PPS Pro questions

[sallyjano]

I am about to order the dry ferts pack (green leaf) and am reading the instructions for PPS Pro. Several Qs.....

I am surprised that there seems to be a 'one size fits all' recipe for mixing the dry ferts with water. I expected there to be some calculation based on how much light you have and how many plants you have? (I recall someone saying there's some math to figure out initially.....) I only have 2.3wpg with a tank 24" high and not that many plants yet so am wondering if I need less than the standard amounts?

I do see people talking about tweaking the amounts. Do you do that based on testing? Or looking at the plants? I thought there was no testing with PPS Pro but if you just look at the plants hard to know (esp if a noob) what is wrong......

The instructions say fill 2 the 500ml bottles. But then what if you have filled those bottles and you need to tweak things? Do you just add to that bottle? Or do you start with something smaller until you know it's the right mix?

Thanks.....a bit confused.....appreciate help.

Sally

 

[Mr. Nowhere]

I'd recommend leaving out the potassium nitrate and put it in a separate bottle. Other than that I'm curious myself hoping to turn over my low tech tank to PPS Pro as well

 

[Plantaholic]

Hey Sally, my spin on tweaking the PPS method is using the 3rd bottle for the potassium Nitrate. If I dosed it fully/daily it puts my tank at around 80 ppm Nitrates and my GBR's and SAE's wouldn't appreciate that!

Another thing I watch for is the Phosphate levels in relation to Nitrates and my adjusting of them. I've read in a few places there should be a balance of 1-5ppm phosphate for every 10-20 ppm of Nitrates. I may have skewed my translation of this a bit, but my plants have responded well with this regimen, so I'm sticking with it! It was a bit more testing than I liked at first but once I got it balanced the testing is now a part of my weekly maintenance.

Here is a copied post by Rivercats(I hope she doesn't mind me using it!!!) but when I started out I read a lot of her posts and feel they kept me from a lot of rookie mistakes!

I use these ferts.... http://greenleafaquariums.com/aquarium-fertilizers-supplements/micro-macro-fertilizers.html.





I also suggest 3 of these dosing bottles... [URL="http://greenleafaquariums.com/aquarium-fertilizers-supplements/dispenser-32oz.html"]http://greenleafaquariums.com/aquarium-fertilizers-supplements/dispenser-32oz.html





Read this thread about dosing PPS-Pro but only read the opening post and not all the comment posts... [URL="http://www.aquaticplantcentral.com/forumapc/pps-analysis-feedback/39491-newbie-guide-pps-pro.html"]http://www.aquaticplantcentral.com/forumapc/pps-analysis-feedback/39491-newbie-guide-pps-pro.html.





There are two things I do differently than the thread is that I split my macro nutrients up using one dosing bottle for nitrates, and one dosing bottle for phosphates and potassium. This allows me for better custom dosing to the needs of my tank. I shoot for 10-20ppm of nitrate and 1-5ppm phosphates. The thread also has MgSO4, magnesium sulfate in the macro mix. If your tanks Gh is 4 or over then your tap water has enough magnesium in it that supplementing it is not needed.


Sent from my iPhone using Aquarium Advice

 

[sallyjano]

Ok thanks guys. I will do some more reading of the rivercats thread and will use the three bottles instead of 2.

Thanks!

 

[schoeplein]

The premixing is pretty standard, but how much you use from each bottle should be adjusted to match your tank size, and the plants you have.

Sent from my SM-T310 using Aquarium Advice mobile app

 

[Mama Karoti]

Hey Sally, my spin on tweaking the PPS method is using the 3rd bottle for the potassium Nitrate. If I dosed it fully/daily it puts my tank at around 80 ppm Nitrates and my GBR's and SAE's wouldn't appreciate that!

Another thing I watch for is the Phosphate levels in relation to Nitrates and my adjusting of them. I've read in a few places there should be a balance of 1-5ppm phosphate for every 10-20 ppm of Nitrates. I may have skewed my translation of this a bit, but my plants have responded well with this regimen, so I'm sticking with it! It was a bit more testing than I liked at first but once I got it balanced the testing is now a part of my weekly maintenance.

Here is a copied post by Rivercats(I hope she doesn't mind me using it!!!) but when I started out I read a lot of her posts and feel they kept me from a lot of rookie mistakes!

I use these ferts.... http://greenleafaquariums.com/aquarium-fertilizers-supplements/micro-macro-fertilizers.html.





I also suggest 3 of these dosing bottles... [URL="http://greenleafaquariums.com/aquarium-fertilizers-supplements/dispenser-32oz.html"]http://greenleafaquariums.com/aquarium-fertilizers-supplements/dispenser-32oz.html





Read this thread about dosing PPS-Pro but only read the opening post and not all the comment posts... [URL="http://www.aquaticplantcentral.com/forumapc/pps-analysis-feedback/39491-newbie-guide-pps-pro.html"]http://www.aquaticplantcentral.com/forumapc/pps-analysis-feedback/39491-newbie-guide-pps-pro.html.





There are two things I do differently than the thread is that I split my macro nutrients up using one dosing bottle for nitrates, and one dosing bottle for phosphates and potassium. This allows me for better custom dosing to the needs of my tank. I shoot for 10-20ppm of nitrate and 1-5ppm phosphates. The thread also has MgSO4, magnesium sulfate in the macro mix. If your tanks Gh is 4 or over then your tap water has enough magnesium in it that supplementing it is not needed.


Sent from my iPhone using Aquarium Advice

Thanks for this information. I've been trying to understand some of this, myself. Trying to decide how I want to approach this.


Sent from my iPhone using Aquarium Advice

 

[Mebbid]

Unless you have a very very heavily planted tank I wouldn't fiddle with the dosing. Using those amounts you aren't going to get to the point where you're adding too much fertilizer as long as you keep doing water changes.

I agree with pretty much everything else though even though I only do 2 bottles and don't bother mixing the potassium nitrate.

 

[sallyjano]

Unless you have a very very heavily planted tank I wouldn't fiddle with the dosing. Using those amounts you aren't going to get to the point where you're adding too much fertilizer as long as you keep doing water changes.

I agree with pretty much everything else though even though I only do 2 bottles and don't bother mixing the potassium nitrate.

Ok good to know thanks. I would prefer to keep it simple.

Please clarify your comment re the potassium nitrate though. You mean you don't include the potassium nitrate in the solution at all? My nitrates are fairly low now (about 5ppm I think) so I was wondering if that's part of my current problems with lack of growth and algae.

 

[Fishperson]

Unless you have a very very heavily planted tank I wouldn't fiddle with the dosing. Using those amounts you aren't going to get to the point where you're adding too much fertilizer as long as you keep doing water changes.



I agree with pretty much everything else though even though I only do 2 bottles and don't bother mixing the potassium nitrate.

Does this mean that you dose the Potassium Nitrate separately or that you don't dose any at all?

OP: You adjust the amount of fertilizer you use based on plants, tank size, and lighting. The stuff you mix basically determines the RATIO of fertilizer that you use, so for x amount of potassium nitrate you add y amount of some other chemical. Then you determine the dosage. It's usually 1 milliliter of macro and 1 of micro for every 10 gallons of water in your tank, but you can raise or lower the dosage based on your light levels, plant types, and water change schedule.

 

[Mebbid]

I dont dose any at all. My fish produce enough nitrate to go without it.

 

[sallyjano]

I dont dose any at all. My fish produce enough nitrate to go without it.

Gotcha. I think I need some as mine is low.

OK thanks as always.....

 

[Fishperson]

Okay that makes sense.

 

[sallyjano]

Okay that makes sense.

I don't have that high a bio load yet as I'm adding fish slowly. I may do the three bottle approach since then I can scale back on it when I get more fishies....

 

[pittbully13]

Sally thanks for posting this. I just purchased the PPS pro as well and was just going to use the ingredient list recommended by gla. I have a lot of fish, so as others recommended I will also leave out the potassium nitrate. Again thanks....have a Happy 4th.


Sent from my iPhone using Aquarium Advice

 

[sallyjano]

Sally thanks for posting this. I just purchased the PPS pro as well and was just going to use the ingredient list recommended by gla. I have a lot of fish, so as others recommended I will also leave out the potassium nitrate. Again thanks....have a Happy 4th.


Sent from my iPhone using Aquarium Advice

You are welcome!! I hope PPS Pro works out well for you. My first planting experience has not gone well AT ALL. Very little growth. Leaves all in poor condition and melting. Hair algae. I think it's all due to lack of ferts so am excited to receive my package!

Happy 4th to you too....

 

[Fresh2o]

I mixed all three PPS-Pro bottles but after a few weeks found that the nitrates were high (40-80 ppm) so I stopped dosing it altogether. PWCs keeps the nitrates around 10 ppm

 

[sallyjano]

I mixed all three PPS-Pro bottles but after a few weeks found that the nitrates were high (40-80 ppm) so I stopped dosing it altogether. PWCs keeps the nitrates around 10 ppm

Is your tank fully stocked?

 

[pittbully13]

Yes....and then some. Lol




Sent from my iPhone using Aquarium Advice

 

[Fresh2o]

Is your tank fully stocked?

Actually my tank is understocked (3 danios + 4 golden tetras in a 20g long). But the substrate hasn't been vacuumed in 18 months so there is quite a bit of detritus build up in there. I do not over feed them so I believe some of the nitrates are coming from the substrate.

 

[sallyjano]

Question - I read the article on this site: Introduction to Fertilizing the Planted Tank - Aquarium Advice

Quote from article: I would not recommend dosing P in medium light or low light systems. It can easily cause algae problems, problems with fish and invert health, and is just generally not required in lower light setups. However, in high light setups, you will find yourself quickly bottoming out on P and causing nutrient deficiencies and algae problems if you do not dose it.

What do people think about this? Anyone with medium light using phosphorous?