Dosage for Ferka Balance K with ADA Step 2

[o2bubble]

Hi all, I was ADA Brightly k together with ADA Step 2 and not much problem except I see a some withering of leaf tips on my ludwigia SP (Patanal) aka hong tai yang and some tenellus when I dose 15-20 ml daily for Brightly k and 15-20 ml every 2 days for Step 2. I think my k maybe a little short.. (My tank is 350l)

So, now I just switched from ADA Brightly K to Ferka Bal k which I was told are similar but of course bal k is much cheaper. According to the instructions, the dosage is 1 pump per 100l daily which is much less than ADA brighty k of 1 pump per 20l (1 pump = 1 ml). I dosed 10 ml for day 1 so far, by right should be only 4 ml according to the instruction.

My question will be what should be the dosage for Ferka Bal k with usage of my Step 2? Strictly 4 ml? Is it because its much more concentrated than ADA Brighty K?

i'm seriously thinking of getting k test kit to acertain now...
hope any bro has a reply on this... Thanks!

[zenscape]

You may dose more K, like 5 pumps daily to see whether the condition improves. Your tank will not get worst off by having excessive K, except your wallet

By the way, my ferka states 4-6 pumps per 100L daily. I understand some folks' bottles state 1 pump (5ml) per 100L daily but it is way too low a dosage.

[o2bubble]

Thats what i suspected! Error in the instruction. So, based on 5 pumps per 100l, i should be dosing 17 pumps like ADA brighty K! Anyone else can confirm please! Thanks.

You may dose more K, like 5 pumps daily to see whether the condition improves. Your tank will not get worst off by having excessive K, except your wallet

By the way, my ferka states 4-6 pumps per 100L daily. I understand some folks' bottles state 1 pump (5ml) per 100L daily but it is way too low a dosage.

BTW bro zen, 1 pump of ferka K actually 1 not 5 ml. I measured last night.

Thanks!

[zenscape]

If 1 pump is 1ml, then it is even more so that you should dose more . Just dose it slightly more and see whether there is improvement. By the way, forgot to add that you should also take care of N and P, another set of important macro mineral.

[o2bubble]

My nitrate and phosphate should be ok as i have over 40 fishes. Last measured level of nitrate was 15-25 ppm. Thanks for the advise!

[PeterGwee]

Have you calibrated your test kit before testing? Most aquarium grade test kits do not give you true results. Plants need CO2, N,P,K, Ca, Mg and general trace mix in order to grow and slows down or stops if one or more nutrient is limiting.

Regards,
Peter Gwee

[o2bubble]

huh, what you mean by calibrate? I'm using tetra-test NO3 test kits that comes with 3 bottle of test solutions and a powder. Dun think can calibrate..

Anyway, after using more dosage of ferka balance, my plants bubbles more now. I'm think now to increase Co2 by 0.5 bubble/sec to see if there will be improvement.

[zenscape]

I think Peter was talking about high end and more sophiscated test kits instead of those sold in LFS which are not so accurate. By the way, have you read about Tom Barr's EI method? There is no need to measure NPK by doing EI.

The number of fish in the tank is not a good indication that N/P are sufficient for plants uptake unless you are having a low maintenance tank.