# ok so im cheap and lazy



## NoRp (31 May 2008)

im going to be real honest when i start a tank i say too my self i will do anything to make it look the best!
but after a week or two i will start up another project and not pay much attention to the new tank. so what im asking is
are there any ferts that i can just dose weekly? that are cheap i might add.
i know i will not get the same results i would if i dosed daily but that just wont happen so again can u think of anyway to dose every 3-4 days or even weekly?


----------



## ceg4048 (31 May 2008)

Hi,
    Welcome to the forum!  
     All ferts are basically the same. The only difference is price. If you buy off-the-shelf products like TPN+ it's very easy to use but is not the cheapest. The cheapest is the dry powders that you can get at AE or at garden Direct. You can dose whatever frequency you want, however, what determines your success has nothing to do with the ferts themselves. The governing factor is the amount of light input to the the tank. If you limit your lighting to no more than about 1.5 watts per gallon and if you use a nutritious substrate, you can dose whenever you want.  

Cheers,


----------



## GreenNeedle (1 Jun 2008)

To add to what Ceg says.  I wouldn't try a lean dosing regime if you are only going to add weekly/every 3-4 days.  Lean dosing regimes are vorderline what the plants require and therefore can mean each feed may be used up before the next is dosed leaving a day or more with no nutrient leading to our unwanted friend Algae.

I am very lazy and do a lean dosing but I do the 2 minutes each morning before I go to work dosing the 2 solutions I use (made from dry powders and DI.)  Then if I can be bothered I do 2 x 10% water changes a week, or 1 x 20% a week or sometimes I can't be bothered at all (only done 1 x 20% this month - got sidetracked by something else.)

Therefore if you can do the 2 minutes a day it should give you more leeway on the water changes (which take much longer) as you can dose less.  If you want to dose weekly you will probs need to add a little excess and therefore keep on the water changes.

Andy


----------



## NoRp (1 Jun 2008)

thanks for the advice guys thats a great help
so what should i actualy buy for my once/twice a week dosing?



> Garden Direct
> Potassium Nitrate (500g) - Â£5.25
> Nitrogen (N) 13% Potassium Oxide (K2O) Soluble in water 46% (K38.2%)
> 
> ...


something like that? how many doses are there roughly?


----------



## ceg4048 (1 Jun 2008)

Yep, that looks good. No way to know how many doses without knowing tank size. There are probably 60-70 teaspoons in a 1/2 kilo.

Cheers,


----------



## GreenNeedle (1 Jun 2008)

Although cheap that trace mix ha some strange ratios.

Looks to me like the iron is quite low meaning you have to dose more than with AEs mix whereas the copper is very high.  Higher dosing to get the rest on target could mean high input of copper which as we know is harmful to inverts and crustaceans!!.  Also the molybdenum is almost non existent which is not a huge surprise due to its price in the current market (circa Â£25000/metric ton for molybdate)

I think the price looks good in theory but you would end up using 2-3x the amount to match AEs iron and then you would be very heavy with copper.  This higher usage also means the price goes from being 2/3rds cheaper than AE to being double the price therefore even with the shipping it would be cheaper from AE.

Unfortunately as I know because I am waiting for them to get restocked I know that they are all sold out.

What do others think on the ratios in this mix?
                      Garden Direct          AE
Iron                     3.35%               8.2%
Copper                 1.7%                 0.23%
Manganese           1.7%                 1.82%
Boron                   0.88%               1.06%
Zinc                     0.88%               1.16%
Molybdenum          0.023%              0.15%

Andy


----------



## JamesC (1 Jun 2008)

SuperColey1 said:
			
		

> What do others think on the ratios in this mix?
> Garden Direct          AE
> Iron                     3.35%               8.2%
> Copper                 1.7%                 0.23%
> ...



Andy, I did a comparison of the different trace mixes the other day - http://www.ukaps.org/forum/viewtopic.php?f=11&t=1681  

James


----------

