and read the post but I do dose for the full week in the small tanks. The plants still get the same amount and I've never had issues doing this in small tanks. Now for my big tanks I dose daily.

Now that your dosing all the needed ferts your plants can utilize everything better during photosynthesis which is why I check my weekly levels. I often have to tweek the amount of macro's I use for a week.

 

[Pezzep]

I didn't go back and read the post but I do dose for the full week in the small tanks. The plants still get the same amount and I've never had issues doing this in small tanks. Now for my big tanks I dose daily.

Now that your dosing all the needed ferts your plants can utilize everything better during photosynthesis which is why I check my weekly levels. I often have to tweek the amount of macro's I use for a week.

Yeah, I'm still in need of a phosphate test kit. My LFS doesn't sell them so I'm forced to order one online. Around what ppm should my phosphates be? Does dosing daily give better results?

 

[aqua_chem]

What you saw when you added ferts is actually pretty normal. Essentially, your tank had all these nutrients but was limited in growth by a single nutrient. Think of it like a build site that has 100 roofers, 100 plumbers, and one carpenter. The roofers and plumbers can't all be used because everyone's waiting on (limited by) the rate of the one carpenter. Add more carpenters and everyone can get to work.

 

[Rivercats]

Yeah, I'm still in need of a phosphate test kit. My LFS doesn't sell them so I'm forced to order one online. Around what ppm should my phosphates be? Does dosing daily give better results?

Honestly I can't say that dosing daily gives better results. Each tank is different and I've done daily dosing, weekly dosing, and everything in between and I can say I've gotten equally good results as long as I've dosed all the nutrients (nitrates, phosphates, potassium, and micros) at the amounts needed for each tank. If you'd ask this question to 10 different people you'd probably get 10 different answers.

I keep a lot of non green plants and run low nitrate (10ppm) and high phosphate (5-10ppm) tanks. But in general phosphates in the range of 1-3ppm IMO is good for most tanks.

 

[Pezzep]

Honestly I can't say that dosing daily gives better results. Each tank is different and I've done daily dosing, weekly dosing, and everything in between and I can say I've gotten equally good results as long as I've dosed all the nutrients (nitrates, phosphates, potassium, and micros) at the amounts needed for each tank. If you'd ask this question to 10 different people you'd probably get 10 different answers.

I keep a lot of non green plants and run low nitrate (10ppm) and high phosphate (5-10ppm) tanks. But in general phosphates in the range of 1-3ppm IMO is good for most tanks.

So if I'm going with a lot of green would I want my nitrates on the higher end like 10-20 and phosphates on the lower end or is it not that big a deal with the green plants and they will grow great as long as I am dosing? Good to know around what your ppm is for the colour cause when I get my 46 bowfront going I want to have a lot of colour, nice to have a starting point for dosing when I attempt to get those vibrant colours. Your ludwigia Atlantis is just beautiful, and the purples in your tank, just amazing, that's what I want someday.

 

[Rivercats]

Again many people have different ideas on what levels should be and I'm speaking from my experience of what works best in my tanks. But generally if I have a tank with most green plants then I do keep nitrates at about 15ppm sometimes up to 20ppm and then phosphates around 3ppm, just high enough to keep green spot algae away. IMO it's finding the amounts and method of dosing that gives you the desired results. I dose my tanks according to the needs of what I'm growing, what lights I'm using, etc.