TMG dosing

[robin]

Hi,

Just wondering if I need to cut back on K if i start using TMG.
Was using Sera Florena but recently ran out of the solution so went to get TMG.

Notice that there is some K in TMG so do I need to cut back slightly on my K dosing?

Robin

[robin]

I will be starting to dose the TMG soon and apprecaite help.

Thanks again

Robin

[toledosun]

Hi Robin,

I'm no expert but I've lurked around here long enough to know that any replies you get will be in the form of questions because there's not enough info. provided by you for any advice to be given (in terms of tank size, watts/gallon, CO2 injection rate, types of plants etc).

However, being a novice myself, I can understand where your question is coming from. Previously you used Florena+ K. Now, you want to know if the K in TMG is adequate or do you still need to add K.

What I understand is that TMG is formulated to provide all the nutrients that is generally missing from a planted aquarium. Since it only supplements what is missing, I guess the theory is that what it provides, together with the nutrients that are typically found in a planted aquarium, should be adequate for plant growth.

So, simple advice is that you should not need to supplement K if you're dosing according to the instructions. Try that for a month. If your plants are growing ok, no algae outbreak etc, then stick with that. Otherwise, play around with the fertilization and see what works.

[budak]

If you have read around, you will also find that while some folks here suspect that that excess K (more than 40 ppm) is correlated to calcium deficiency, others also report that overdosing K presents no problem at all..... i personally don't find any problem overloading with K.

[vinz]

The K from TMG is very low... < 1ppm for the recommended dosage. If you are dosing anything else that already contains K (e.g. KNO3), then don't dose K2SO4.

Previously, it was believed the excess K is not a problem. However, some hobbyist worldwide experience Ca deficiency symptoms which go away when they reduced the K dosage. Keep the weekly K dosage below 10 now. If you are dosing, KNO3 for NO3, then you probably do not additional K.

Please be patient... weekend traffic on AQ tend to be low and most work so they don't login to AQ until lunchtime or after work on weekdays.

[mandz]

hi, personally i don't have problems with K on the high side too.

[toledosun]

I guess there's two ways to approach this:

1) just add TMG, if satisfactory, leave it "as is". If not start adding K; or
2) start adding TMG+K. If no problems, leave it "as is". If problems, start reducing K.

It's a matter of reaching the same result from opposite directions.

[juggler]

[quote:2b701c9b7b="vinz"]The K from TMG is very low... < 1ppm for the recommended dosage. If you are dosing anything else that already contains K (e.g. KNO3), then don't dose K2SO4.

Previously, it was believed the excess K is not a problem. However, some hobbyist worldwide experience Ca deficiency symptoms which go away when they reduced the K dosage. Keep the weekly K dosage below 10 now. If you are dosing, KNO3 for NO3, then you probably do not additional K.

Please be patient... weekend traffic on AQ tend to be low and most work so they don't login to AQ until lunchtime or after work on weekdays.[/quote:2b701c9b7b]

Vinz: Actually, it should be excess K causing Ca deficiency symptoms if you have low Ca. Similar for Mg. There was a good discussion at http://aquabotanicwetthumb.infopop.c...p;m=5636037643

[robin]

Okay, thanks for all the advice.
What I am really asking is what toledo adressed.

Also, sometimes when i dose excess K, I noticed that holes starts appearing in the plant leaves.

Robin

[PeterGwee]

How much do you mean by excess? The K in TMG is simply insignificant and the notion of high K causing Ca/Mg issues are brought up by folks without good NO3 kits simply cannot be establish yet. Low NO3 can cause some low NO3 sensitive plants to stunt or die...(They gave similar Ca/Mg deficiency look as well.) so I would not blame that unless you can come up with prove with the use of a good NO3 kit (Lamotte or Hach) or ion-meter and induce that look with high K while keeping the NO3 and other nutrients in good shape.

Regards
Peter Gwee

[robin]

So what most of you suggest is we should do away with the test kits and rely on observing plant growth and algae problems?

Need plenty of experience to do that man.

Robin

[toledosun]

actually, I think it's easier than you think.

I believe there's a link in this forum to another website (Chuck's I think) where the symptoms of different nutrient deficiencies are described. So, continue with what you're doing until you find your plants starting to turn yellow/leaves melting etc. When that happens, you go to that website to see which deficiency caused the problem and you increase the dosage for that element. All you would have lost would be that few leaves but you would have saved yourself the hassle of all the tests.

[PeterGwee]

Nah, it ain't a good method at all. By the time plants show deficiencies, you are in big trouble. Do you know how reference solutions are being made? We know our tap water NO3 levels do we? Eg. Our NO3 in our tap is 0.5-15ppm. By singapore's standard, I can safely assume our NO3 is on the low side which is 0.5ppm. I add 7ppm worth of NO3 from KNO3 to top up the needs for plants for 2-4days depending on the tank conditions/light. For higher light, uptake can be up to 3-4ppm per day and 10ppm of NO3 can only last 3 days at most. You need to dose 2-3x a week in order to meet the needs. It works well imo/ime....weekly large water changes will keep the nutrients from building up to toxic levels if plant uptake is not that good for any particular reasons. The key is to keep the CO2 in good range all day long.

Regards
Peter Gwee

[robin]

Thanks Peter,
I will keep trying but still not suceeding.
I managed to get my plants growing very well and even multipling in an alarming rate
But I am fighting a losing Algae battle.



Robin