garth7 said:
What will cause the Nitrates to go to Zero? Do the plants cause use these?
Also, on my bottle of fertilizers, it says to wait a month before dosing. I wish I could remember the brand name. I am tempted to start the dosing relatively soon due to the plant volume.
Are dry ferts better than liquid? If so, where can I get these dry ferts from?
I hope to get a pic up soon so people can see the tank and give me some suggestions.
I feel bad asking so many questions, but soon I hope to be able to throw my two cents in.
Thanks for all the help,
Doug
Plants use any nitrogen source they can get a handle of (and they preferentially use the easiest which is the form most similar to ammonia), so nitrAte and ammonia are both readily used. Plants prefer ammonia since its easier to use, but we in the planted hobby use nitrAte since algae cannot, and it won't hurt fish like ammonia will. So if you have a lot of plants and good fertilization and light only adding a couple ppm of ammonia here and there will probably not be enough. Instead of dosing more ammonia, dose a nitrogen product.
I don't understand the waiting period on the bottle. Plants sometimes take a bit to acclimate to a new tank (water conditions different than previously grown), but I'd rather not take the chance of bottoming out on a fert, as this is when algae comes into play.
Dry are not "better" per se, but they are cheaper in the long run, especially on the larger tanks (over 20gallons).
www.gregwatson.com is a great place a lot of us have used. I'd recommend potassium sulfate, potassium nitrAte, monopotassium phosphate, and CSM+B. If you plan on a fully stocked (fish) tank I would get 2lbs of potassium sulfate, and 1lb of the others. If a lightly stocked tank I'd get 2lbs of potassium nitrAte and 1lb of the rest. This is just a starter supply, and with shipping rates it might be better to double my recommendation on amounts, but it is far FAR cheaper in the long run than using liquid ferts.
Please post up a couple pics so we can get a better picture of exactly how heavily your stocked (ie 10small java ferns are much different than 10 monster basketball sized ones!).
And we prefer lots of questions. It allows us to preempt a mistake you might do otherwise, and it makes it a lot easier for us since we get to answer all of them in the same post!
Remember the only stupid question is the one you don't ask!
EDIT: This is an excellent short article on some background science. While I don't agree with all of her conclusions, the science behind them are sound.
http://www.aquabotanic.com/plants_and_biological_filtration.htm