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Some people have clouding problems whilst others don't. There are too many factors like light, water compostion, etc to say for sure if you will get clouding or not. Changing to another powdered Fe-EDTA based trace mix won't fix your problem. You need to dose one that uses Fe-HEEDTA. The main...

Seems good to me. All you need to worry about now is CO2 and flow. James

This calculator works out how much build ups you get when adding ferts - http://www.ukaps.org/forum/viewtopic.php?f=11&t=10937. If you do weekly 50% water changes then it's impossible to get double your weekly dosing levels. If you carry on the maths you were doing for several weeks you'll see...

Generally speaking there is often a fair amount of potassium in your tapwater so you don't normally need to add any more to the standard EI dosing. The 30ppm level is normally the amount you want and not how much to dose each week. So adding 15ppm per week and doing 50% water changes will result...

The parts you are missing are the Nitrogen and Phosphorus which can be added in the form of potassium nitrate and potassium phophate. For a standard dose of TPN+ of 5ml per 50 litres you add the equivalent of 5.9ppm nitrate and 0.31ppm phosphate. So if you wished to make up a separate solution...

My local Maidenhead Aquatics, but I'm sure a home brew one is fine as it's food grade. James

Your water is nearly RO water anyway. Adding the remineralising agent as it is would be fine for your water. Not sure what you mean by stablity. The chemicals don't break down and the plants don't use much so the GH remains constant. I do my water changes using 25l carboys so I just add the...

Just in case you haven't seen it you may wish to read this thread all about water hardness - http://ukaps.org/forum/viewtopic.php?f=51&t=4869. As sodium isn't multivalent it plays no part in the GH of water and should be minimised in planted tanks. With your very soft water I would increase the...

You don't want to be putting that stuff in your tank. Glutaraldehyde is bad enough but definetly not QAC's. If you use it at work as a sanitiser then it will also do a good job of sanitising your tank. James

Sodium chloride

Personally I'd use potassium sulphate but the others you mention will work also if not dosed too much. James

KCl won't hurt livestock unless you put loads in. I use KCl as do others but you just have to be aware that adding too much can cause problems with your plants. What are you trying to achieve is the real question and why do you think you need to add extra K? If dosing pot nitrate and pot...

K2CO3 raises alkalinity which depending on your setup and how much you dose may or may not be a good thing KCl adds chloride which in very small doses is beneficial but plants don't like too much (read salt) If you want to add potassium the best thing to use is potassium sulphate which is very...

It doesn't make much difference if you dose the macros and traces on alternate days or the same day as the phosphate is in the water anyway. As your water is very hard you may have cloudiness problems if you use an EDTA based trace mix like what Aqua Essentials or Fluidsensor sell. The answer is...

The seller has got back to me and it was a typo. I have corrected my first post so it now shows the correct figure. James

Dunno yet but I've brought some out of curiousity. James

I tried to buy from them a while ago but they wouldn't ship to me unless I brought a pallet load of the stuff. What is interesting though is that the analysis is exactly the same except for the Boron which Intermag have at 2.0g per litre and the eBay seller has at 0.2g per litre. Shall contact...

Mainly Rotala Macrandra seems to suffer from shrivelled growth shoots. Increasing Boron seems to help loads. Tropica have the ratio of B:Zn at 2:1 whereas most DIY trace mixes tend to have more Zn than B. Adding more B to get the 2:1 ratio seems to work. May be coincidence or not. All my other...

Some nice stuff they have for sale there. I've done some quick analysis for those wanting to know how it compares with Tropica's TPN. In their listing they say to dilute 6 parts water to 1 part trace solution but I do it differently to get it the same as Tropica's and so the dosing to tank will...

Here's the old thread - http://ukaps.org/forum/viewtopic.php?f=11&t=8006. Trace Mix Plus is the one to go for. James

No real big reason. Some find it easier to dose on alternate days and sometimes the iron in the micros can react with the phosphate in the macros creating a white haze to the water. This haze can also happen if dosing on alternate days as well to a lesser extent. James

I think your maths has gone wrong. 33g dissolved in 250ml water to make the solution. If you dose 5ml in 50 litres of water you add 8ppm NO3. Do this 3 times a week and you add 24ppm NO3. So if your tank is 300 litre then you need to add 300/50 = 6 times the amount ie, 30ml 3x a week to achieve...

Not sure what you are trying to ask. EI is based on a a set of chemicals that are added to a tank at set amounts. PMDD is the same. Both can be modified to suit your particular needs. James

It's not when it's in the bottle that it's the problem but when you add it to the tank. With regards to the solution in the bottle the easiest way to prolong its life span is to add some acid like hydrochloric acid or ascorbic acid. James

Fluidsensor's traces along with many others are EDTA based. It is often found the Fe-EDTA bond is weaker when in hard water. The only problem is with the iron as free iron rapidly reacts forming insoluble ferric precipitates that are out of the reach of plants. If you dose daily you should be...

Wikipedia is your friend - http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Phosphoric_acids_and_phosphates. Basically salts like potassium phosphate are orthophosphates. Doing a Google search brought up loads of articles on the different types of phosphate and plant uptake. Here is one such article -...

There are three types of phosphates - orthophosphates, polyphosphates and organic phosphates. Orthophosphates are what we add to our tanks and farmers put on their fields. Polyphosphates are metal ion complexed phosphate that are used in things like detergents. Organic phosphates are...

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Sure you don't mean 500g? 500kg is half a tonne :shock: . As a comparrison I go through 6.5kg in about 4 months on my 200l tank. Just means he agrees with the 2 previuos suggestions. What are you using for your solution in the drop checker? James

Both 1 and 2 point to CO2/flow problems. Some plants are more susceptible than others which is why sometimes you see some plants struggling whilst others grow like wildfire. James

Dosing urea and ammonium is more common than most people realise. I dose urea to my tanks and nearly all commercial aquarium dosing solutions such as TPN+ contain either urea or ammonium compounds. There was a discussion on it a while ago - http://ukaps.org/forum/viewtopic.php?f=11&t=925. James

CSM+B isn't available here in the UK so I doubt many people would have used it. It is similar to other EDTA based chelated trace mixes and going by many others experiences seems to work pretty well. As it's EDTA based it is better suited to soft water enviroments. It used to be thought that...

Yep, it's all very weird to say the least, but that's ADA for you. I'm not 100% sure that it does contain sodium thiosulphate as it's only something I picked up on a while ago, ie no evidence just hearsay. James

No idea of quantities but this is what they recommend James

It's the same as the old AE trace mix so as a guide add 10g of trace to 250ml of water and add 2.5ml per 50 litre 3x a week. James

Actually Brighty K does contain Potassium Carbonate and Sodium Thiosulphate. So yes it will neutralise chlorine as well as the chlorine part of the chloromine leaving the ammonium part behind. It's only a small amount of ammonium that will be very quickly taken up by the plants and filters. James

Great news! I've been in contact with Fluidsensor about the availability of their trace mix and this is what they have said Here's the link - http://www.fluidsensoronline.com/epages/BT2928.sf/en_GB/?ObjectPath=/Shops/BT2928/Products/PN-100-TR/SubProducts/PN-100-TR-100 And here's the analysis...

Only because TPN is a solution whereas what we're talking about here are the dry powders. The solution can be made to varying strengths depending on how concentrated you want it. James

No, is the simple answer. The iron in ferrous sulphate will soon react with componds like phosphate and create an insoluble precipitate. I once added 1/8th of a teaspoon of ferrous sulphate to my 200 litre tank and about an hour later it was like milk. Iron needs to be chelated to prevent it...

As you may or may not have noticed Aqua Essentials have changed their Trace mixture. Some have been asking for a comparrison so I have posted up a table showing the differences between them along with Plantex CSM+B and Garden Direct's Chempak Trace mix. Plantex CSM+B is IMHO by far the best...

Tropica's recommendation is good and should be followed. If you try and dose EI levels of TPN+ you will most likely run into trouble as it contains ammonium as a source of N. The most that should be dosed of TPN+ is twice the recommended amount and only then in a fully planted tank. As long as...

Green spot is an awkward one. Under EI I've found that you actually need fairly high levels of PO4 to completely combat GSA. There could be reasons for this but I'd only be guessing in saying that it could be something to do with a ratio with NO3. When I've dosed rich EI with high NO3 levels...

And just to add that myself and others actually find that having higher levels of PO4 when dosing EI is beneficial compared to the suggested level figures in the EI article. The EI article is getting a bit old now and may need an update. It's beneficial in that it helps with prevention of green...

That is very true indeed and is a good recommendation to add some potassium sulphate if you know or suspect that you source water is low on K. Thanks for pointing out. James

People add K2SO4 as a source of potassium but if you dose EI then you get more than enough from just the KNO3 alone so there's no need to add any more. Same goes for the K2CO3 if you are adding it for the potassium. If you are adding it for the CO3 then this will raise KH which isn't really...

It could be that you have good flow but that flow is low in CO2. Say, if you have a powerhead near the surface which is just pumping water down to the bottom then it may be that the water that it's pumping is low in CO2. Just a thought. James

Those plant deficiency guides are usually aimed at terrestial plants and not aquatic ones so aren't always very accurate. People often report pinholes when they have plenty of potassium present. I would say in your case it is CO2 related. As it's the old leaves it's most likely the lower leaves...

You do need to be more careful than when just dosing nitrate and be careful not to overdose. There have been many people who have decided to overdose TPN+ and then got into problems as ammonium levels have gone quite high. James

Just to update this thread a bit. I'm still dosing my tank with urea and seeing no problems whatsoever with it. I'm always curious to see what commercial products use and have just seen today that the Pfertz line use Potassium Nitrate and Urea in their Nitrogen dosing solution. Pfertz are very...

You shouldn't get mould with a commercial product. I would presume they put a mould inhibitor in. Normally in Europe they use methyl parabens but there's been loads of talk about possible health risks which are totally unfounded, but thats another story. Keep it cold and dark once opened or add...

A few drops of Normal Hydrochloric Acid normally does the tricks but failing that you can use a food grade mould inhibitor called E202 Potassium Sorbate obtainable from here - http://www.the-home-brew-shop.co.uk/. Add 0.2g per 500ml of solution. James

Some plants have stronger reds and others flower. James

Very interesting. This strengthens my thoughts that Seachem have done something clever with excel to make it less reactive but still available to the plants. As Seachem have applied for a patent for the isomer of glutaraldehyde that's in Excel I doubt EasyCarbo and AE's liquid carbon would be...

Ideal pH of tank is around the 6.0 to 6.5 mark. EDTA and DTPA chealtors don't do too well in hard water and greater than pH7. I've never really spent much time with non-CO2 systems but when I did I never bothered with any macro dosing and just used to add traces with possibly a bit of potassium...

If the solution in the bottle is remaining clear then everything there sounds as though it is working as it should. Adding more ascorbic to the solution won't affect what happens in the tank. 1g of ascorbic and 0.5g pot sorbate are good amounts to use in 1 litre. I can see straight away why you...

EI stands for Estimative Index. Lots more info here - The Estimative Index (EI) Dosing with Dry Salts Useful glossary of terms and acroynms James

Ferrous iron is green and ferric iron is brown. The Fe-EDTA that is used in the chelator is ferric so is brown in colour. Ascorbic acid can reduce ferric-EDTA to ferrous-EDTA, hence why the solution turns green. I would also suspect that this is why the Tropica TPN+ is green and TPN is brown. I...

Looks like a good plan to me James

Yes, free iron and phosphate react together to form an insoluble precipitate which gives your tank a white haze. This isn't to say that it is 100% the cause of your haze. Best thing to do is to try a different trace solution that uses a different chelator and see if that clears up the haze. The...

One of the problems with websites that are trying to sell you a water filter is that they are naturally going to make your tap water seem like it's toxic. You have a lot of faith in remineralising agents. For example Seachem Equilibrium contains the following: Potassium Sulphate Calcium...

Been thinking about this recently from another thread where someone decided that tap water was full of 'nasties' and shouldn't be used to reconstitute reverse osmosis (RO) water. I've always added tap water to my RO water as I believe that tap water contains lots of 'goodies' that are required...

GH booster should be fine with hot water as it just contains different salts. It's the chelated traces that may cause problems. I find with cold water they dissolve straight away. Always best to add the powdered traces to the water rather than water to the traces. James

Should be ok with the potassium nitrate, potassium phosphate and potassium sulphate but not with the trace mix. Use cold water for the traces. James

Yep. James

For a 180 litre tank you would dose 30ml of KNO3 solution and 18ml of KH2PO4 solution. If you wanted to just make a single solution then you'd have to adjust the initial amounts. That EI guide was written some years ago and I must admit it is a bit hard to follow. When I get a moment I'll redo...

Urea hydolyses to ammonia and carbon dioxide. Bacteria then convert to NO2 then NO3. I'm presuming that the plants use the urea or ammonia before the bacteria. James

I agree totally Tom. I thought for ages it was CO2 and even went to the trouble of putting a diffuser in the tank so the water flow covered the plants in micro bubbles all day. They still wouldn't grow properly. I tried for ages changing CO2 methods and flow but couldn't ever make a certain...

Re: Help with all in one solution Potassium sorbate is a mould inhibitor so you may find that you can get away with not using it. Easy way to tell is to make a solution up and leave it for a while. If you find a precipitate is formed or the solution goes hazy then you know that the phosphate is...

Re: Help with all in one solution If you can't find potassium sorbate then E218 methyl parabens will also work. Potassium sorbate should be fairly easy to find as it's used in wine making I think. James

Re: Help with all in one solution Nearly all garden centre's and even B&Q sell it under the name of sulphate of potash. Not quite as pure as what you get from Aqua Essentials but many people including myself have used it without problems. James

Re: Help with all in one solution Probably not. Best to keep it in the dark though. James

Re: Help with all in one solution Yep, both look good. James

Re: Help with all in one solution OK, you have 2,000ml and dose 50ml per time. So that's 2,000/50 = 40 doses. So the amount you need to mix up in the 2 litres for a daily dose is: KNO3 = (1.77x40x3)/7 = 30.3g K2S04 = (0.8x40x3)/7 = 13.7g KH2PO4 = (0.5x40x3)/7 = 8.6g MgSO4 = (4.6x40x3)/7 =...

Very interesting Clive. I initially thought it must be CO2 and have tried various experiments with CO2 but to no avail. Dosing lower NO3 made a big impact though, but why it does I don't know. Also what role the urea plays I don't know either as I'm afraid I haven't been testing NO3 levels. If...

Yeah, it's quite amazing. I don't have any pictures of when it gets really bad. The first picture above is actually no where near as bad as it gets sometimes. I always suspected CO2 but the plant is in direct line with my filter outlet which is where my CO2 reactor is. This means it gets a great...

With nearly 3 weeks of increased NO3 dosing the Ludwigia Glandulosa has once again started to grow in with twisted deformed leaves. I have also been dosing urea as before during this period. This would suggest that it is the increased NO3 that is causing the deformations rather than anything to...

I've been asked to put up a photo of the new growth in the Ludwigia Glandulosa after dosing urea, so here goes. Before dosing urea After dosing urea James

It's been just over two weeks now since I started dosing urea and I have noticed a dramatic change in my Alternathera Reinekii and Ludwigia Glandulosa. Both are now producing much larger and non-crinkled leaves compared to before, which I must admit has surprised me. All other plants are growing...

Just to update this thread I did dose with the Chempak traces from Garden Direct along with the chelated iron and found it worked just fine with no problems for my thriving shrimp population. I reduced the Chempak traces by about a half of what I was using with the Aqua Essentials traces because...

Those traces I don't believe are chelated. I would always recommend using chelated traces. James

Yes you could. Or you could use urea and potassium nitrate like I am at the moment, which IMHO is safer. James

To be honest I've got no idea. I just thought I would try and do a much more accurate match to see how much ammonium nitrate would be required to achieve the levels quoted by Tropica. If potassium nitrate is used instead of ammonium nitrate then the potassium levels come out 3x higher than what...

Doing a Google search I came across this - http://www.lpchemicals.com/product.php?N=Ammonium+Nitrate+LR&Id=203. Don't know if they sell to the general public though. A lot of garden products contain ammonium nitrate (except in Northern Ireland) but won't be of much use to us at they also...

Exactly. Many people dose ammonia via TPN+, etc, at quite high levels and don't get algae problems. There does seem a point, which is variable depending on the tank, that it does become a problem. People can go on and on about how bad ammonia is, but at the end of the day a lot of people...

I'm going to have another longer term trial of dosing my tank with urea. All plants grow well except for two that look like they are suffering a calcium deficiency. The two are Alternathera Reinekii and Ludwigia Glandulosa which are also the only hard stem type plants I have. For those...

Yes, sorry, I just hadn't got round to correcting them yet as I made an error in those figures. Should be right now. James

It's because you are still adding the 0.9ppm that comes from the potassium sulphate that should have been removed. Thanks for doing the checks for me. Took me quite a while to do by hand. James

I used it for a while with no probs with my amano or cherry shrimp, but I didn't do it the normal way. I added half the normal amout of 15g in 250ml of water, ie, 7.5g in 250ml. To boost the iron content I added 10g of Fe-DTPA - http://www.gardendirect.co.uk/chelated-iron-ph-68-p-885 to the...

Hi Peter, Hadn't seen that before, thanks for posting. It contains urea + KNO3 + NH4NO3 in these amounts 1 ppm NO3 0.1 ppm NH4 0.33 ppm urea Interesting that he also states this and I quote This is what I've always been led to believe and is why I believe heavy nitrate dosers seem to have...

OK, figures now seem to be correct. Error occured when I back calculated to get the weight of ammonium nitrate. So now the actual weight of ammonium nitrate is a lot higher. The second formula I've done has reduced ammonium nitrate as some of it has been replaced by potassium nitrate. This is...

This is exactly what I want to know. There must be something to it if Tropica use ammonium nitrate, ADA use either ammonium nitrate or ammonium chloride and Seachem use a compound very similar to urea called guanidine. Why don't all the people who dose these get algae? I dosed urea for a while...

Yep, thanks Clive, something is wrong somewhere. I'll check it properly this time and update when done. James

I've been thinking a lot about this subject recently again and so have decided to bring this topic back to life. What I want to know is why do the likes of ADA, Seachem, Tropica, etc, all use ammonium or urea compounds in their fert solutions for a source of nitrogen. If it's so bad why take the...

Rather than use Potassium Sulphate for Potassium this formulation uses Potassium Nitrate which has the effect of lowering the Ammonium Nitrate amount. 14.4g Ammonium Nitrate 12g Potassium Nitrate 2.2g Potassium Phosphate (monobasic) 17g Magnesium Sulphate Heptahydrate (Epsom Salts) 5g Aqua...

Been playing with my calculator again and come up with an almost exact match for Tropica's TPN+. Rather than use potassium nitrate for a source of nitrogen I have used ammonium nitrate which is what I'm led to believe is what is in TPN+. Using ammonium nitrate seems to tie all the figures in...

That brown/orange gunk could well be iron (III) compounds. I used to think that this buildup was due to the amount of iron I dosed but have now changed my theory on this and believe that it is because of using a cheap trace mix that uses EDTA as the chelator. Hard water seems to make matters...

If it's the iron sulphate you have then it's not much use and will make your tank go cloudy. If you are determined to use it then whatever you do don't put it in with the potassium phosphate in the macro solution. James

http://www.gardendirect.co.uk/chelated-iron-ph-68-p-885 If you're dosing traces they normally supply plenty of iron so you shoouldn't really need to add more. James

Dissolve 25ml traces in 500ml water to give you standard Tropica TPN strength trace solution. Then dose this as normal EI recommendations. ie, 5ml per 100 litres 3x a week. HTH James

I wouldn't use iron sulphate as it is in the ferrous (II) state and will quickly oxidise to the ferric (III) state creating an insoluble precipitate with any phosphate in the water. Put some in your tank and see what happens. Don't panic when you do as the effect should disappear after a day or...