Dosing

[qwikimpss]

I am so tantalizingly close to finally planting my 75 gallon tank. My T5HO lights are all set up after having to replace the ballast, Co2 tank is getting filled at some point this week and I just ordered my drop checker off of fleaBay last night. I'll be starting my journal on here very soon.

Anyway, on to my question. I spent more money than I really should have and bought Seachem ferts (flourish, nitrate, potassium, phosphorous, iron and trace). Yes, I know it was a waste of money but it was all out of my federal tax return so it was like spending free money. When I get to dosing my ferts how should I do it? Should I roughly follow the EI dosing schedule but dose ammounts according to the instructions on the bottles? I figure this would be a good place to start and then adjust ammounts of ferts depending on any nutrient deficiencies noticed or types of algae that pop up. Any thoughts?

 

[mark4785]

Generally, following dosing guidelines (that dictate the dose and frequency of dosing) indicated on the products you purchased doesn't result in vibrant plant growth. So ideally you need to work out what 1ml of each of your solution equates to in terms of ppm or mg/l per a certain amount of water (i.e. 50 litres). It will usually indicate this somewhere on the product.

From this you need to work out how much solution is required to add 8ppm of nitrate and 2ppm of potassium phosphate, added according to the EI dosing schedule. These are the levels of each macro-nutrient that you need to reach as indicated within the EI dosing guide on the James' planted tank website.

Frequency of dosing isn't the sole key to a healthy planted tank, having the right amount of macro-nutrients is just has important and is something which is seldom achieved if you follow the manufacturers guidelines.

 

[SuperColey1]

Seachem's dosing schedule chart would be a good place to start. You can then do a little research and see what others say about the dosing chart and 'adjust' some of it to suit.

Seachem Dosing Schedule:
http/www.seachem.com/support/PlantDoseChart.pdf


Regards
AC