Ei Questions

[AndyTaylor]

Quick question.....my chems finally arrived. Just double checking to make sure i got the right stuff.

Potassium Nitrate: Nitrogen 13% K2O 46% (chempack)
Potassium Phophate: (phospate of potash) Phosporous pentoxide (P2O5 52%) Potassium Oxide K2O 34%

I also ordered what i thought was suitable iron but i'm not sure now....Chempack sequestered iron with magnesium & manganese.

And i also got free tomato ferts!! ....must get some tomatoes!

 

[zig]

Im not 100% sure Andy, the potassium nitrate is definatly correct, not sure about the phosphate although im nearly certain its ok, there are different types of phosphate formulas diabasic, monobasic etc. they are mostly ok, im just not 100% sure which one you have, but im pretty certain its ok to use what you have.

Does it give a chemical formula for the iron or is the above the only info on the package.

But the most important ones are the first two, the nitrate and phosphate.

 

[AndyTaylor]

Thanks zig, i assume they're ok to as I found the link to them in one of gf's old posts....they're from gardensdirect (hence the free tomato ferts!) .

The chem composition of the iron is Iron (Fe) chellated by
EDDHA 2.0%
Magnesium Oxide solubale in water - 2.0% (Mg 1.2%)
Manganese 3.0%

I probably don't need it at the moment but i'm sure i will.

Andy

 

[AndyTaylor]

Hmmm, having problems already! The potassium nitrate won't dissolve. used chucks calculator (as per pic below)
31TSP in 250ml distilled water. Does it take an age to dissolve or have i gone wrong. The phosphate mixed fine.


ps ignore the pic, it's too small to be any use

 

[zig]

31 TSP in 250ml water gives you 2.5ppm per each ml for a 170 litre tank..........is this what you were trying to do? we normally aim for 1ppm per ml, thats probably why it wont dissolve........you can always add more water and dilute the solution and this should help dissolve it, and just make sure the water isnt very cold.

 

[AndyTaylor]

Maybe i was taking the calculator too literally...... i figured that dosing 2ml would give me the recommended 5ppm nitrate...
Is still under the maximum dissolvabilty according to chuck. Not to worry....i'll give it a bit longer.
Of course i only bought 2 250ml bottles of distilled! Brain not working today.
Going to start EI on Saturday so i've time to fix it.

 

[zig]

Yeah we normally make it up in 1ppm measurements, not to worry just add more water and shake the living daylights out of the bottle to make it dissolve.

Did you get the lights installed?

 

[AndyTaylor]

It seems to be dissolving slowly now...it'll be grand, i'll get more water tomorrow!
No lights yet. That's my saturday project! co2 is steady at 25ppm so i'm good to go. have to cut my glass covers to fit the bowfront and install the lights.
No real algae as yet so it's looking ok!
I'll have a few plants to rehome if you're interested? a nice amazon sword, some really strong indian fern and some nice bogwood with ferns attached...

 

[zig]

mmmm........very tempting mate, i could do a gf225 layout with the ferns...lol....let us know how you get on we could meet up or something, did your glosso survive? i have a ton of that now if you need any, my glosso carpet is pretty much complete.

Whackers are getting a brand new delivery in on Friday evening, i was going to go in there on saturday to have a look at what they have, im looking for very specific plants from them, hopefully it wont be snowing, i missed the last delivery when they had fresh supplies in last time, i know they had plants i would have bought so hopefully i will catch it when the tanks are full this time.

See how you get on Andy, if you have leftovers give me a shout.

 

[AndyTaylor]

My glosso is still alive, well, most of it is....i'd say it'll be ok when i get the lights in. I will probably need some more though so keep me in mind
I'm definitely not using the amazon sword, the indian fern is the floating kind and i've tons of it....it took over while i was away! I wish i had room for the bogwood and ferns but i don't think it'll work. You're welcome to have a look and see if it suits...
Even with the few that survived from my java order i'm more or less planted....I've actually got too many different plants, i think fewer varieties will look better. All i need now are some contrast plants. red ludwigia maybe, or similar and some small foreground ones.. i'll check out whackers on sat morning. if you know what time you'll be in, let me know...

 

[zig]

Definatly interested in the fern on the wood and the sword also if you had a tiny bit of Java moss that would be excellent (just a tiny bit of moss i will float it and grow it out) i have enough Riccia floating at the moment so maybe not the floating fern, i have red ludwigia, i could give you a good few cuttings from it, its an intense red at the moment, i also have E. Stellata and Dwarf Riccia if you are interested, i will give you a pm and we will arrange a meet and maybe have a look at the new stock in Whackers, it will be great to meet somebody from the board and it will be good to have someone to trade plants with, i was beginning to think i was the only one in Ireland into planted tanks.

 

[AndyTaylor]

Sounds like a plan...pm me later...red ludwiga would be great and if i can find somewhere for the dwarf riccia...
I have some java moss too (at least i think its java moss)....

 

[jimbooo]

not fair, i want a friend to go shopping with.

is that my dwarf riccia zig? it's still alive then.

 

[AndyTaylor]

LOL....come on over, jimbooo....we'll show you the sights!

 

[zig]

Its still alive and well jimbooo i have it in the smaller tank at the moment (just have 1 watt per gallon on at the moment but its growing really well even under that amount of light) i will pass a bit on to Andy he might prefer the slower growing veriety, i have seen ordinary Riccia fluitans over here but never Dwarf Riccia, the shop we are going to despite the rediculous name (whackers) is about the best in Dublin (probably Ireland) for plants, they are all Tropica brand and a brand new shipment arrives late this afternoon so we will get there early tomorrow and get the pick of the crop and do some plant swopping as well............sounds good to me.