# GH Booster and E.I Dosing



## donkey (8 May 2008)

Hi Guys.

Is it ok to make a stock solution with Potassium Phosphate and 
Potassium Nitrate and some GH Booster all in the same bottle to add to my tank.

Thanks All


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## JamesC (8 May 2008)

Depends on the GH booster. If it is just magnesium and calcium compounds then yes but some GH boosters contain iron so the answer here would be no as the iron reacts with the phosphate. It is normally suggested to add the GH Booster once a week at water change time rather than with the NO3 and PO4 additions during the week.

James


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## donkey (8 May 2008)

Hi James
The GH booster i have does have iron in it. this is what it says about it 

Calcium Sulfate
Magnesium Sulfate
Potassium Sulfate
Iron Sulfate

Dose directly to your tank, 1/8 of a teaspoon per 100L. If you notice deficiencies, add more accordingly.

ok. so i now know i cant add it to my phosphate. so I'm not sure where to start now. it says after the 50% water change i shout add KNO3. KH2PO4 AND K2SO4. so in my case do i add the GH Booster on day one?  or do i start the booster on day two.


Also I'm not to sure how much of the booster i need to mix as it says 1/8 of a teaspoon per 100L. now i don't have any small spoons but i do have some digital scales but i don't know what  1/8 of a teaspoon is in grams.

Thanks Guys


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## ceg4048 (8 May 2008)

donkey, it's not necessary to sweat about the dosages of any of these powders. Just use a pinch between your fingers or use a quarter of a teaspoon if you can't eyeball it. We can't be accurate and the amounts we need aren't that critical. You just need something other than zero. This is not medicine, it's food.  

Cheers,


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## donkey (8 May 2008)

Thanks ceg4048
I'm having a problem getting my head around all this EI stuff. ok this is what i want to mix.

Potassium Sulphate

Potassium Nitrate

Potassium Phosphate

Magnesium Sulphate

Can i mix this lot in a bottle of deionised water( 500ml )  and dose it to my tank

Thanks


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## ceg4048 (8 May 2008)

Hi,
    You might want to check out the EI dosing article=> viewtopic.php?f=34&t=1211

You don't need Potassium Sulfate if you will use Potassium Nitrate, so that's one less thing to worry about. Essentially, yes just mix the powders in water. You don't need de-ionized water, just use tap. That makes life even easier. Check the article.

Cheers,


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## donkey (8 May 2008)

Hi
Thanks for the link. but its back to the same old problem of spoons. how come no one has updated it all to grams


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## JamesC (8 May 2008)

http://www.theplantedtank.co.uk/calculator.htm tells you the spoon to gram conversions and also amounts needed to make the solutions up.

James


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## donkey (8 May 2008)

Thanks James.i cant seem to get it to work. i put 60 us galls in and 500ml of water and it comes up with nothing ?


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## donkey (8 May 2008)

would it be ok to just chuck a few teaspoons full of everything in to the water.


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## ceg4048 (8 May 2008)

I guess I'm a bit confused about what it is that you are trying to accomplish. In order for James calculator to work you have to fill in the grams or teaspoons and the amount of each dose.

I'm also not clear on why teaspoons are so difficult if you are making up a one month or two month supply. Here is a direct quote from the article regarding a 20gallon tank. all you have to do is multiply the numbers by 3 for a 60 gallon tank:

NPK (Nitrogen+Phosphorus+Potassium) Mixture for 20 Gallon Tank
1 month = 4 Weeks
3 doses of NPK per week
Therefore there are 12 doses of NPK per month.
Multiply a single dose teaspoon value by 12 => [3/16 tsp KNO3]*12 = 2 Â¼ tsp KNO3
 --------------------------------------------------[1/16 tsp KH2PO4]*12 = Â¾ tsp KH2PO4
---------------------------------------------------[1/2 tsp MgSO4]*12 = 6 tsp MgSO4
Add these to 600ml of tap or distilled water

Now this mixture must serve 12 doses so each dose is 600ml/12 = 50ml
This makes life easier because you need only dose 50ml of this NPK solution 3 times per week.

For your 60 gallon tank multiply the blue numbers by 3 and round off. You then get:

7 tsp KNO3
2.5 tsp KH2PO4
18 tsp MgSO4

Add these to 600ml of water and each dose is 50ml

If you use 500ml of water each dose becomes a weird number 500/12 = 42 ml.

If you have trouble dissolving the powders just double the amount of water to 1200ml and each dose becomes 100 ml.

Now I don't see why there should be such a phobia regarding counting 7 teaspoons of KNO3 or why you would need a gram scale to do conversion. 

Cheers,


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## donkey (8 May 2008)

Hi
that looks a littel better to get my head around. ok i will mix this with 600ml of water 
7 tsp KNO3
2.5 tsp KH2PO4
18 tsp MgSO4
i will add this to my 60us galls tank 3 times a week. on the other 3 days i will add the Micros that i got from AE.its in power form i mixed 30grams of that with 500ml of water. how much should i use of that ? 3 times a week. after the 6 days of dosing i think i have one day of rest. then the 50% water change to start it all off again 

Thanks


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## ceg4048 (8 May 2008)

Well, again I avoid grams and just do teaspoons. The standard dose for 60G is 1/4 teaspoon per dose so you are dosing 12*(1/4 tsp) per month. That equals 3 teaspoons in 600ml of water and 50ml of the solution per dose. I don't have a gram scale and don't need one. This trace mixture lasts exactly 1 month.  

Cheers,


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## donkey (8 May 2008)

Thanks again. i am doing a 50% water change as we speak. so i will start dosing tonight   . one other thing. i am having problems with some of the plants. weak stems and leafs that just fall of the plant. one or two of them even had small pin holes in them that got bigger over time. do you think i need to dose more potassium sulphate ?


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## ceg4048 (9 May 2008)

Disintegrating plant tissue sounds like a classic case of poor CO2 for the given light level. Any combination of, or all of the following will help alleviate:
1. Lower the light - this lowers the CO2 and nutrient uptake demand.
2. Rearrange the filter outlet and/or increase filter capacity to get better flow.
3. Increase the CO2 injection rate.
4. Add Excel/EasyCarbo.

Cheers,


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## donkey (9 May 2008)

Hi Ceg 

That's given me lots to think about. i think 2 and 3 are ok but maybe number one might be the problem. i have 146 watts of light over the tank at the moment. 2/55watt T5s and 1/36watt T8. i could remove the 36watt T8 leaving me with 110watts of light. i seem to think i might have tried that in the past and my plants stopped pearling so i put it back on. maybe i could try and remove some of the reflectors to reduce the intensity of the light


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## beeky (16 May 2008)

I think the confusion with the calculator is that people may think it's going to tell them how to make a solution for their tank and how much of it to dose. Hence, you put in your tank size and the solution size you want to make up and then it tells you you need to add x tsp (or grams) and the ppm that it's equivalent too.

It doesn't explicitly say it's for converting tsp/grams to ppm. I must admit to being a bit confused initially!


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## JamesC (16 May 2008)

Ah, I see it could be a bit confusing. When I get a mo I'll think of a way of making it a bit clearer. I mainly put the calculator up on my website to make life easier for myself as I'm often calculating new amounts. I also put in a cookie so it remembers your tank size, etc to save having to retype them everytime.

Thanks
James


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