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Not long ago, I read a thread where Frank said (if I remember correctly) that he doses his Ferts on an Individual Basis.

My question is, How do you know what to dose and when. Also could anyone recommend sources for these individual ferts, and what exactly they are. IE Iron, Potassium, ect ect.

Try [link=This for dry ferts]http://www.gregwatson.com/products.asp?cat=8" style="COLOR: #EB4288[/link], that same site sells liquids. Plantbrain posted it in a recent BGA thread.

[link=Nutrient defincey]http://www.csd.net/~cgadd/aqua/art_plant_nutrient.htm" style="COLOR: #EB4288[/link] Link that has helped me some in the past.

^_^


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The dosing of ferts on an individual basis is usually limited to macro nutrients. There's anumber of reasons for this.

Nitrate and Phosphate in excess can cause issues, so most commercial ferts avoid these 2 ingredients. But both are essential for good plant growth. Finding and dosing micro nutrients would be a difficult task so a liquid fert is usually used to keep the tank supplied with these.

The common assumption is that nitrate and phosphate can be supplied in sufficient quantity by fish food/waste. In a high light heavily planted tank with good levels of co2 the amount supplied by the fish can be exhausted very very quickly starving the plants.

Potassium is the macro most likely to be in short supply in the aquarium. Some liquid ferts contain a small amount of Potassium but not all. Potassium levels should be relatively high about 20ppm , it's not linked to any algae problems so adding a little extra would seem to be a good idea.

Nitrate and Phosphate should not be added indiscriminately, you should test first to see if any additional is needed. Levels of 5-10ppm of NO3 and 0.5-1.0ppm of PO4 are good for plant growth and safe for fish.

Nitrate is supplied via KNO3 - Potassium Nitrate. This is the only safe way to add nitrogen. Most terrestrial plant ferts will have nitrogen supplied in the form of either ammonium or urea both very toxic for fish and likely to cause incredible algae outbreaks. Increasing to fish stock to increase nitrates doesn't generally work either as the fish will produce ammonium rather then nitrate. KNO3 is the only way to go. Products such as Grants or Greenlight Stump Remover are pure KN03.

Phosphate can be supplied by dosing Mono Potassium Phosphate. This can be bought from a pharmacy via Fleets Enema (if you're not too embarrassed to ask for it !). One or 2 drops a week are generally enough.

Potassium can be supplied by KCL Potassium Chloride. This is usually the easiest to find. Mortons Nu Salt from your supermarket is just Potassium Chloride. Muriate of Potash is just another name for KCL is readily available at gardening centers. Some addition of Potassium would probaly be a good idea for most tanks. Potassium Sulfate can also be used . If you are dosing Nitrates or Phosphates as above then those chemicals should also be adding enough Potassium so no need to add separately.

Seachem do have a range of liquid ferts for N,P and K but the dry ferts are much cheaper to buy. A few dollars will get you a couple of years supply. They are easy to dose. The dry ferts can also be bought from http://www.gregwatson.com very cheaply.

The ferts can be added either in small quantities daily or larger quantities 2-3 times a week. The important thing is that the nutrients are consistently available without any excess building up. For this reason one big weekly dosing is not recommended and a large weekly water change 30-50% will help keep everything in check.

In my own case I do a large water change on Sunday, I dose macros after the water change. Next day I add micros in the form of Tropica Master Grow. Mid week I'll add macros again (for the first few weeks I tested to see what the levels were) follow by micros again next day. Water change again on Sunday.

This is a very simple routine and seems to work well. Plant growth is good, plants look very healthy and algae is almost non existent. I get a little algae on the glass which I clean off just before water change. Plants 99.5% algae free, I'll live with that !



Last edited by bensaf at 16-Mar-2005 21:04

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