EI dosing

[Jen]

I just want to make sure that I do this right.

Tank is 90g.

for NO3
500mls water. 220 grams no3. That makes 0.5ppm per ml of solution. In order to get 1ppm I would need 20 mls - do I go right up to 10ppm right off the bat? I'm going to need more no3

for p04
500mls water. 75 grams po4 (max soluability). That makes 0.31ppm. So to get 1ppm I need like 3.2 mls of solution.

Does that look right?
Thanks

 

[Jen]

Oh... and I hvae a laterite base layer... do I need to dose iron as well?

 

[zig]

You will need to dose iron as well, you can buy iron chelate from gregwatson.com really cheap, its probably the way to go for a tank that size, if you get the iron chelate from gregwatson i will work out a dosage for your tank, i cant remember off hand.

For your KNO3 calculations i work out that 220grams in 500ml solution is 1m/l = 0.79ppm no3, in order to get 1m/l =1ppm no3 you need to add 280grams KNO3.

For the PO4 calculations you are correct, but i wouldnt be so precise with the dosing 3ml would be fine for approx 1ppm.

For the KNO3 maybe have a look at your calculations again. if you have some nitrates in the tank allready from ferts fish waste etc, then the fish will be used to nitrates so you could dose 10ppm straight away (if the tank contained maybe 5ppm nitrates, i would dose 10ppm straight away) if the tank has 0 or less than 5 ppm of nitrate i would build it up more slowly over the course of a week maybe so as to not shock the fish, if you go from 0 to 10ppm straight away you may kill some of your fish, so slowly does it.

What nitrate reading do you get from your tank right now before you have dosed?

 

[Jen]

For iron - can I just use a liquid? I think my lfs has a iron one by seachem.

For your KNO3 calculations i work out that 220grams in 500ml solution is 1m/l = 0.79ppm no3, in order to get 1m/l =1ppm no3 you need to add 280grams KNO3.

I'm not getting that at all. youve ot 90 g/341litres?

My nitrates are a big fat 0.

 

[zig]

Yes you can use a liquid fert like the Seachem, but it will work out much more expensive in the long run, but yes that will be fine.

The calculation i am useing is for a 90gallon tank on chucks calculator, auctually the correct calculation is 279 grams KNO3 mixed with 500ml solution for 1m/l = 1ppm the previous calculation i just rounded it up to 280grams for simplicity.

Are you useing chucks calculator? you are looking for "Nitrate in potassium nitrate"

If your tank has 0 nitrates start off by dosing 1ppm on day one, 2 ppm on day 2, 3ppm on day 3 etc, keep increaseing the dose until you are dosing 5ppm on day 5, on day 6 dose another 5ppm, on day 7 do your 50% water change and then dose 10ppm into the tank and in the following week keep this topped up to 10ppm as the plants use it up.

Or you could do it this way......when you have dosed 10ppm after the water change, dose a further 10ppm 2 days later and 2 days later still, dose maybe another 5ppm, this way you can guarentee you will have nitrates somewhere between 10-20ppm (the plants will be useing it up in this time as well) and you wont have to test at all, because you will know you have dosed enough.

This is the way i do it for my tank and it keeps me at about 15ppm for the week, but it depends on the take up rate of your plants, so do a couple of tests and you will soon know the rate of uptake after a couple of weeks of dosing. But both ways will work fine.

Im pretty certain i have it correct on the calculator, if you are still not sure just post again and i will let someone else double check what i have calculated. 279 grams will give you exactly 1ppm nitrate or no3 from each ml of solution by my calculations.

 

[Jen]

Are you useing chucks calculator? you are looking for "Nitrate in potassium nitrate"

)
oops. I was looking at potassium in potassium nitrate. that changes everything. This is why i asked first! I have a bad habbit of not reading instructions properly.

I was really worried that I was going to have to add 200mls to get the right level. That would have have cost me a ton.


Thanks Zig.

 

[zig]

All sorted great stuff, allways better to check, i know when i first looked at the calculator i had'nt a clue. Anyway if you get stuck again or if something isnt clear just ask............k

 

[Jen]

Thanks a million. You've been a big help.

 

[zig]

Just as an afterthought on dosing iron, if you use Seachem flourish as your macro dosing there is probably no need to dose iron seperatly, i dose iron seperatly i cant get flourish around here, so maybe invest in flourish instead of the iron supplement and that should be enough.

 

[Jen]

I'm already using flourish (and flourish excel) I'll keep on the flourish, but if I notice any deficiencies I'll look at the iron grom greg watson. I get my other chemicals from there, so addign 1 more wouldn't make that much more of a difference.

 

[Jen]

I just mixed the powder and water together. The po4 mixed great, but I have like an inch of powder sitting on the bottom of the no4 container. How long should it take to totally dissolve?

 

[zig]

Ok well its not a maximum solubility issue, maximum solubility of KNO3 in 500ml of water is 425 grams.

Just keep shaking the bottle or if that isnt working try and transfer the contents to a bigger container and keep stiring or shaking it until it dissolves, the most i ever dissolved was 125 grams in 500ml of water so i never had a problem, i also imagine if there was a way to gently heat the contents this would also help, not near boiling or anything like that, but if there was a way maybe to raise the temprature by a few degrees by putting the bottle on a heater for a few minutes or something like that.

But i dont really know just shake it like crazy.

If all else fails as a very very last resort you could add more water but this would dilute the mixture, so if you added another 500ml of water you would have to dose twice as much of the solution.

Sorry canoechiq i dont really know i never had that problem with KNO3 but if all else fails you can allways dilute the mix and just double up on dosing.

 

[Jen]

No worries. I sorta figured that there was a lot of powder. I'll give it a while and see what happens.

I have it in a 1.5l container, so I've got lots of room to play with. I'll shake for a while tonight, and tomorrow if there isn't any change I'll try heating it.

Thanks

 

[nodding_dino]

just keep shaking...and shaking...and shaking....and shaking (yawns)

Mine seemed to take forever to fully dissolve...

 

[Jen]

I shook and shook and shook some more. This morning it looks like it has crystalized. Kinda hard to describe. I'll see what it's like when I get home from work and if it isn't looking any better, I'll double up on the water.