Dosing revisited

[krisw]

I got them, Kris. I couldn't find the part where you've told me what kind of substrate is in the tank(s). I would also like to add info on what water do you use (tap, isn't it?), and how old is the tank.

All tanks have ADA Aquasoil Amazonia. Some have worm castings underneath. I dose the same, regardless.

I only use tap water. The tanks range from 1-2 months to 5+ years old...

Kris,
Do you still use a pH controller for injecting CO2?

I've never used a PH controller, actually. I set my bubble rate and forget. This methods works better now that I've gotten better regulators that won't EOTD.

[tug]

My bad. I meant to ask if you ever used a pH controller. My understanding (not being very bright in this area) is that people find there CO2 levels are more stable without them.

[jcali10]

Andreyka, here is a pic of my 50G, high light, CO2 tank. Needs trimming By dosing EI method, I follow their recommended dosages for my tanks. I test N and P levels 3 times a week. If my N is in the 10-30 ppm range I dont add any N. If my P is in the 1-2 ppm range I dont add any P. I always add CSM+B and K. This method is a little labor intensive on my part. The biggest benefit for me has been the abatement of algae in my non-co2 tanks.

I use a Filstar XP2 canister filter.
substrate: soilmaster select

[krisw]

My bad. I meant to ask if you ever used a pH controller. My understanding (not being very bright in this area) is that people find there CO2 levels are more stable without them.

Honestly, I'm not sure about this. It begs to reason that ph controllers would stabilize the CO2 levels, but I suppose if your water softens over time that wouldn't be the case. Not sure.

[tug]

My god that's a beauty of a tank jcali and an interesting observation if I understand you correctly.

The biggest benefit for me has been the abatement of algae in my non-co2 tanks.

Personally, I have found dosing PO4 to be just as important even in my mid-light tank. The levels in my tank are are often above 2ppm and while I could, when I've reduced the PO4 dose I will get GSA - increasing the PO4 dose has actually helped - go figure.

I need to be clear. This was a tank that received a ton* of light from a very large window and at that time, two T5HO's. I was starting my first tank and hadn't a clue how much light the tank was getting from the light fixture, let alone the window. My CO2 levels were and still are from one small gallon yeast culture/hootch. The light was such that CO2 was limited unless I went to higher levels - my DIY wouldn't reach. So, already CO2 limited, limiting PO4 only created more problems for me. With that tank, if I dosed less then 3.6ppm PO4/wk, GSA levels increased in this high light tank w/diy CO2. I'm confident I can get CO2 levels to 20ppm with diy but this tank had way too much light. The angelfish loved it though. Tank was a little warm, around 78-79F. They kept breading successfully, thats a lot of stress raising their young, etc. but fish were healthy. Anyway, I dosed the hell out of that tank. CO2(too little) & light(too much) are where I found my algae. Except for when I didn't dose NPK/trace.

So, my data should you choose;
crazy high light/low fish load / moderately planted mid-light plants ultimately.
Some plants just won't thrive with CO2 levels ≤20ppm.

CO2 ~ 20ppm daily
NO3 ~ 21ppm/wk
PO4 ~ 3.9ppm/wk +2ppm from the tap I use.
K ~ a little K2SO4 - not much
Mg ~ 0.77ppm/week
Fe ~ (as a proxy for trace) I added ~ 1.2ppm/wk

• + 1ppm from supplemental iron sources

The soil was nothing to consider - mostly small gravel I think.
Canister filter/Marineland C-220
DC tap water/moderate hardness
50% water changes/week

*easily >100 micromol at the bottom of the tank.
Edits/additions are in italics.

http://i951.photobucket.com/albums/ad35 ... 190016.jpg

[150EH]

I think the big advantage to a pH controller is you can crank up the C02 and get to the desired level earlier in the day and then it keeps it at a constant level, without one you might not reach you target until half the day has passed. I turn my C02 on 1 hour (maybe 1.5 on larger tanks) before lights on (10 G) and I don't reach my target until it has be running for 4 to 5 hours according to the drop checker, after that it stays a bright-green for the rest of the day.

I also try to control algae with my photo period, so a super bright tank might be lit for 5 hours but a pooly lit tank might go for 8 hours, not that my methods are the right way to do things but I'm just throwing suggestions out there.

[andreyka]

Thank you all who answered the call. Here is what I came up with so far.
Note: While calculating, I assumed that actual water volume is about 85% of 'rated' tank volume. For example, I assumed that a '40 gallon' tank would hold about 34 gallons of water (~130 liters). 1 ppm = 1 mg/L.
Fill free to question my numbers and to provide info to fill in the blanks.

Fertilization.pdf

(8.16 KiB) Downloaded 319 times

As you can see, ranges vary widely...

[tug]

Earlier, I must have sounded like the AT&T TV commercial. We want bigger. I want disco.

The tank was a 20T. Calculations were based on a water volume of 70 liters. I'm not sure how to break down trace for the spreadsheet but I re-crunched some numbers to try and fill in the gaps. The trace solution was dosed daily. Each dose is 4mL, (a little less then 1/16tsp dry CSM+B) or the equivalent of a 4.5mL dose of F. Comprehensive.

DIY trace solution, (52g CSM+B / 900mL container / distilled water) 19ml = 1/4 teaspoon of dry Plantex. To this solution I also added 12g DTPA Fe & 7g Fe gluconate, toping the container off at 900ml.

4mL trace solution brake down into 70L tank;
0.08ppm from Fe DTPA
0.06ppm, Fe gluconate
CSM+B provides,

Element ppm/degree
B 0.03
Cu 0.0029
Fe 0.21
Mg 0.05
Mn 0.06
Mo 0.0016
Zn 0.01
dGH 0.01


DC Tap is reported as having a kH of 64ppm, (3.6 dKH).

[andreyka]

Here is an update.

Fertilization.pdf

(7.94 KiB) Downloaded 311 times

[krisw]

Thanks for continuing to update this, Andrey!