Dear UKAPS Members,
Looks like most of you are looking for an alternative to several premixed fertilizer, which are either no longer available or has become hard to find in the UK. it appear as Solufeed brand has been quite the new trend for some of the members and it certainly looks promising, even better than what Miracle Grow has to offer. I hope to see Solufeed brand here in the USA, but apparently its not available. am looking for a candidates who could test these two products in combination. the goal here is to test it, validate it, modify it, make changes as needed (even though the current recipe/plan should be sufficient and effective).
#89
you will need these two products:
Solufeed 2:1:4
Solufeed Sodium Free TEC
these two seems like a good candidate when combined together. Most of you are probably worried about the Urea-N, but this is a much safer candidate compared to NH4-N. most of you might not know this, but most high-end brand use Urea as their main source of Nitrogen, those brands include ADA, Seachem etc.
this approach is much different from traditional EI dosing, such as including Urea and K being bit on the low side. From my perspective 5.3 K is plenty for a weekly dose, we can adjust this if someone really want to add more. This dosing can be used in low or high tech setups just like EI style dosing. It is my advice to maintain lower PH less than 7.0 just to be safe while using a fertilizer that usually contain Urea or NH4. I use to dose Urea in PH above 7.0 water without any issue, but with extra precaution.
The recipe below is based on 50-gallon (189.27 liter) aquarium and you can adjust the dosing to your own tank if needed.
500 ml solution, 20 ml per 50 gallon
Step #1
start with 450 ml Distilled water
Step #2
Add 0.25 gram potassium sorbate and mix till fully dissolve
Step #3 (Pick one from the list below, White Vinegar is Preferred) and mix till fully dissolve
Add 0.25 gram sodium benzoate
Add 0.5 gram Ascorbic acid
Add 5-10 ml White Vinegar
Step #4
Add 31.545 gram Solufeed 2:1:4 and mix till fully dissolve
Add 5.721 gram Solufeed Sodium Free TEC and mix till fully dissolve
Step #5
after mixing all the chemicals, add distilled water to reach the 500 ml solution
20 ml per 50 gallon (189.3 Liter) dose will add the following:
N 1 (Urea-N 0.466 ppm, NO3-N 0.54 ppm) this adds about 2.4 ppm NO3, Rest of the N is from Urea
P 0.2
K 1.766
Fe 0.11166
Mn 0.02818
Cu 0.003446
B 0.0125
Zn 0.019
Mo 0.002146
Mg 0.1266
EI style 3x a week dose:
N 3 (1.4 Urea-N, 1.62 NO3-N) this will add 7.18 ppm NO3, Rest of the N from Urea
P 0.6
K 5.3
Fe 0.335
Mn 0.08454
Cu 0.01
B 0.0375
Zn 0.057
Mo 0.006438
Mg 0.38
It would be nice for some of the UKAPS members to give this a trial and report back. I am fully confident that this is a perfect recipe for those who like EI style dosing with their 50% water changes. If anything needs to be changed, we can do that so we could further improve/adjust or modify the recipe without going too much into DIY, as the main goal is to try to keep it simple as possible.
Dont let the Urea scare you
This is going to be the standard version, If i feel that we can further modify this, it will be discussed on a separate thread.
