Recommended fertilizer regimen for these parameters?

[Ptahkeem]

Hello All
this is my first time posting on this board. I have a very important question to ask and Ill just go ahead and ask it. Here are the water parameters that my local city authority gave me and I was wondering what kind of dosing regimen I should be using.

CaCO3(GH) 235ppm - 13.12degrees
Ca 59.8ppm
Mg 20.5ppm
K 4.16ppm
CaCO3(KH) 132ppm - 7.37degrees
Carbonate(CO3) .56ppm
Bicarbonate(HCO3) 159ppm
SO4 175ppm
Nitrate(NO3) 1.02ppm
pH 8.24pH
Fe <50ppb
Phosphate(PO4) <.05ppm
Nitrite as Nitrogen(N) <.003ppb

I will be using Seachem's line of fertilizers for the time being consisting of Seachem Nitrogen, Phophates, Potassium, Flourish, and Flourish Iron. The tank I will be fertilizing is a 20 gallon or 76.7 Liter tank that has about 80 watts of light or 4wpg. Also, I have a pressurized CO2 system that gets my pH down to about 6.9-7.0 for about 25-30ppm of CO2. I will be doing 50% water changes weekly and aiming to dose 3 times a week. If anyone can recommend a Seachem dosing regimen for these parameters that would be very helpful. Thanks in advance =)

[vinz]

Hmmm... I haven't had water like that before... but I'll give it a shot.

You got good Ca and Mg and free KH to boot. I'll leave those alone.

Given the bright lights, I'll dose Flourish at the recommended (the new one is 5ml flourish to 250l of water) 2 to 3 times a week and then work my way up from there.

Account for NO3 and PO4 from fish feed and waste, and keep your NO3 above 5ppm and PO4 above 1ppm.

[Ptahkeem]

Hello Vinz
thank you for the dosing advice. What should I be dosing for potassium as well as iron? Should I just be going off what I see in the plants?

[PeterGwee]

Seachem Nitrogen (contains ammonia in a binded form) is different from KNO3 so I wouldn't dose the heavy amount to bring the NO3 level up to 5-10ppm. Why don't you get some form of stump removers (KNO3) ? Its much cheaper and safer to use even in large amount.

The rest are pretty fine so I'll suggest this routine for the amount light you have over your tank assuming your bioload is light and your tank is packed with loads of fast growing plants:

Prune and scrub the tank well (Remove any algae if infected.)
Clean filter if necessary
50% water change
20-30ppm of CO2 (Ensure this is good during the photoperiod hrs)
1/8 tsp of KNO3 (2x per week till the plants are growing well and later 3x)
16ml of Seachem Phosphorous (2x per week till the plants grow in and later 3x)
5ml of Flourish 3x per week
5ml of Flourish Iron once a week (The flourish is enough but this is nice if the tank is growing well.)
Repeat weekly
(You don't need any Seachem Potassium if you are dosing KNO3 2-3x per week..There is more than enough potassium in it.)

Regards
Peter Gwee

[Ptahkeem]

Hi Peter
could you tell me how many ppm's of KNO3 and phosphorous I would be dosing if I followed your regimen? Also, if Im gonna be using KNO3 do you think it would be wiser to just buy some KPO4 and use that instead of the seachem phosphorous? I have been looking at the intructions on my seachem flourish bottle and 5ml 3x weekly seems a bit excessive to me. Maybe Ill try doing half doses at 2.5ml 3x weekly and move up from there. Thanks for your help =)

[PeterGwee]

1/8 tsp of KNO3 would give around 6ppm of NO3 and 4ppm of K. You need to dose this 2x per week for a start and later 3x per week when the plants grown in. For the PO4, you might need 1ppm of PO4 2x per week and later 3x per week as the NO3 dosing frequency. Yes, KH2PO4 is much cheaper and last a lifetime.. 5ml of flourish 3x per week for such a high light tank is fine...better to have slightly more than have nutrients running out. The point is to have enough nutrients for the plants for the week and make sure it does not run out. If nutrients run out, plants slow down or stunt...that is when algae comes in.

Regards
Peter Gwee

[Ptahkeem]

Hi Peter
thanks for the info. How are you getting these numbers out of curiosity? Ive tried calculating how many ppm's of Nitrate I would be adding if I added 1/4 teaspoon and the numbers wont come out right since Ive been using Chuck Gadd's calculator. His program requires that you add the mixture to a set amount of water before hand and you can calculate the ppm's with dry fertilizer. Also, do you have any experience with using Plantex CSM+B? If you do could you recommend a dosing regimen for that as well? I will be purchasing some Plantex CSM+B, KNO3, and KH2PO4 very soon and would like to get the dosing regimen down before I get the fertilizers. Thanks again.

[PeterGwee]

Ptahkeem, I made some changes to the dosage of KNO3. I forgot about the substrate and critters contribution to the NO3 level. 1/8 tsp of KNO3 2x a week for a start should be fine. For Chuck's calculator, use 1ml for amount of water to mix with to find the dry amount of chemical to add. For CSM+B (Plantex), add 2 tablespoon of plantex to 500ml of DI water. Dose 5ml 3x per week coupled with 1x 5ml dosage of flourish as plantex lacks some stuff in it.

Regards
Peter Gwee

[Ptahkeem]

Hi Peter
haha you know you can just call me Peter as well, my alias Ptahkeem refers to Peter Kim pheonetically lol. Anyhow for my fertilization regimen I was wondering how much Iron specifically I should be dosing? Ive been dosing 2ml of Seachem Flourish Iron 3 times a week now and I have some stargrass that is turning white at the center of the crown and all new leaf growth is becoming white as well. Not only is the leaf growth becoming white but the leaves appear wrinkled and arent straight like they should be. Im not sure what kind of deficiency this could be but Im pretty sure my Iron levels are up to par. Do you know what fertilizer I could be lacking? Ive played with the idea of this being a lack of Ca but I dont know enough to say what it is. Also for iron dosing whenever I dose the 2ml my water becomes cloudy most likely because the Iron gluconate form is precipitating out of solution. Do you know of any other form of Iron that I could dose and where I can get it commercially? Sorry for such a long post but this deficiency has really been bugging me. Thanks again Peter

[PeterGwee]

LOL.. ..Mr Peter Kim, try 10ml-15ml of flourish instead of 5ml while maintaining the rest of the nutrients and CO2 in good shape and see how the stargrass respond. Harder water generally requires more traces.

Regards
Peter Gwee

[mandz]

hi Peter (kim),

someone (Sleepy_lancs) shared this with me regarding stargrass. He has experimented on stargrass and has been using them as indicators in his tank. i've tried his method of monitoring, particularly PO4 levels and it works like a charm. here's his recommendations:

- Lack of N - leaves turn pale and transparent.
- Lack of P - tips will start turning black.
- Lack of K - plant will stunt.
- Lack of micros (Fe) - plant will become transparent

I guess if your Fe is up to par, you may be lacking in N. i've no problems with N as my bioload seems to be on the high side. therefore, i've no experience in my stargrass turning transparent. You also mentioned that the stargrass are not growing straight as it should be? well, going by his guide, you could be lacking K, as your K ppm is rather low ar 4.16ppm?

hope this helps.

[Ptahkeem]

Hi Mandz
thank you for the information =). I dont think my Fe is low as I dose this everyday. Im not sure as to how much N, P, and K my plants use up but I dose 7ppm of N, 1ppm of P, and 10ppm of K three times a week. My plants could be using up all of this fertilizer as I have a very high amount of light over the tank, 80 watts over a 20 gallon. My CO2 is at 30ppm also. Thanks again for the info.