I've been reading over the build threads of a couple of members for auto-dosers and am thinking I'd like to take a stab at it when I eventually (hopefully sooner than later) move into dry ferts.
Now I understand the equipment end of it all, and how it works. I'm pretty confident I won't have too many problems building it.
My question is really on the fert end of things. In order for the auto-dosers to work on a timer, they need to be able to come on once a day. From what I've read about the dry ferts, it sounds like you only need to dose a couple times a week? I'm sure I'm probably wrong here, but that is just the impression that I was under. In other words, I understand WHAT ferts are needed, but when it comes to how much and how often, I'm lost. Right now I just follow the labels on the liquid fert bottles, so before I dive into dry ferts, I really want to wrap my head around dosing, etc.
When I do pick up dry ferts, I plan to get K2SO4, KNO3, MKP, CSM + B, and possibly MgSO4.
My tank is a 20g (tall). I've got a 2x24w T5-HO fixture running 8 hours a day. I'm also running DIY CO2. Unfortunately I don't have a kh test kit, so I'm not sure exactly what my levels are (ph is 6.6). I pretty much just try to keep the drop checker green ^_^ I'm going to guess it is running at about 20-25ppm. Right now I dose with Flourish Nitrogen, Flourish Potassium, and Flourish Trace. I also added some Excel yesterday with a PWC because I had just taken out my contortion vals.
Right now plants are:
Java fern
Anubias nana
Anubias afzelii
Crypt wendtii
Ludwigia repens
Nesaea (which is very difficult and needs high light, i understand. it was an impulse buy )
So in terms of dosing, once I get dry ferts and an auto-doser set up, where do I go from there? Although I would love for someone to say "Dose this much, this often" I'd like to be able to know how to figure it out myself. So when if I come into a nutrient deficiency, I can take things into my own hands.
Any and all help or advice would be much appreciated. Thanks
Now I understand the equipment end of it all, and how it works. I'm pretty confident I won't have too many problems building it.
My question is really on the fert end of things. In order for the auto-dosers to work on a timer, they need to be able to come on once a day. From what I've read about the dry ferts, it sounds like you only need to dose a couple times a week? I'm sure I'm probably wrong here, but that is just the impression that I was under. In other words, I understand WHAT ferts are needed, but when it comes to how much and how often, I'm lost. Right now I just follow the labels on the liquid fert bottles, so before I dive into dry ferts, I really want to wrap my head around dosing, etc.
When I do pick up dry ferts, I plan to get K2SO4, KNO3, MKP, CSM + B, and possibly MgSO4.
My tank is a 20g (tall). I've got a 2x24w T5-HO fixture running 8 hours a day. I'm also running DIY CO2. Unfortunately I don't have a kh test kit, so I'm not sure exactly what my levels are (ph is 6.6). I pretty much just try to keep the drop checker green ^_^ I'm going to guess it is running at about 20-25ppm. Right now I dose with Flourish Nitrogen, Flourish Potassium, and Flourish Trace. I also added some Excel yesterday with a PWC because I had just taken out my contortion vals.
Right now plants are:
Java fern
Anubias nana
Anubias afzelii
Crypt wendtii
Ludwigia repens
Nesaea (which is very difficult and needs high light, i understand. it was an impulse buy )
So in terms of dosing, once I get dry ferts and an auto-doser set up, where do I go from there? Although I would love for someone to say "Dose this much, this often" I'd like to be able to know how to figure it out myself. So when if I come into a nutrient deficiency, I can take things into my own hands.
Any and all help or advice would be much appreciated. Thanks