Daily Ferts Dosing

[johnny70]

For all those people that may be interested this is my Daily Dosing Regime. This is based from what I have read and researched and some great advice from a couple of online friends. If you have any questions please ask awayB-)

I have made 2 mixes up.

The first is made up using 500ml of (cool)water. (mix 1)
3 tsp. Potassium Nitrate (KN03)HERE or HERE
1.5 tsp Potassium Phosphate (KH2P04)HERE or HERE
1/2tsp GH Booster HERE(or if your water is not soft like mine, replace with 7tsp Magnesium Sulphate (MgS04))HERE

The second is also made with 500ml of (cool)water. (mix 2)
1tsp CSM+B Trace. HERE
This can also be made up using THIS

Trace is made up from;
Boron 1.06%
Copper 0.23%
Iron 8.2%
Manganese 1.82%
Molybdenum 0.15%
Zinc 1.16%

GH Booster is made up from;
Calcium Sulphate
Magnesium Sulphate
Potassium Sulphate
Iron Sulphate

The mix is made in a old Nescafe coffee jar but anything that can be sealed and left in the fridge should be fine.

I am also using Seachem excel or easycarbo for my liquid carbon instead of pressurised Co2.

I have tested these on my own tanks, I have 10 planted tanks, some with pretty sensitive inverts (crystal shrimp, rabbit snails etc) as long as the mix and the liquid carbon aren’t overdose then they are fine, start overdosing and disaster will normally happen.

My dosing regime is as follows, this takes place over 6 days with one day off, I normally run from a Sunday as its my day off, Saturday is the rest day.

Day 1.

40ml of Mix 1 per 100ltr
dose easycarbo/excel as per bottle

Day 2.

40ml of Mix 2 per 100ltr.

Repeat this through the week.

These figures are a good guideline, they can be increased for a larger plant mass, or reduced for lower plant mass

 

[dw1305]

Hi all,
Hi Johnny70, very interesting post, a couple of questions.

1. Do you do routine tests for conductivity?
2. What is your water change regime?

cheers Darrel

 

[Doodles]

Thanks very much johnny, going to copy this to article forum:yes:

I am also using Seachem excel or easycarbo for my liquid carbon instead of pressurised Co2.

I did use this for a while when my tank was planted, now im getting a nano tank to plant out. With good lighting and ferts, do you think using excel would be good long term and not bother with Co2?

 

[Rabbit]

Well done, Johnny.

 

[johnny70]

Hi all,
Hi Johnny70, very interesting post, a couple of questions.

1. Do you do routine tests for conductivity?
2. What is your water change regime?

cheers Darrel

No not tested for conductivity. Any reason you ask that?

I change between 30-50% water every 7 days, I have in the past gone for 2 weeks with no water changes and had no ill effects

JOHNNY

 

[johnny70]

Thanks very much johnny, going to copy this to article forum:yes:



I did use this for a while when my tank was planted, now im getting a nano tank to plant out. With good lighting and ferts, do you think using excel would be good long term and not bother with Co2?

Personally the liquid carbon works well, if you are wanting some demanding plants in a nano then I would go with a pressurised setup, a fire extinguisher setup can be done for under £100. But if your having less demanding plants and don't fancy a pressurised system then liquid carbon is great

JOHNNY

 

[dw1305]

Hi all,
For those who haven't seen Johnny's planted tanks in the gallery they are fantastic and well worth a viewing.

Personally I like plants, but I stay low tech, it does limit the plants you can grow, but with enough light slow growing plants (Java Fern, Anubias, Cryptocorynes, Echinodorus) will grow, and floating ferns like Salvinia and Ceratopteris, plants like Water Lettuce/Nile Cabbage (Pistia) or ones with floating leaves like Water Lilies (Nymphaea) that make use of aerial CO2.

My conductivity question was if you knew just how "salty" does the water get before you do a water change, it probably doesn't make much difference, and your plants and fish are doing well, but I'm still interested.

As to the Nano question a liquid carbon source certainly increases plant growth, we do this experiment in the lab with Cabomba <http://www-saps.plantsci.cam.ac.uk/docs/cabomba.pdf> and it is quite spectacular.

cheers Darrel

 

[Doodles]

Ok Thanks guys and thanks for the link Darrel.

We have really hard water so will be mixing with RO to get the PH and hardness down. Not decided yet whether to go with excel or just get a pressurised system:-/

 

[johnny70]

With hard water having a co2 system is great for reducing the ph( normally) it can be reduce by as much a 1 while injecting. The real question what planting are you planning on?

 

[Doodles]

hmm not to sure yet, probably easy to medium to start with lol.
Riccia looks good though:yes:

 

[johnny70]

IME Riccia HATES excel/eascarbo, so that narrows the choice a little bit

JOHNNY

 

[Doodles]

lol typical, Ill start looking at plants and see which i want.
Thanks johnny

 

[dw1305]

planting for a nano

Hi all,
I'd try a cheap, fast growing, stem plant to help stabilise the tank, probably Hygrophila corymbosa "Siamensis"<http://www.tropica.com/productcard_1.asp?id=053A> and I'd let it grow up out of the water and flower.

Being a carbon "agnostic" I'm not sure how these will do either, but once this was growing well I'd "plant" some of the more unusual mosses (and the liverwort Monoselenium tenerum), probably Fissidens fontanus for starters, and something with large leaves (as a counterpoint), possibly Anubias or Java fern which will both grow quicker with some carbon.

Once the mosses and ferns are growing, you can remove the Hygrophila. I'd probably replace it with a floating plant (Salvinia probably) and Najas or similar (Guppy grass) <http://www.plantgeek.net/plant-174.htm>.

I like the look of CUP's LDA08 breeding log <http://www.plecoplanet.com/forum/showthread.php?t=1194>


I've not bought any mosses from here, but they sell loads and its had a good review on the UKAPS forum. <http://stores.shop.ebay.co.uk/moostruhe>

cheers Darrel

 

[Doodles]

Thanks very much Darrel, ill have a look at the links:yes: