# Apfuk dosing with very hard water



## Calrus (31 Dec 2020)

Hi, I'm unsure of what I should be dosing my tank at. So much to take in for me. I've been dosing tnc since I set the tank up 3 months ago but have got a apfuk starter kit to start with ei dosing as my plant health could be better. 
Having very hard water I also got some 8% dtpa fe having read that hard water can affect fe availability to plants. 
Am I best just following the apfuk mixing guide, as trying to use the rotala calculator left me more confused than anything as chemistry is not my strong point. 
My tank is 270l, c02 shows light green, twinstar 1200s at 40% for 7hrs. I've attached my water authority report. I'd be very grateful if yous could take a look and help me make sense of it all.
Any more information pls just ask. 
Thank you


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## dw1305 (31 Dec 2020)

Hi all,


Calrus said:


> Having very hard water I also got some 8% dtpa fe having read that hard water can affect fe availability to plants.


That is really hard water, your hardness isn't just calcium carbonate (CaCO3), you have some other salts as well, from the <"Magnesian Limestone Aquifer">. It is only really iron (Fe) that is a problem in very hard water and <"needs to be chelated">. I think FeDTPA should be all right, but I don't have any experience of really hard water.

You could possibly have <"PO4--- deficiencies">, but that is likely to be less of an issue.

If you look at the list of plants that grew in <"Lake Tanganyika"> they should be good for your water.

cheers Darrel


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## Calrus (31 Dec 2020)

Thanks Darrel. It is very hard.
I've various bucephalandra, anubias, crypts, microsorium, hygrofilia and pennywort in the tank. Also some frogbit. I was dosing a little extra potassium along with iron as I'd thought the plants were suffering from lack of both. I used easy carbo iron and potassium for this.


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## Calrus (31 Dec 2020)

Few pictures showing plant health


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## Calrus (1 Jan 2021)

Other part of the water report i missed


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## dw1305 (1 Jan 2021)

Hi all, 
Plant health doesn't look too bad, you look like you may have some interveinal chlorosis, on the new leaves, which would suggest there may be iron issues.


Calrus said:


> It is very hard.


Certainly is, both hard and salty (conductivity ~1000 microS (1 milliS)).  You have a lot of magnesium (Mg), which is unusual for the UK, but conforms that it is water from the magnesian limestone aquifer and the other salts will be from evaporite minerals and possibly sea-water ingress.

cheers Darrel


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## Calrus (1 Jan 2021)

Thanks for taking a look for me. Makes sense, I'm right on the coast. 
I've got 8% dtpa fe to dose as I think the plants were struggling to uptake the easy carbon fe I was dosing. I'd like to know how to dose this alongside the apfuk mix I have. Do I mix a separate and dose or can I add to the trace mix? 
Again thanks for helping me out.


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## dw1305 (1 Jan 2021)

Hi all,


Calrus said:


> I'd like to know how to dose this alongside the apfuk mix I have. Do I mix a separate and dose or can I add to the trace mix?


Dose alongside. You can either add it separately or mix it with the micro-mix. Have a look at @Zeus.'s post in <"100+ppm calcium....">.

This is the NERC document for the <"Magnesian Limestone"> aquifer.

cheers Darrel


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## Calrus (1 Jan 2021)

Thanks darrel,  appreciate your input.


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