Help dosing dry ferts

[mattmathis]

How to dose dry ferts.

My dry ferts will be here in a few days and I"m trying to decide what to do. I like the PPS method best but I would like to control the KNO3 & KH2PO4 a little better. ((Other tank ifno. is below.))

Will this work?

Thanks!!!

Macros
In 1 liter bottle:
59 grams K2SO4 (Potassium Sulfate)
41 grams MgSO4 (Magnesium Sulfate)
Fill with distilled water and shake well. Let sit overnight.
Dose 1ml per 10 gallons per day

Dose KNO3 & KH2PO4 according to testing.

Micros
In 1 liter bottle:
80 grams of CSM+B
Fill with distilled water and shake well. Let sit overnight.
Dose 1ml per 10 gallons per day

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10 Gallon Tank
6.7 wpg - (1x15watt T-8 & 2x26watt Spiral CF's )I know it's probably not actually 6.7 wpg)
DIY CO2
aqua-clear 30
heater
1 Bag of fluorite
NPK & Plantex (ordering on-line)

 

[Purrbox]

Please keep in mind that I'm unfamiliar with PPS dosing method that you'll be using. My recommendation are based on my experiance.

With your proposed dosing for Potassium and Magnesium, you'll only be adding 1ppm of Potassium and 0.14 of Magnesium per week. This is very little of either. I'd probably bump the dosing to 10-20ml per day based on desired levels for Potassium.

Your Micro dosing on the other hand seems a bit high. With that solution, you'll be dosing 0.49 Iron each week. I'd probably recommend dosing about half that to start.

 

[mattmathis]

Thanks for the fast reply! If there are any methods you would like to share with me that would be great too. I just mainly want to avoid large water changes, and build ups of KNO3 & KH2PO4

So, you recommend using the same formula as I posted for the Potassium and Magnesium but add 10-20ml per day instead of 1ml per day?

And 40 grams of the CSM+B in the 1 liter bottle instead of 80 grams and use 1ml per day??

Thanks again!

 

[Purrbox]

You could either increase your dosing to 10-20ml per day, or increase the concentration of your solution (add 10-20x the grams of Potassium and Magnesium) and keep the same dosing. Same goes for the CSM+B. You could either add only 40 grams of CSM+B and dose 1ml per day, or add 80 grams and dose 1/2ml per day.

Personally I'd probably only add 20 grams of the CSM+B and dose 2ml per day. This would give you a little more flexibility if you decided you wanted to cut back on dosing even further.

I first started out dosing to targets.
20ppm Potassium per week
10-20ppm Nitrates
1-4ppm Phosphates
0.1-0.2ppm Iron

Later I switched to following EI. I quickly found that the starting numbers weren't working for my aquariums, and adjusted the amounts. Over time I became more lax with both my dosing and water changes. I've found that once aquariums are fairly well established, they can put up with a fair amount of neglect. There tends to be an increase of certain algaes, but I can easily fix this with waterchanges and better dosing. It's a bit of an art, where you learn to read the signs of plant deficiencies and algae then adjust your care and dosing accordingly. Various dosing methods provide a good starting point while you learn the art of caring for your plants.