Adding nitrates

[MrLarner]

whats the best way to add nitrates to my planted tank, i've noticed a few of my plants starting to drool and not stand up as they should (BLYXA JAPONICA)
and after checking my water parameters, my tank is lacking nitrates.
i've read that i can simply buy KN03 but is it as simple as just add it to the water column?
and can anyone else suggest why my Blyxa Japonica is starting to drool?

 

[JohnC]

Blyxa, i've found, loves CO2 (as do most aquatic plants). Are you injecting CO2 at all or using any liquid CO2 additives?

The best way of adding nitrates to your tank depends more on your setup, size, hardware etc and also your budget. For some people the answer is in complete liquid ferts off the shelf, others use dry ferts and EI dosing.

Tell us more about your tank.....

John

 

[MrLarner]

its a 60litre tank, 2ft x 1ft x 1ft, im running c02 but its just the d.i.y c02 which seems to be working fine as my c02 drop checker tells me so.
im also dosing ferts but its the bottled liquid version which i bought.
here is a link to what im using...
http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/250789268300? ... 492wt_1037

everything else in my tank seems to be doing fine, i planted a few pots of hairgrass and already to letting off runners and spreading, i also planted some Pogostemon Helferi which is also growing nicely and looking good.
im just having trouble with the blyxa, it seems to be growing slowly but is drooping and seems to be losing some colour.

 

[MrLarner]

i also really want to give the EI dosing a go, but i aint got a clue where to start, im fairly new to the planted tanks and dont know where to start or what to buy etc etc.

 

[Callum]

Hi, regarding dry ferts and EI check these links out:

http://www.ukaps.org/EI.htm Explanation of dry ferts and EI
http://blog.fluidsensoronline.com/calcu ... ive-index/ This calculates how much of each nutrient you will need.
http://www.aquariumplantfood.co.uk/fert ... icals.html And this site has great value on the dry ferts.

Hope this helps, good luck!

 

[MrLarner]

Thanks so much callum, this is exactly the sort of thing i been looking for.
thanks again.

 

[MrLarner]

So if i've worked this out correctly, is it as simple as buy
potassium nitrate
monopotassium phosphate
magnesium sulphate
and then trace?
if so, thats alot easier than i thought, i assumed you needed loads of different salts etc.
can someone also explain what trace is?
because if i do buy this stuff, i'll be doing the stock solution method.

 

[spyder]

Buy the starter kit and get all the above plus 2 x dosing bottles.

For starters.

2 tsp Pot Nitrate.
1 tsp Pot Phosphate.
about 4-5 tsp Mg Sulphate

That's a start for 4 weeks on your tank, 3 per week. Dosing 25ml x 12 = 300ml of water to mix with.

1 tsp of trace will do 8 weeks, 2x per week. 400ml of water = 25ml dose. Trace is trace elements like copper, iron etc.

This is where I started. I half dosed in 28-30l nano's and doubled it for my 125. I upped Phosphate a little, maybe half tsp to combat some GSA.

Hope that helps, it's a starting point. But yes, it is that easy.

 

[MrLarner]

Thanks for that spyder, very helpful mate.