Fert Questions

[PrettyFishies]

I have a 20 gal planted with 65W and a press. C02 system operating at 30ppm (PH 6.7, KH 5)

I use
Flourish 1x a week - 5ml
Seachem K - 2 x a week - 10ml each time

I don't dose Nitrogen, Iron or Phosphorous - Should I?

My anubias have holes in them and older leaves have turned yellow (the ones in the shade)

My concern is that I just bought now plants - Rotal Macrandra, Baby tears, Glosso, R. Wallichii, R. Indica, Ambrulia and Riccia.

I want to get a handle on the dosing to give them the best opportunity.

 

[JDogg]

I have a 20 gal planted with 65W and a press. C02 system operating at 30ppm (PH 6.7, KH 5)

I use
Flourish 1x a week - 5ml
Seachem K - 2 x a week - 10ml each time

I don't dose Nitrogen, Iron or Phosphorous - Should I?

yes

My anubias have holes in them and older leaves have turned yellow (the ones in the shade)

i would up the K to 30 ppm and enough micros to get 0.3-0.5 ppm Fe

My concern is that I just bought now plants - Rotal Macrandra, Baby tears, Glosso, R. Wallichii, R. Indica, Ambrulia and Riccia.

I want to get a handle on the dosing to give them the best opportunity.

i would dose around 30 ppm NO3 and and 3 ppm PO4 with a 50-75% pwc every week. you have enough light and CO2 to cause the plants to burn though the ferts pretty quick IMO

 

[rkilling1]

You should look into EI dosing.

http://www.barrreport.com/articles/1800-ei-light-less-techical-aspects-estimative-index.html

 

[PrettyFishies]

JDOGG:

K - 30ppm over the course of a week? Split in two or once a week? And with Seachem, how many capfuls to get 30ppm?

Fe - How do I get .3-.5 ppm with Seachem Iron? Doesn't my Flourish contain iron?

No3 - Again, I have seachem...how do I dose 30 ppm?

Do I need to maintain these levels or dose enough once a week after my water change?

 

[Purrbox]

From the Fertilizer Sticky Link - here is a good calculator for determining how much to dose when using comercial ferts like Flourish.

You want to dose the Flourish (Comprehensive) such that you achieve the recommended amount of Iron. This will make sure that you have sufficient levels of all the micro nutrients.

 

[PrettyFishies]

Thanks for the link... So I ran the numbers and here's what I got:

L - 75.7 (20 gal)

Flourish - 10mL - (gives .5 ppm of Fe)

K - 50 mL = 30ppm
N - 30 mL = 30ppm
Ph - 50 mL = 3 ppm

The Flourish seems fine, but the other 3 seem WAY too high[/b]

 

[rkilling1]

The Flourish seems fine, but the other 3 seem WAY too high[/b]

That sounds about right to me. Those Seachem ferts are more for those who are running low light and no CO2.

I would look into dry ferts.

http://rexgrigg.com/ferts4sale.html

 

[PrettyFishies]

Yeah, I just placed an order (Greg's ferts) for Potassium Nitrate, Potassium Sulfate and Potassium Chloride - I'm going to stick with the Flourish

Any tips for the dry ferts?

 

[rich311k]

Potassium Sulfate and Potassium Chloride are both ways of dosing potassium, you only need one. Mono Potassium Phosphate is the source for phosphates.

 

[rkilling1]

Yeah, I just placed an order (Greg's ferts) for Potassium Nitrate, Potassium Sulfate and Potassium Chloride - I'm going to stick with the Flourish

Any tips for the dry ferts?

Why did you order KCl if you also ordered K2SO4?

What about KH2PO4?

EDIT: Rich beat me to it.

 

[Purrbox]

When using dry ferts, Chuck's Calculator is an invaluable resource.

 

[PrettyFishies]

I ordered Mono Potassium Phosphate, Potassium Nitrate & Potassium Sulfate

Sorry for the typo

When dosing Nitrate, how do you know if you need to dose daily, every other day or just 2-3 times a week?

 

[PrettyFishies]

bump

 

[Purrbox]

Dosing really depends on your tank's needs, the dosing method that you choose, and what fits best with your personality. For a less demanding tank and someone who doesn't want to spend daily attension on their tank, dosing a larger amount once a week may be best. On the other hand I find it much easier to remember to dose my tank if I'm dosing a small amount of ferts every day. Then there are those who love testing and will obtain quality test kits, calibrate them, and test daily to determine how much they need to dose so that they can maintain specific levels. You'll need to choose something that will work well for you and then stick with it. Jumping methods every couple of weeks doesn't give the method a chance to work and for you to see results.