Turn Off HOB Filter When Dosing Liquid Ferts?

[kingkew]

Hi all,

I have always left the filter on whenever I dose ferts. Should I turn it off at all times or..?

I dose Flourish Nitrogen, Phosphorus, Potassium, Trace and Excel.

Think excel should only be dosed with the filter off, which I have not been doing.

How about the rest of the ferts mentioned? Please advise thank you

[Urban Aquaria]

The filter should be kept on while dosing ferts, so that the flow can dilute and circulate the nutrients around the tank to all the plants, otherwise they wil tend to settle and pool into deadspots.

This is even more important for Excel, if there is no flow when its dosed, the concentrated solution could settle directly on plants or livestock which may burn them... i encountered that effect before when i dosed Excel too close to a crop of moss, they melted within minutes.

[aza]

Remember to dose when the lights are on for most effective uptake by the plants! Learnt this from UA

[qqiangq]

As mention by Urban Aquaria, I had experience a few chemical burn on my RCS even when my filter is on.
What I did was adding the dosage to your daily top-up water (if you dose daily), in other words just dilute it with water before dosage.

Hope this helps.