Nutrients and Algae Book 2

Jay · 08-25-2007, 05:11 PM

The other thread was getting too long to keep track

Jay

RoxiesMom · 08-25-2007, 08:45 PM

Ok Ok - 2 Clown Loaches

How quickly do they reach max size? Just so I know how much time before I need another tank to put them in... (mystery snails are not loach food).

Water change went well -

pH 7.0 Ammonia 0 Nitrite 0 Nitrate 15 (wasn't 10 or 20 so I'm sticking with this) GH 13 KH 7

Fertilized with 1/3 the requirement for this week!

Jay · 08-26-2007, 07:27 AM

Clown Loaches grow very slowly. I got some a year ago and they have grown maybe from 2 inches at purchase to 4 inches. They have completely wiped out my snail population in the 75.

OK to cut back on the NO3 but I would dose PO4 and K at the recommended target divided by three, three times a week. KH and GH look good.

Jay

P-Daddy · 08-26-2007, 09:07 AM

Hey Jay,

I am mixing everything as we speak,

If I understand this correctly, by dosing Potassium Nitrate I am getting both K and NO3, but because my tank already had 5 NO3 I need to use KCL or Pottassium Chloride to make up the difference?

Also can you give me any kind of formula for baking soda to bring up KH??

Thanks again for everything!

bsquizzato · 08-26-2007, 02:06 PM

P-Daddy, check out this link: http://www.dataguru.org/misc/aquarium/calKH.asp

It seems pretty accurate. I dosed about 4 half teaspoons to get my KH up by 3 dKH. But the way I did it was by dosing a bit, then testing an hour or so later. The site suggests 1.67 teaspoons. Probably a lot of factors can affect this though, so I'd say dose a bit and test and see what the results are in your tank.

As for an update on my tank, I did a ~20% water change yesterday and GH dropped down to 18. I tested it today and it's 19. So it might be staying steady. Still no idea how it got so high in the first place, and no I still haven't gotten a second opinion :x

I also have the ferts on the way in the mail, including the GH booster, which I'm probably never going to need

But we'll see.

Jay · 08-26-2007, 02:37 PM

That's a neat little chart!

I agree, dose the baking soda gradually over a period of hours and test.

Look at Chuck's calculator and see how much K is in the KNO3 and KH2PO4 according to the amount you are dosing. Subtract that from your target (10 ppm K) and dose enough KCL to reach your target. KCL is also figured out for you in the calculator.

Does that make sense?

Jay

bsquizzato...

If you GH is 3 dGH out of the Tap and 30 dGH in the tank, we are missing something. Where is the calcium and magnesium or other minerals comming from in the tank to raise the GH that high???. Crushed Coral, The wrong type of rocks, mixing up drop count dGH for conversion to ppm.

3 dGH is about 50+ ppm

Are you using any other chemicals in the tank besides nutrients, like pH stabilizers etc?

Jay

P-Daddy · 08-26-2007, 04:42 PM

We have liftoff!

I did a 50% water change, tested, and dosed.

Upon the most recent test results my KH had jumped up to 5, so I let it be, I am going to double check it again later to make sure it wasn't a bad read.

GH is around 15, I am assuming that is high enough that I do not need to use GH booster.

As of right now my levels should be.

NO3 - 20ppm
K - 20ppm
PO4 - 1ppm
dGH - 15
dKH - 5

I think I am just going to go ahead and test daily to try and monitor uptake.

I'll keep you posted, this is very exciting, thanks for all the great help from everyone, thats a cool chart Bz!

bsquizzato · 08-26-2007, 10:15 PM

Yeah Jay I don't know. No chemicals besides water conditioner, flourish, flourish excel, and the baking soda for KH. The only explanation could be that my slate has impurities... it does have some yellow markings on it, so who knows. But if the GH goes down and stays down after a water change then I won't worry about it anymore, and then that would be weird too. But we'll see if that actually happens.

bsquizzato · 08-27-2007, 04:49 PM

Alright some good news, the ferts arrived today.

I tested my tap water for nitrates and it came back 0, so should I try to dose 20ppm weekly, so ~6-7 ppm nitrate 3 days a week?

As for KCL (which I don't have yet) and the phosphate from the mono potassium phosphate, what will my weekly dosing in ppm need to be on this? 1 ppm for phosphate? If I make a stock solution can I just mix all these chemicals into 1 bottle?

I don't think I'll be needing the GH booster... the GH has creeped up to 21 overnight. It's gotta be impure slate I guess. Update: Going to take these rocks out and do a big water change. If all goes well I might try to like ... chisel off the impurities that are clearly visible and see how that goes.

In other news, nitrites have appeared. So yay for the cycling aspect.

P-Daddy · 08-27-2007, 07:19 PM

I mixed my solutions in 3 bottles.

If you ordered Potassium Nitrate it provides roughly .65ppm Potassium for every 1ppm of Nitrate. (Do your own calculations, don't trust mine) Obviously you cannot reach a target of 20ppm Nitrate and 20ppm Potassium without adding more Potassium.

Thats where the KCL comes in, I found a Morton brand shaker of it at Walmart for $0.49. Use the KCL to make up the difference between what can be achieved from the KNO3 and your target.

I would advise against mixing in one big container, from what I understand your first fert routine is a rough draft that requires periodic tweaking. I would imagine that keeping everything in one large bottle would work after you've found a mix that works on a virtually permanent basis.

I got 3 Half-liter (500ml) empty spring water bottles to keep my solutions in. I believe 500ml is just about the standard size of drinking water bottle if you purchase the large 24 packs.

Also I found that it helps if you heat the water before mixing your solutions, as the solid ferts take a while to dissolve so heat/stirring are a necessary catalyst.

We'll see what Jay has to say, hes the expert