planted tank dosing

[hir0]

hi friends, just wondering what are the preferred methods for dosing fertilizers on a planted tank. i know i've asked a few of you this question several times, but it would be nice to be able to consolidate all the useful info. as of now, i've put in an order for most everything i'll need except the fertilizers. i did order 1each 500ml container of Tropica Master Grow (TMG). will i need to dose other things as well? thanks for everyone's help already, especially Eric, Jay and Ed.

edit: o yah, i don't know if this info is helpful... but i am doing a 20gallon long with pressurized co2 and 65watts @ 6700k.

 

[paradise]

Hiro, I just got my TMG, remember we thought it was a small bottle? No, pretty decent size.

Other than that, I know eric splits the "weekly" amount into smaller daily dozes. Other than that I dont know what else. I am having a CO2 crisis w/the JBJ regulator, once that is fixed, we'll see.

 

[Ibn]

Might look small, but the amount that you're getting is more than plenty (just short of 2 years supply due to your low GH). Other than TMG, the only other ferts that you would need to worry about is nitrates and phosphates since TMG excludes them.

Until your ferts arrive or you decide on something, I'd make a trip over to the gardening department to pick up some green light stump remover (pure KNO3) for your nitrates and then maybe stop by Walgreens and pick up some Fleet Enema for your phosphate needs. If the clerk looks at you really odd, it's kind of expected. :-D

For me, I've been dosing CSM+B for the micronutrients and for the macros, use dry chemicals from Greg Watson. Macronutrients one day and then the next just the micros. Will be looking at buying the stuff locally from now since I've found out that the dry chemicals can be purchased locally for really cheap (something like $10 for a 50# bag). Other than the alternating schedule between these two, a water change is performed on the 7th day and nothing is added.

 

[Molino]

i am doing a 20gallon long with pressurized co2 and 65watts

That is nearly identical to my planted tank. I have a 20 long with 55 watts overtop. I don't do any fertilizing but do have DIY CO2. You may get by without any fertilizer...

However, depending on the plants you would like to keep and your water conditions that may not work. There are a number of plants I would not put in my tank, because I don't add any fertilizer.

Good luck and be sure to post pictures once you get the tank planted :-D

 

[squidfish]

Hi

Phosphates are usually the limiting nutrient for freshwater plant growth. Half my work with rehabilitating lakes is dealing with the effects of nutrient enrichment (eutrophication) from elevated phosphorus. Basically you don't need much phosphorus as concentrations greater than 0.1 mg/l are considered to be indicative of highly nutrient enriched conditions. The tap water in the UK often certainly exceeds this level with concentrations often around 1mg/l (depending on location). If you have fish in the tank then the fish meal in the flake will also provide a further source of phosphorus and the fish waste products following filtration the nitrates. I wonder if in a tank situation low nitrates may be a more important factor than phosphorus, particularly if no fish are present? I think a planted tank would benefit from routine water change to top up the nutrient supply.

Cheers

Rich

 

[alanhill]

Look at your plants. Iron deficiency is the only problem that I have come across recently. Hornwort and Najas were doing badly in our Endler's display tank - pale and very weedy with little growth.
I thought nitrate and phospate were unlikely to be a problem in densely stocked tank, so I decided to try a chelated iron mixture (iron (II) sulphate and EDTA, based on a commercial recipe) and after three or four weeks the tank was full of bright green plants.

Alan

 

[jhoetzl]

While there are a few thoughts out there on planted tank dosing...the one I follow is the estimative index method described by Tom Barr http://www.gregwatson.com/EstimativeIndex.htm

I use a mixture of different products, including the dry ferts from Greg Watson's site - from there I use:
Potassium Sulfate K2SO4 - Main source of potassium
Potassium Nitrate KNO3 (AKA saltpeter) - Main source of nitrates
I use a generic version of Fleet enema (YES, enema fluid) for phophates (and it keep the fish "normal" too :-O )

For micros, I use both Plantex CSM+B Plus Extra Iron, regular CSM+B and Flourish from Seachem, and 2-3 times a month, I also boost the iron up a bit with flourish iron.

My main planted tank is a 37g, the other is a 15g.

In the 37g, I do weekly 50% water changes, run 130watts of CF lighting. I run pressurized CO2 via an external reactor on a SMS 122 controller set at 6.5 (which gets turned off at night and an airstone runs for about 5 hours overnight).

My tap water (after standing for 36 hours) comes out at a pH of 7.4, with a KH of around 2, so on water change day, which is Sunday for me, I dose 2 teaspoons of baking soda (to stabilize/raise the KH a bit), about 1/8 teaspoon of KNO3, about a litte less than an 1/8 of K2SO4, and about .4ML's of the fleet, and 3ML's of Prime.
Then, on alternating days, 5ML's of Flourish or one of the CSM+B Mixes, and repeat the KNO3, the K2SO4 and the fleet.

My bio-load is moderate, and although I rarely test much anymore, by the end of the week, my nitrate's are near immeasurable, and PO4 barely shows up on a seachem test kit.

I've been doing this method since around last February and while it seems like a lot at first, it seems to have paid off and became a lot more second nature.

In the 15g, I do roughly the same, but a bit less on the quantities, the pressurized goes into the water via a hagen ladder, and the lighting is 65w CF.

Most of what I learned of this method is from stuff I began reading at another forum I frequent - http://www.plantedtank.net - and yes, there are a few others, but I personally liked that one.

 

[hir0]

thanks all for commenting, and jhoetzl for chiming in. i know it does sound like a lot - but after my last miserable attempt to grow plants, i want to do it right this time. my last effort was basically put the plants in, run diy co2 and 80w over a 55 gallon tank. didn't last too long and the only thing that actually grew was the hornwort (and really fast at that). this will be my first serious attempt to do things right, so i won't start anything until i get all the equipment i will need. btw i did order quite a few dry chemicals from gregwatson (great guy). thanks again.