My Fertilization Dosing Outfit

[dc88]

The clear solution at the right is the stock solution of KNO3 & KH2PO4 in the calculated concentration so that 4 pumps 3 times a week will give 2mlx4x3=24ml of the solution into my 80 Liter tank the right amount dosage per the E.I. instruction.

The drip bottle at the left is simply LGM, 2 drops per day.

Dosing only on weekday (Mon - Fri), Saturday is water change and Sunday is rest day.

On top of that I add Seachem Equilibrium and Baking Soda to tune the GH and KH to 5 dH right after water change and add 10 drops of LGM.

[valice]

Hi dc,
may I know where you get that bottle from? I look for one like that too...
Don't want to reuse a soap bottle... Scared got residual...

[dc88]

Sorry, it was indeed a reuse soap bottle from NTUC ! And I wash it a thousand time... So far no ill effect.
I think some DIY shops or those $1.99 shops may sell new empty one. Can't recall precisely as the last time it did not cross my mind of the use of it.

[grey_fox]

Valice, go to Watsons or any of those "make-up-similar-to-Watsons-shops", they have similar pump bottles that's unused. I saw a 500ML one It's a clear bottle but pink in color

By the way, what is LGM?

[valice]

Thanks grey_fox for the info. Will go there to try.
LGM is Lushgro Micros.

[grey_fox]

Ah I see, thanks

[grey_fox]

By the way dc88, what's your NPK ppm dosage rates?

I'm thinking of having a pre-mix as well, it's pretty much a chore for me to dose directly each morning before I head out for work.

Just to pump in the solution would be so much better

Currently this is my schedule.

KNO3 - 1.7 tps - 9.61 PPM
K - from KNO3 - 6.06 PPM
PO4 - 0.37 tps - 1.42 PPM
Fe - 0.06 PPM from Flourish



KNO3 - 3 x weekly = 9.61 x 3 = 28.83 PPM
K - 3 x weekly = 6.06 x 3 = 18.18 PPM
PO4 - 3 x weekly = 1.42 x 3 = 4.26 PPM
Fe - 3 x weekly = 0.06 x 3 = 0.18 PPM


Schedule


Monday - KNO3+KH2PO4
Tuesday - Flourish
Wednesday - KNO3+KH2PO4
Thursday - Flourish
Friday - rest day
Saturday - 50 % Water Change + dose KNO3+KH2PO4
Sunday - Flourish

[dc88]

Hi grey_fox,

Glad that you ask, I am a novice actually just trying E.I. out in roughly a month (and very amazed and impressed of the result !)

Before I dive into it I searched a numbers of forum as much as I can. I found the original dosing scheme guide in Tom's website and also I saw your post in another thread.
But being a lazy person I decided to pre-mix it (liked the original PMDD that folks used to do...), and by trial-n-error I came to a nice combination of :

4 tsp of KNO3
0.5 tsp of PO4
1 tsp of K2SO4
into 250ml water

such that for 10ml per week it gives about 5ppm NO3, 1 ppm PO4 and 5 ppm K for my 80 liter tank.

As a beginner I feel more comfortable aiming at the lower limit of the N and P range as a start. (As Tom's website recommends 5-30 ppm NO3 and 1-2 ppm PO4)

Coincidently I measure the soap bottle each pumping gives about 2ml, so I just need to remember that Monday to Friday one pump per day so that 5 x 2ml = 10ml per week.

And if I need to up the dosage all I need is to increase the number of pump per day (so 3 pumps per day will give me 3x the dosage -> 15ppm NO3 and 3ppm PO4)

One pre-mix bottle of 250ml will last me 25 weeks (6 months) at 10ml per week !

I work out a spreadsheet so that I can adjust the mix ratio to give different ppm of NPK.

http://web.singnet.com.sg/~dslchua/p...m/fert_cal.xls

For the trace I use Lushgro Micros and make reference to the "DMDD" spreadsheet that the pioneers had archived in this forum. It works out about 20 drops a week which I portion it to 10 drops after water change and then 2 drops per day Mon to Fri.

I notice you add a lot of PO4 ? From Tom's article of the "E.I. Lite" that is available in the public accessed section of his website, I calculate the dosage if based on his guidline the PO4 levels for the various size tank are also quite high compared to his summary recommended level of 1-2 ppm PO4. I wonder if I may have made some calculation error some where.

Rdgs
dc88

[grey_fox]

Hey dc88,

Thanks for your input.

Just to clear up some confusion (for myself and hopefully for all) These are the target levels suggested.

NO3 range 5-30 PPM
K+ range 10-30 PPM
PO4 range 1.0-2.0 PPM
Fe 0.2-0.5ppm or higher

Are these values on a per-dose basis or a weekly basis? If it is a weekly value, then I'm really done an overshot of the fertilization.

If I should want to do a pre-mix and using Chuck's calculator, I'm supposed to mix 212.5g of KNO3 in 250ml of water. However, I don't think 212.5g of KNO3 is dissolvable in 250ml of water! Also to add on, I would have to dissolve 30g of K2SO4 in 250ml of water and lastly 37.5g of KH2PO4 in the same value.

KNO3 + K2SO4 will be mixed together in 250ml of water.
KH2PO4 will be mixed alone in that 250ml of water.

That would give me the following figures for each 1 ml I should pump out.

0.92PPM of NO3
0.77PPM of K+ (combined)
0.19PPM of P

I should pump 11ml of the KNO3+K2SO4 mix which would equate to 30.36PPM nitrate & 24.33PPM potassium weekly, 7ml of the PO4 mix to obtain 4.56PPM of PO4 weekly.

Currently by dosing it dry and directly into the tank, I have the following.

KNO3 - 1.7 tps - 9.61 PPM
K - from KNO3 - 6.06 PPM
PO4 (Fleet Enema) - 1.2 ml - 1.42 PPM
Fe - 0.06 PPM


KNO3 - 3 x weekly = 9.61 x 3 = 28.83 PPM
K - 3 x weekly = 6.06 x 3 = 18.18 PPM
PO4 - 3 x weekly = 1.42 x 3 = 4.26 PPM
Fe - 3 x weekly = 0.06 x 3 = 0.18 PPM

However, have to dissolve 212.5g or loosely 35 teaspoons of KNO3 is 250 ml would not suffice. As for the PO4 mix, dissolving 37.5g in 250 ml would be more feasible. (to attain 1.5PPM PO4 at each dose - 7 ml to be added **If my conception of E.I is not wrong on the target levels; I would then acheive 4.5PPM per week before the weekly 50% water change is done.**)

So far with the routine that I am using, the plant growth is fantastic however I still do have specks of GSA on the glass (PO4 defiency?) however adding more might induce alkalinity to the water?

Still, I would like to have the chemicals mixed in a solution of water before dosing. I think the only mid-tech plant (not high) I have in the tank is a B. Japonica other than that, the rest are pretty low-tech.

[dc88]

Hey dc88,

Thanks for your input.

Just to clear up some confusion (for myself and hopefully for all) These are the target levels suggested.

NO3 range 5-30 PPM
K+ range 10-30 PPM
PO4 range 1.0-2.0 PPM
Fe 0.2-0.5ppm or higher
[FONT=Arial]
Are these values on a per-dose basis or a weekly basis? If it is a weekly value, then I'm really done an overshot of the fertilization.

Ya, I hope to hear expert's guidance on this too : whether the target values are referring to weekly total or per-dose.
That's why I err to the "safe" side (or may be the wrong side ) assuming the target value is weekly-total.

For the question on GSA and PO4 level, I wonder if it can be looked at as a "N to P" ratio as well and not just P level alone ?

For the dissolving issue : I was facing problem too trying to dissolve that much of KNO3 to the 250ml. I think 3 - 6 tsp about OK but 20+ tsp will be a real challenge (may crystaline later too ?)
Perhaps you can aim for higher dose volume, e.g. 21ml (more pumps each time) or even 35ml rather than squeezing all that into a 7ml high concentration dose ? That will ease the amount of tsp need to dissolve into the bottle. Try playing with different dose volume with the spreadsheet I posted. You can increase the dose volume and reduce the numbers of tsp to give the same ppm.
Basically some more iterations of the formulation.

[grey_fox]

Yup, having 20+ tsp will end up crystalizing the concoction for sure.

for my bottle, each pump is worth 0.7 ml if I have to pump 21 ml worth, that'll be 14.7~15 pumps. Dosing it directly to my take is by far faster just open, scoop, throw and close. Will try to work something out soon

Still like you, I would like to know if the target levels are meant on a weekly basis or per-dose.

[PeterGwee]

The values stated are the ranges the nutrients needs to be maintained via test results (good quality test kits with calibration done). 10-20ppm per dose of NO3 from KNO3 3x a week is the max a high light tank would need as is 1.5-2ppm of PO4 from KH2PO4 3x a week. K is difficult to state a perfect range but then excess doesn't cause issues so it should be fine.

Regards
Peter Gwee

[dc88]

for my bottle, each pump is worth 0.7 ml if I have to pump 21 ml worth, that'll be 14.7~15 pumps.

Hi grey_fox,

Sorry I read it wrongly I thoughy you stated 7ml.
Then how about using a bottle and a used test kit's test cylinder, or a used commercial fert bottle with a 5ml cap size ? Say you aim for 10ml of the mix, which is about 14.3 times of you original calculation, so you only need to mix 212.5g/14.3 = 14.86 g which is about 2 tsp KNO3 into 250ml water. So you just "pour" (instead of pump) 10ml each time.


Hi Peter

So the target level is the remaining level in the water column minus the plants' uptake ? (i.e. target level = dosing level - plant uptake ?)

So I guess we adjust the dosing amount based on the plants load such that the water column will always have such target level ?

I assume E.I. already done all that studies so I need not worry the maths just follow the dosage then.

[grey_fox]

So I guess I'm dosing the maximum already.

[Rupert]

Thanks DC88, good post. The spreadsheet representation will force me to come back to this a few times to digest the information.