Aquadream said:
...Nutrafin Plant Gro is a fertilizer that contains Nitrogen. The recommended dose will add approximately 0.15 mg/L of Nitrogen per day...
...If your set up requires more macronutrients then go ahead, but keep in mind that there is some N in the Nutrafin...
Actually this is a misinterpretation of the data offered by the
Nutrafin website, which lists the product's N content as follows:
GUARANTEED ANALYSIS:
Total Nitrogen (N).................................0.15%
0.15% Water Soluble Nitrogen (Chelating agent)
The fact therefore is that the Nitrogen contained in this product is as a chelating agent, which is irrelevant and has nothing to do with the common Nitrogen species that plants use (NO3 and NH4/NH3). The chelating agent happens to be EDTA (Ethylenediaminetetraacetic acid).
Ultimately, EDTA complexes do biodegrade and release ammonium through a very complex chain of compounds, but this takes months, depending on the water's pH. So it is very persistent and you may as well not consider the Nitrogen in these compounds to be bio-available at all.
Aquadream said:
...This means if you dose any Phosphate salt or fertiliser you should be careful not to dose more than 0.1mg/L of PO4...
This is also not accurate. When dosing a CO2 enriched tank, more Phosphate simply means more growth. One never has to worry about limiting PO4. This concept of limiting PO4 is a myth. I routinely dose 100X this value and I have no problems whatsoever. The EI dosing values for PO4 is at least 10X that value.
Aquadream said:
Liquid Carbon ferts are based on Glutaraldehyde. It is an algaecide and a source of Carbon for plants. Even if it is deactivated after 12 hours period (which will depend on the set up conditions) the carbon from Glutaraldehyde does not get lost, because it is not like CO2 gas.
The use of Exsel in the evening will be more efficient against algae as the lights go off, but some or all of the Carbon may be lost due to reaction with other chemical compounds.
This is also not accurate. We should consider that the main use of liquid carbon products is as a supplemental source of CO2, and only secondarily as an algecide. Since we are trying to avoid or negate the root cause of CO2 related algae liquid carbon products should be dosed at a time when they will be at maximum strength and maximum use and that is during the photoperiod. So we are trying to increase the CO2 availability to the plants so that they become healthier. in becoming healthier they will then resist the forms of algae that are related to CO2 deficiency. It is a completely upside down policy to dose liquid carbon at night when COI2 is not being used. You need to dose it before it weakens and degrades and when it is of most use.
Aquadream said:
If you make regular 50% water changes or so over fertilizing is not going to be an issue.
Over fertilizing is never an issue generally. The water changes have nothing to do with the level of fertilizers and has everything to do with cleaning the tank. Dirty tanks and low nutrient content encourage algae. Clean tanks and abundant fertilization encourage healthy plants and discourages algae.
Cheers,
i keep using plant gro for time being with the excel, 50% water change is a lot how you guys go about that on the larger tanks?
