Fertiliser For Idiots

[mfcphil]

Is there a product or products that make the job of adding ferts to your planted tank less complicated?
Can some of you guys and girls share your knowledge but put it in simple terms.

A couple of Questions..

How many different fertiliser products do I need for the standard well planted tank?
How often do I need to feed the plant?

I have kept Cichlids for so long the planted system is new to me so I would be very grateful if you all can you share your knowledge...

What do you use and how often you use it.

 

[dcarmor927]

Is there a product or products that make the job of adding ferts to your planted tank less complicated?
Can some of you guys and girls share your knowledge but put it in simple terms.

A couple of Questions..

How many different fertiliser products do I need for the standard well planted tank?
How often do I need to feed the plant?

I have kept Cichlids for so long the planted system is new to me so I would be very grateful if you all can you share your knowledge...

What do you use and how often you use it.

Seachem's Flourish is pretty simple, every week add the given amount...This is the only product i use as far as ferts go...
Im not sure if you need to use more than that...but thats all i use, i only have a 10 gal low tech low light planted tank so im not 100%

 

[Schmill]

Depending on the size of the tank it can be a lot more cost-saving to buy the fertalisers as dry powders and mix them up yourself.
Also even if a bottle says that you should dose x amount once a week, it is better to divide that amount by 7 (or 3), and then dose either every day, (or every other day)
Personally I dose every day as I find it simpler to know that when I feed the fish I also give the tank a measure of the ferts.

 

[mfcphil]

Depending on the size of the tank it can be a lot more cost-saving to buy the fertalisers as dry powders and mix them up yourself.
Also even if a bottle says that you should dose x amount once a week, it is better to divide that amount by 7 (or 3), and then dose either every day, (or every other day)
Personally I dose every day as I find it simpler to know that when I feed the fish I also give the tank a measure of the ferts.

Yes Schmill but what do you use and how much of it.

I have a 180 litre tank and am just trying to get some rough guidelines of what and hao much I should be buying

 

[mfcphil]

Ok I found this post on IE ferts

Link

Basically it says the following about my 40 gallon tank

1/2 tsp KNO3 3x a week
1/8 tsp KH2PO4 3x a week
1/8 tsp K2SO4 3x a week
1/8 tsp (10 ml) traces 3x a week

Just a silly question where do yous guys buy all of the above?

And what does I E stand for

 

[waterdrop]

I believe you're referring to Estimative Index (EI) and it can be done to larger and smaller amounts depending on how hard you're pushing the whole planted system via your lights.

You can put EI into practice with dry-mixed ferts (like you were looking at), pre-mixed liquid fert all-in-ones(like Tropica Plant Nutrition Plus (TPN+)) or commercial individual liquid ferts (like different bottles from Seachem for instance.) At least these are the three descriptive divisions I can think of but maybe someone else could describe it better.

I believe one of the main concepts of EI is that it helps you work out rough dosing estimates with the goal that none of the needed nutritents will come up short during the week and that in general they go a little over. Then when the weekend comes, you perform the water change, which removes any excess, and it starts over again. Thus the problems of an excess of any given nutrient are avoided. That's my novice take on it, so we can watch if anyone refines this description.

~~waterdrop~~

 

[dcarmor927]

Depending on the size of the tank it can be a lot more cost-saving to buy the fertalisers as dry powders and mix them up yourself.
Also even if a bottle says that you should dose x amount once a week, it is better to divide that amount by 7 (or 3), and then dose either every day, (or every other day)
Personally I dose every day as I find it simpler to know that when I feed the fish I also give the tank a measure of the ferts.

This is a good point...since i only have a 10 gallon i only dose 1 ml a week...i dont have any way of measuring anything smaller than that, otherwise i would take that advice...

 

[Schmill]

The joy of making your own fertalisers is that you can make it up any strength you like - lol

I have made all of mine up in 500ml bottles, and designed the dosage so that I dose 25ml into my 300L tank each day. Ok, it's mostly water in that 25ml, but it does mean I can still dose my 60L tank without feeling like I'm heavily overdoing it.

If you want a copy of the calculations I ran then by all means PM me your e-mail addresses and I'll e-mail a tidied up version of my spreadsheet

 

[mfcphil]

Thanks for the input

I have now found a supplier of the ferts on the list has anyone used this site before?

Are the prices reasonable?

Fluid sensor online

Thanks for the advice

 

[plantbrain]

the thing with EI is that you are using based fertilizers than are dry, cost you virtually nothing for years, rather than paying for "mostly water, with a little bit of fertilizer added".
That is what commercial brands sell you.

The effort in dosing either takes the same brain power.
You still need to add things, you still need to know how big the tank is, and read the instructions.

Shipping cost is much less, and more environmentally friendly to ship dry powder, not diluted liquids(cost 10-20X more by weight and volume).

Hey, it's your money.

What difference does it make if you buy Arm and Hammer baking soda or sodium bicarbonate?
Same stuff.

If one cost 10-50X cheaper, which would you buy?

PMDD and the later evolved list of parameters and then EI all use DIY ferts.
This allows everyone to dose the same thing and be able to compare the rates of N, P etc dosing.

I only use 4 things:

KNO3
KH2PO4
Trace mix
GH booster(Has 50% K and then 3:1 Ca:Mg).

That's all.
These are like 3-4$ per pound.
So for about 20$, I can dose a 100 Gal tank for a few years.


I have no idea why more folks do not buy DIY fertilizers.
This is not complicated stuff.
Only 4 things, a water change.

CO2 is far harder to learn, understand and get right.

Regards,
Tom Barr