Is it ok to dilute a complete fertiliser with distilled water? Reason being, I want to automate my dosing for consistency (already have a doser from my reef tank days) but will struggle for accuracy as I only need 1.6ml per day. Any issues that I should be aware of?
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Diluting ‘complete’ commercial fertilisers
- Thread starter Tim1343
- Start date
What are we talking about here. Macros? Micros or an all-in-one?
It's difficult to tell you the consequences since we don't really know how the manufacturer is stabilizing the fertilizer. If it's PH dependant then I would be concerned about the PH moving up. This could trigger some compounds precipitating out. For macros this shouldn't be a problem in principle but micros or AIO, I wouldn't try it. Only way I see would be by acidifying the RO water first with some acid (ascorbic acid or vinegar or other acids) making sure the PH level of both the fertilizer and your RO water are roughly the same.
Hi all,
Composition of Solufeed 2 :1 : 4, the details of dosing etc are here: <"Solufeed 2:1:4 and Solufeed Sodium Free TEC Combination">
cheers Darrel
Yes, it should be fine.
It can't do any harm, a splash of <"white vinegar"> would do.
No, it should be fine. If you don't want to keep paying <"~£20 for 300 mL of fertiliser"> you could invest in some <"Solufeed 2 : 1 : 4">. A kilo of dry salts will actually cost you less than 300 mL of ATP3 (below).
Composition of Solufeed 2 :1 : 4, the details of dosing etc are here: <"Solufeed 2:1:4 and Solufeed Sodium Free TEC Combination">
cheers Darrel
X3NiTH
Member
- Joined
- 13 Apr 2014
- Messages
- 1,667
It’s ok to dilute but as @Hanuman says acidify the diluting water first, you can use if you have it 0.5g of Ascorbic acid per Litre of water which will drop the pH low enough that precipitation of the compounds are unlikely, or like @dw1305 says you can use a little vinegar, ideally you want the resulting diluting water pH to be around pH4.
🙂
🙂
Hi all,
For <"Chromatint® Blue AZ 50% Liquid"> it says:
cheers Darrel
Not enough to be noticeable. Horticultural liquid fertilisers <"are traditionally blue">, I assume to give you a rough and ready visual indication of feed strength. <"Dyes for Fertilizers & Agricultural Compounds - Chromatech">.
For <"Chromatint® Blue AZ 50% Liquid"> it says:
So I assume any blue tint would fade fairly rapidly. There is also a bit of a discussion here: <"Low Tech Fertiliser Dosing. Whats your technique?">.
cheers Darrel
Last edited:
I had emailed the 2hr Aquarist but wasn’t expecting a rapid reply. But was pleased to find a response today:
Yes you can dilute APT using distilled water- it doesn't change the nutrient ratios and we do it ourselves to avoid the crystallization that often occurs when using auto-dosers.
The only thing to be careful with is to avoid contaminants. In a diluted state, all fertilisers are more prone to mould / fungus.
Hope this helps!
So straight from the horse’s mouth so to speak. This, and the considered responses from people on here, means I have the confidence to try it. Hoping my plants will thank me for handing over the dosing to something more reliable than my memory!
Yes you can dilute APT using distilled water- it doesn't change the nutrient ratios and we do it ourselves to avoid the crystallization that often occurs when using auto-dosers.
The only thing to be careful with is to avoid contaminants. In a diluted state, all fertilisers are more prone to mould / fungus.
Hope this helps!
So straight from the horse’s mouth so to speak. This, and the considered responses from people on here, means I have the confidence to try it. Hoping my plants will thank me for handing over the dosing to something more reliable than my memory!
DudeFromPantanal
Member
@dw1305 sorry for ignorance, but can you give the ppm equivalents? i will run some experiments in a mini hydroponic system here (of emersed aquatic plants)...