I'm running out of liquid bottled ferts and I'd like to get some dry ferts to make on my own to save money.
But, it all seems rather confusing. Where do you buy it? What do you buy? Is there a package you can purchase without taking a chemistry class?
Dry fertilizer is actually really simple. And no, this isn't one of those things where I say it is but it's just because I have a degree in chemistry or something.
I'm 14 and I did it easily so its not hard at all. Having a basic knowledge of some chemistry terms and element names is helpful, but nothing beyond a middle school education.
Here is where you can find it.
Order exactly that. Some people prefer to dose it in a third bottle so they can regulate their nitrate more closely based on the levels already produced by fish. Many people don't dose any KNO3 at all. I personally think it's unnecessary since my tank is well stocked but I still do a half dose. Here is what it comes with:
- Potassium Nitrate (KNO3) (to provide some Potassium, but mostly Nitrate)
- Potassium Sulfate (K2SO4) (to provide Potassium)
- Mono Potassium Phosphate (KH2PO4) (to provide phosphate [it provides some potassium but that is needed in much larger amounts than Phosphate. It does give some Potassium, but compared to the other chemicals that you will add it's not much. This is, however, the only source of Phosphate that you will add])
- Magnesium Sulfate (MGSO4) (to provide Magnesium)
- CSM+B (this is your micronutrient mix. Everything else is macronutrients. The most important of the many nutrients included are Magnesium, Copper, and Iron.)
The recipe is:
Bottle #1 (macronutrient bottle), 59 grams of K2SO4, 65 grams of KNO3, 6 grams of KH2PO4 and 41 grams of MgSO4.
Bottle #2 (micronutrient bottle), 80 grams of dry Trace Element mix (CSM+B).
Fill up both bottles with 1 liter of soft water (each) and shake. Wait over night until dissolved. You can do the same with 500 or 250 ml bottles, just cut down the amounts to 1/2 or 1/4 of their original size as needed.
This is a good TPT thread with comments by Tom Barr about the pros and cons of PPS pro versus EI. He states that they are actually fairly similar, just one starts at low dosing levels and one at high.
I personally would modify the recipe of PPS Pro to add extra K2SO4 (maybe 70 grams per liter), extra micronutrients (maybe 90 grams per liter), and much more KH2PO4 (I'd say 16-20 grams per liter. PPS Pro has it
severely underdosed.
That's about it. I PM'd Tom Barr and he told me that fertilizer is not that important. If you make co2 a non-limiting factor (meaning there is more of it than the plants will ever need. This is difficult because you don't want to gas your fish), and make fertilizer also non-limiting, then your plants can grow to maximum capacity based on your light levels, without any deficiencies. It was found (or at least most experienced TPT members seem to belive so) that algae is caused by excess light, not so much nutrients. Specifically, any algae (for the most part) can grow with too much light, but the only ones that grow due to nutrient problems are GSA (green spot algae) and BBA (black brush algae). GSA is due to too little PO4. BBA is due to too much PO4, but this problem can be fixed by adding more co2.
That's basically the run down on it. It seems like a lot but it really isn't too much.
By the way, some of this could be wrong. I'm not saying that this is all right necessarily, or that this is my own knowledge, only that this is what I picked up from Tom Barr and other members on here and TPT.
