Replacement for KNO3?

[PlAnTaNoOb]

Hi all,

KNO3's rather unavailable in Singapore, so I was wondering what can i use as a substitue. I'm intending to adopt EI dosing, and dose KH2PO4 and K2S04.

Also, what do you guys recommend for micro nutrients?


Tank Dimensions (LxWxH, specify units): 2ftx1ftx1ft

Lighting Intensity(No of Watts) : 2x36w (but i'm only using 1 now)
Number and type of Lighting (FL/PL/MH) : PL
Age of light bulbs : quite old. Roughly 1 year plus
No. of hours your lights are on : 11hours

CO2 Injection Rate (bps) : cannot be controlled because using nutrafin.
Type of CO2 (DIY/Cylinder) : Nutrafin
Method of Injection (e.g. Diffusor/Reactor) : the zig-zag kind of difussor

Liquid fertilisers Used (Product name. E.g. Seachem Flourish) : Tetra Florapride
Fertilization regime (Frequency and amount per dose) : According to label.

Other fertilisers (Product name. E.g. Root Monster) : nil

Other additives (Product name. E.g. Seachem Prime) : Seachem Prime

Type of Filter (overhead/internal/canister, Product name/model if possible) : Canister, Eheim 2224
When was the filter last washed : last week
Filter media used : Eheim Substrate Pro and calcium rings and eheim sponge and wool
When was the media last changed : last year for Substrate pro, Calcium rings and sponge; last week for wool.
Age of setup (i.e. since initial setup or last major re-do ) : 3 months

Water change frequency : once a week starting 2 weeks ago
Amount changed : 50%

Water surface movement (None/gentle/turbulent) : None
Circulation (None/gentle/turbulent) : none

Tank Temperature : unknown

Chemical Properties (Fill what you can)
-------------------------------------
All unknown

Bioload (Number and type of fish and plants)
------------------------------------------
Fauna:
~ 35 cardinal tetras
7 rummy nose tetras
2 balloon holland rams
8 otocinclus
8 Yamato shrimps
1 golden algae eater
~7 snails (not sure what species they are)
many tiny snails that came with plants

Flora: (I'm new to names of plants. Please help!)
5 nanas
2 patches of HC (in another tank growing emersed for later transfer into main tank)
Some grass in forground.
1 big piece of Java Fern on wood (should I plant them in the subsstrate instead?)
That's all I know about their names.

[barmby]

Try LushGRO-macro. I do that.

[PlAnTaNoOb]

Hi barmby,

correct me if i'm wrong, but lushgro-macro contains much more than just nitrate and potassium. How do I dose KH2PO4 and K2S04 (EI dosing) with lushgro-macro then?

[barmby]

For me, I dose lushgro macro, and KH2PO4 + K2SO4. No worries at all. Do weekly water change. I feel that my plants do better with this combination than KNO3, KH2PO4 and K2SO4 combination. One reason I think Macro also contain some Trace Elements (TEs).

[illumnae]

do take note though, that lushgro macro at the recommended dose is actually 1/3 of the EI recommended dosage (i checked using a Lushgro excel spreadsheet available on APC). you'll have to dose the recommended dosage 3 times a week instead of dividing it by 3 to achieve EI levels. i believe if you do that, you will not need KH2PO4 nor K2SO4 as this dosage meets the K and P requirements easily

[PlAnTaNoOb]

thanks. wow... that's gonna be amazingly expensive. What about Seachem nitrogen? Is is feasible to use that for nitrate, and up KH2PO4 + K2SO4 dosing to make up for potassium?

[PlAnTaNoOb]

Anyone using EI dosing and using Seachem Nitrogen in place of KNO3?

[Shadow]

No easy wayout, other subsitutes definetly are higher than dry KNO3. I wonder if NA or other LFS selling KNO3 diluted with water (can't remember how many &#37. Thus no need license to buy it.

[PlAnTaNoOb]

sigh.. alright. I guess i'll give seachem nitrogen a try. Thanks for helping!

[barmby]

Seachem Nitrogen is quite costly especially you have a 4 feet or bigger tank.

[jacian]

thanks. wow... that's gonna be amazingly expensive. What about Seachem nitrogen? Is is feasible to use that for nitrate, and up KH2PO4 + K2SO4 dosing to make up for potassium?

Seachem Nitrogen contains 1.5% N and 2% K, thus you may not need to dose K2S04.

By the way, can anyone share the content of LushGRO Macro?

[PlAnTaNoOb]

Hey,

There's this spreadsheet on lushgro macro and micro dosing and composition somewhere in this forum. You might wanna do a search.

And, Seachem nitrogen is a derivative of KNO3, so I guess it is just a diluted form of that. Thus, K2S04 might still be needed?

Anyway, I just bought a 500ml bottle at SGD14. I'll see how the plants fare and update a few weeks later.

[jacian]

Sorry, I just found that K in Seachem Nitrogen may not be enough. You are right that you will need to add K2SO4 as well.

Should the lushgro macro be lushgro aqua as I am not able to find any product information on lushgro macro?

[PlAnTaNoOb]

No prob.

Here's the link:

http://www.aquaticquotient.com/forum...5&postcount=56

Do you know how to make a reference solution of KH2PO4 & K2SO4? And also, how much ppm per ml of Nitrate and Potassium does Seachem nitrogen contain?

[jacian]

Potassium Phosphate - 15g to 500ml of water and adding 5ml per 100L of water would give you a value of 1ppm of phosphate
Potassium Sulphate - 55g to 500ml of water and adding 10ml per 100L of water would give you a value of 5ppm of Potassium

Online calculator can be found at http://www.csd.net/~cgadd/aqua/art_p...osage_calc.htm

Seachem nitrogen - 1.5% N , 2% K. (1.5% N roughly equate to 6.65% NO3)

[PlAnTaNoOb]

Thanks! I've finally bought the fertilisers!

[bossteck]

Reviving an old thread here.

May I know what happens to the S when K2SO4 is dosed?
Say I not using EI method but is dosing K2SO4 in moderate amount? How long before WC becomes absolutely necessary?

Also, has anyone explored the possibility of obtaining the permit to purchase KNO3 in small amount?

[barmby]

eric, try just dosing lushgro aqua, it should work out. at least for my case.

[ongtw]

sorry guys,

i'm actually using wondergro macro and micro. the uncle at NA told me i can just dose lushgro aqua only and i'm good. is that true?

if yes anyone know the dosage?

[Shadow]

dosage: http://www.aquaticquotient.com/forum...d.php?p=489800