Fert plan and when to add ferts when cycling?

[swanandmokashi]

This is the dosing plan I came up with after some research. This is for the 55 gallon - -- let me know if this is ok:

M-W-F
+/- 1/2 tsp KN03
+/- 1/8 (10ml) Trace Elements

TU-TH-Sunday
+/- 1/8 tsp KH2P04 3x a week
+/- 1/8 tsp K2S04 3x a week

SUNDAY
50% weekly water change

Secondly I already have a few plants in the tank and have started adding ammonia to cycle the tank. Question is do I start the dosing now or wait till the cycle is complete?

 

[Purrbox]

With a planted tank it is better to go for a silent cycle rather than a fishless cycle. The reason is that Good Lighting for plants + Ammonia = Algae. You either want to remove the plants and turn off the lights to continue with the fishless cycle, or do a 100% waterchange to remove the ammonia, add lots of plants, and small number of fish.

With the silent cycle you start by lightly stocking the tank and slowly increasing the bioload. You should never see either an ammonia or nitrate spike as the plants should help to ensure that these are used before they can accumulate. You would want to start dosing ferts as soon as the plants have settled into your aquarium (ie have gotten over the stress of being moved and any change in water conditions).

 

[swanandmokashi]

ok -- will do , will add my 5 bloodfins to start?

How does the dose plan look ?

 

[Atl300zx]

TU-TH-Sunday
+/- 1/8 tsp KH2P04 3x a week
+/- 1/8 tsp K2S04 3x a week

Should be tuesday, Thursday, Saturday, no?

i wouldnt think u want to add nutrients then do a 50% water change. I am by no means an expert, just something i noticed.

 

[Argblarg]

Yeah, skip the Sunday dosing. You can still fishless cycle. Ammonia does NOT cause algae because plants uptake it just like it was from a fish, what does the plant care? I do agree that with a planted tank just add fish over the course of a few weeks and you won't see a cycle at all. The plants will take care of everything.

 

[Purrbox]

Actually the dosing schedule is good if listed a little oddly. I had to read it twice before I realized that the third day was a Sunday instead of the expected Saturday. You do want to dose on the same day that you do your 50% waterchange, however you do it after the water change and not before. No wasted ferts and it helps to ensure that the ferts don't bottom out as a result of the water change.

Argblarg - Actually ammonia does cause algae, most commonly Green Water. The high amounts of ammonia used in fishless cycling are generally too much for the plants to consume. There's a reason that we fertilize our tanks using Nitrates instead of Ammonia. It's less likely to cause an algae outbreak and is safer for our fish.

 

[Argblarg]

Oops you're right. I have no idea what I was thinking of.

 

[MyCatsDrool]

This is the dosing plan I came up with after some research. This is for the 55 gallon - -- let me know if this is ok:

Personally, i like to dose all my macros on the same days and my trace on the alternating days.

I am doing a 55 planted. My log includes all of my setup and my dosing schedule...The fine folks here helped me with it.

 

[swanandmokashi]

I am doing a 55 planted. My log includes all of my setup and my dosing schedule...The fine folks here helped me with it.

I gathered this from your log :

Dosing:
M,W,F: 1/2 tsp KNO3, 1/8tsp K2SO4, 1/8 tsp KH2PO4, 1 cap flourish Excel
T: 1/8 CSM+B, Excel
Th: 1/8 CSM+B, 1/4 KNO3
S: 1/8 CSM+B 1/4 KNO3
S: H2O change, 50-70%

The "S"for 1/8 CSM+B 1/4 KNO3 is Saturday and other "S" (50-70% WATER Change) is Saturday or Sunday?

 

[MyCatsDrool]

The other S (water change day) is sunday =)


Also, i dose additional KNO3 on th and sat because I am having a hard time keeping my Nitrogen up. You may not need to do that.

 

[rkilling1]

I am doing a 55 planted. My log includes all of my setup and my dosing schedule...The fine folks here helped me with it.

I gathered this from your log :

Dosing:
M,W,F: 1/2 tsp KNO3, 1/8tsp K2SO4, 1/8 tsp KH2PO4, 1 cap flourish Excel
T: 1/8 CSM+B, Excel
Th: 1/8 CSM+B, 1/4 KNO3
S: 1/8 CSM+B 1/4 KNO3
S: H2O change, 50-70%

The "S"for 1/8 CSM+B 1/4 KNO3 is Saturday and other "S" (50-70% WATER Change) is Saturday or Sunday?

That is not the way you want to dose. As Joy has already stated, you want to dose your Macros right after the PWC.

In the above quote, you last dosed Macro's on Friday and then go Saturday without dosing all the Macro's and then perform a 50% PWC without adding anymore Macro's to the tank. In this example you are more then likely to bottom out one of your Macro's.

You should be dosing as you have already mentioned, but most people (not that it really matters) dose all the Macro's on the same day.

 

[swanandmokashi]

does this look good then ?

M-W-F
+/- 1/8 (10ml) Trace Elements

TU-TH-Sunday
+/- 1/2 tsp KN03
+/- 1/8 tsp KH2P04 3x a week
+/- 1/8 tsp K2S04 3x a week

Saturday
Excel

SUNDAY
50% weekly water change

 

[7Enigma]

Argblarg,

If there was an accurate way to trickle-dose the ammonia in during lighted periods (ie 0.01ppm continuously), then you could get the added benefit of building your bacterial filter at the same time as your plants growing. This is basically replicating a small fish load that produces constant low levels of ammonia. The problem is there is no simple way to do this, and the plants constantly change their uptake rate due to growth/stress, which can lead to deficiency or excess ammonia in the water. That, IMO, its a pretty good recipe for disaster.

Definitely better to do the silent cycle if you have to choose between the 2 (FC with plants vs. silent cycle). What I would do would be to dose a nitrAte source along with your ferts so your plants never bottom out on nitrogen. The nice thing is the majority of our aquatic plants vastly prefer ammonia to other nitrogen sources, so having an excess of nitrAte won't effect the uptake rate of the ammonia. Instead your plants will use up all available ammonia and then go to nitrAte when ammonia is lacking.

OP, you're going to be going through quite a bit of Excel in the meantime! 8O