APT Ferts

[Fluxtor]

Hi All, so I'm cycling my new 60ltr tank atm which is running CO2 and moderately planted with mostly slow growing plants. I'vw done a dark start and now I've nearly completed a week of 40% daily water changes. I plan to reduce the water changes to 40% every other day week 2 then I might consider starting with livestock.

I've been reading loads about ferts on here in the relevant forum and to be honest I'm a little overwhelmed. I've been using APT Zero/1 in my low tech tank relatively successfully and was thing of sticking with APT for the new tank. Question is should I start dosing now or should I have started already? And should I use APT Zero/1 or APT 3 Complete?

I guess all of this depends on tap water etc? I'm also considering "The Duckweed Index".

TIA

 

[Zeus.]

should I use APT Zero/1 or APT 3 Complete?

Out of the two I would go for the complete as it has NO3 and PO4. You may be fine with the Zero at first until you aquasoil gets depleted with NO3 and PO4. They cost about the same as well(or did) The APT range was rather expensive when we looked at all the commercial ferts. TNC complete is the most cost effective fert in the UK, unless you take the DIY route which with the size off your tank isn't really worth the effort IMO
I would start ferts straight away then the plants will be getting an abundance supply.

 

[Fluxtor]

Out of the two I would go for the complete as it has NO3 and PO4. You may be fine with the Zero at first until you aquasoil gets depleted with NO3 and PO4. They cost about the same as well(or did) The APT range was rather expensive when we looked at all the commercial ferts. TNC complete is the most cost effective fert in the UK, unless you take the DIY route which with the size off your tank isn't really worth the effort IMO
I would start ferts straight away then the plants will be getting an abundance supply.

View attachment 223572

Thanks for the advice. I will start dosing with zero and get some complete ordered. I like the idea of home brews but thought the same about it not being worth it for my tank size. I think my dosage of APT comes to about 1ml daily IIRC although based on your calcs above its more like 1.5.

 

[Fluxtor]

Okay, so I'm looking at the IFC Calculator and one thing on all of the fertilizer blarb that I haven't quite grasped yet is dosing regime or target dose. How do I compare settings or entries on the IFC calculator to what it tells me on the 2hr Aqurist site for APT 3 Complete?

 

[Zeus.]

The IFC calculator has a very steep learning curve, myself and @Hanuman tried to make it as intuitive as possible. We packed a lot in in each spreadsheet so it can be a little overwhelming at first, esp for folk new to ferts. Once mastered it does it all IMO.

I haven't quite grasped yet is dosing regime or target dose.

The dosing regime is the set of nutritional/fert parameters which one has chosen to use. There isnt a one set of parameters that everyone uses and different regimes come and go out of favour and some regimes suit High tech tanks with high output lights better than tanks which are low tech and low powered lights.

When you choose a regimes - say Full EI

The parameters are use to set the targets for all the ferts, then when you choose/select your salts it works out how much of each salt you need, based on the tank size, dosing bottles, dose size and frequency of dosing

Or you can use your own set of parameters


Or you can clone/copy a commercial fert - APT complete in this case



Once salt are chosen it does all the maths gives you the amout of each salt to use etc, and shows what your savings will be if you make your own



All prices of commercial ferts are editable and was correct on release, but also vary all over the world

above was cost per litre in UK

 

[Fluxtor]

Thanks @Zeus that's an incredible bit of work. So how do I fill in this bit to compare to APT 3? Using the APT dosing calculator on their site it recommends 1.8ml daily for my 60ltr

 

[Zeus.]

If your using the APT 3 then you just dose it as it recommends and you will be dosing what it advises - so no need to use the IFC calculator

However if you wish to make a dosing solution that will dose the same as APT 3 or any other commercial ferts or regime on the IFC calculator or your own specific weekly water parameters, then the IFC calculator will do all the maths for your salts you choose to use to make the dosing solution.

For your size of tank and relatively lean dosing I dont think its worth the effort making your own. As the yearly costs isn't that much to justify the time it takes to make them, it takes just as long to make ferts for a 60 litre as it does for a 6000 litre tank ( bigger tanks are easiest to fertilise as you can just toss in the mass of salts every day, commercial ferts have a longer shelf life as they are made in sterile conditions and DIY ferts are best made to last six weeks otherwise mould in them can become a problem.

Tanks over 100 liters and EI dosing then to be the tipping point where DIY ferts are worth the effort - the bigger the tank or tanks then DIY ferts just make lots of sense.

If you do decide to make you own ask I am happy to help advise - there is no stupid question, just a fool who fails to verify/check 😉

 

[Fluxtor]

If your using the APT 3 then you just dose it as it recommends and you will be dosing what it advises - so no need to use the IFC calculator

However if you wish to make a dosing solution that will dose the same as APT 3 or any other commercial ferts or regime on the IFC calculator or your own specific weekly water parameters, then the IFC calculator will do all the maths for your salts you choose to use to make the dosing solution.

For your size of tank and relatively lean dosing I dont think its worth the effort making your own. As the yearly costs isn't that much to justify the time it takes to make them, it takes just as long to make ferts for a 60 litre as it does for a 6000 litre tank ( bigger tanks are easiest to fertilise as you can just toss in the mass of salts every day, commercial ferts have a longer shelf life as they are made in sterile conditions and DIY ferts are best made to last six weeks otherwise mould in them can become a problem.

Tanks over 100 liters and EI dosing then to be the tipping point where DIY ferts are worth the effort - the bigger the tank or tanks then DIY ferts just make lots of sense.

If you do decide to make you own ask I am happy to help advise - there is no stupid question, just a fool who fails to verify/check 😉

Thank you this is as I thought.

If I were trying to brew my own I would fill in the dosing regime exactly how I would dose if I were using APT?

I do have a second low tech tank which is 70ltrs but I think it still makes sense to stick with commercial ferts for the time being and I'll probably stick with APT 1 on the low tech and APT 3 on the high tech.

I was considering moving to the TNC range of ferts as these seem popular and cost effective. How would you rate them compared to APT or is this personal choice?

 

[Zeus.]

All commercial ferts are basically water, some of the water is more expensive than others and some is a rip off all together. For me its bang for buck, so I would always go for the most cost effective fert that suits my needs.

TNC complete did work out the most cost effective commercial fert in the UK when I did the comparison off all the ferts in the IFC
Heres a sheetshot of the compare spreadsheet

All the prices was correct when it was done but little dated now. ATP complete works out 4.5 times more expensive then TNC complete per ppm of NO3. Thrive + all in one took worked out the cheapest overall but was to get in UK

We decided to keep the compare sheet hidden as it is a little data overload