comments on intended fert regime

[scang7]

Hi,

Just rescape my tank about 3 weeks back and at present it is only covered with hairgrass and blyxa japonica. Will be adding in some more plants at a later stage when i get hold of them.

Have not dose any fert in the last weeks and tank has develop initial grown of algae(bba).

Current parameters:
ph: 6.6 -6.8
kh: 4
gh: 6
NO3: 12.5- 25 (could it be i just added otos and shrimps in the day before?)

temp: 25- 26
Lightings: 72W
Volume: 70l
CO2: 2bps

Intended dosage:
1ml of seachem flourish twice a week
5ml of seachem trace twice a week
12ml of k2SO4: in my mix should give me abt 20ppm of potassium
1ml of KH2PO4: should give me about 0.48ppm of PO4.

I will welcome all comments. Thank you...

[juggler]

From Chuck's calculator:
12ml of K2SO4 is about 2 teaspoons. And that gives 76ppm K.
1ml of PH2PO4 is about 1/5 teaspoon. And that gives 9.9ppm PO4.
These values are too high, IMHO.

For K, I would try 10ppm per week. That is about 1/4 tsp of K2SO4.
For PO4, try 1~1.5ppm per week (or 0.5~0.75ppm twice a week).This is easier to dose with a prepared stock solution.

[PeterGwee]

Nothing is going to work well till you get a proper hold on your CO2. Try to target for a pH of 6.6 using CO2 only and keep it there during the entire photoperiod. Trim off all the BBA and do a large water change after that. Dose nutrients regularly to prevent them from running out while making sure your CO2 is good all the while.

How sure are you of your NO3 test kit? Those kits are not good imo/ime. I have stunted plants for quite a number of times by trusting the results of the kit. (I dose everything except for KNO3 and keep the CO2 good and high but plants stop growing and the new growth crumpled up. I add back the KNO3 and plants took sometime but growth recovered.). You can try but beware of the dangers of stunting your plants by trusting a kit with extremely poor resolution and weird results.

Regards
Peter Gwee

[scang7]

Thanks for the prompt reply...

Juggler,

I took the calculations from chuck's calculator. I mixed about 5 teaspoons of K2SO4 to about 500ml of water. So i believe 12ml of the mix should be about 4.56ppm. Guess i will dose another 12ml later in the week to make it to about 10ppm. 5 teaspoons of KH2PO4 is also added to 500ml of water.. so that should give me 0.48ppm per 1ml. Guess i had not explain my mix clearly. Correct me if i am wrong... thanks

Peter,

Think i will have some difficulty getting an accurate reading cos of the test kit that i am using. Using the sera ph test kit... so can't have a very accurate reading. Any suggestion on a ph pen? Dun really have a huge pocket to burn

Tested the NO3 level using tetra test kit. Not too sure with the results. Maybe will add a little KNO3 to the tank and see how things go from here...

Thanks again for the help...

[juggler]

[quote:deba773dc3="scang7"]Thanks for the prompt reply...

Juggler,

I took the calculations from chuck's calculator. I mixed about 5 teaspoons of K2SO4 to about 500ml of water. So i believe 12ml of the mix should be about 4.56ppm. Guess i will dose another 12ml later in the week to make it to about 10ppm. 5 teaspoons of KH2PO4 is also added to 500ml of water.. so that should give me 0.48ppm per 1ml. Guess i had not explain my mix clearly. Correct me if i am wrong... thanks

...[/quote:deba773dc3]

Sounds good.
You can observe your plant growth as well to see if any plants are deficient in any nutrients. Check this at Chuck's website too.

[naturetan]

[quote:9a513a438b="scang7"]
Tested the NO3 level using tetra test kit. [/quote:9a513a438b]
My experience is that Tetra NO3 test kit is very inaccurate and problematic. When I don't dose NO3 for quite sometime, results still shows I've 12.5- 25ppm, sometimes it shows more. But when I tested it on Sera kit, results consistently indicate I've 0ppm of NO3! So do not trust it, IMO.

[Sleepy_lancs]

Might want to use AP. Reason for Sera is that the mixture depends quite alot on the powder reactor. If you put more than you should, it tends to give a darker colour. Thats what I notice anyway, maybe right or wrong.

[scang7]

Thanks for the feedback.. maybe i will take a sample and have it tested in the lab in campus. Any ideas of a good ph measuring instrument that is affortable?