This thread is to share my allinone ferts strategy with others who are running a low tech tank with a Thames Water supply or similar (ph around 8, hard water, but low in magnesium).
I go more by the plants than the water report, but if your inclined to see how much e coli and clostridium you've drunk in recent years results are here: https://www.thameswater.co.uk/Help-and-Advice/Water-Quality/Check-the-water-quality-in-your-area
I use @JamesC DIY TPN(3) recipe as a baseline, full details can be found here:
http://www.theplantedtank.co.uk/allinone.htm
I then tweak it as follows:
Add double the amount of magnesium sulphate (34g in total).
Add double the amount of monopotassium phosphate (4.4g in total).
Add DTPA chelated iron at a 1:1 ratio with the trace (5g trace and 5g iron).
I bought 7% DTPA chelated iron off ebay, there are different percentages available, just get whatever is available/cheapest, we're not dosing precisely enough for it to matter.
Start with the Tropica recommended levels of dosing (as per James' website), then adjust up or down if needed.
IME dosing levels vary between 1/4 strength (dosing the weekly rate, but only once a month), to dosing double weekly.
Contrary to popular belief you can dose micros and macros at the same time, as long as the residual level of phosphate in the tank doesn't hit a certain threshold it will be fine.
If you do hit that threshold it means you are putting in more than you need anyway, so if that happens, just skip a week or so of dosing and/or do a large water change, then dose at a lower level when you resume.
(Remember, this strategy is aimed at low tech tanks where missing a week will not impact otherwise well fed plants.)
Watch the tank as you add the ferts, if you are adding too much you will see lots of white flecks when the ferts hit the water (the flecks are iron and phosphate precipitating out of solution and becoming unavailable to the plants). Don't confuse bubbles with flecks!
That covers dosing too much. You can tell if you are not dosing enough by observing whether the plants look deficient or have stopped growing.
There are lots of different dosing methods (I for one love going down the rabbit hole of trying different levels of this and that, the above recipe is a work in progress), and they all have their pros and cons, but as a one size fits all method for low tech, I can strongly recommend JamesC recipe. With or without my tweaks, it is fine to grow plants with.
A lot of us owe a debt to James for his work with fert mixes (I think there are even a few selling ferts commercially that used his research as a foundation for their product). If you see this James, thank you!
I go more by the plants than the water report, but if your inclined to see how much e coli and clostridium you've drunk in recent years results are here: https://www.thameswater.co.uk/Help-and-Advice/Water-Quality/Check-the-water-quality-in-your-area
I use @JamesC DIY TPN(3) recipe as a baseline, full details can be found here:
http://www.theplantedtank.co.uk/allinone.htm
I then tweak it as follows:
Add double the amount of magnesium sulphate (34g in total).
Add double the amount of monopotassium phosphate (4.4g in total).
Add DTPA chelated iron at a 1:1 ratio with the trace (5g trace and 5g iron).
I bought 7% DTPA chelated iron off ebay, there are different percentages available, just get whatever is available/cheapest, we're not dosing precisely enough for it to matter.
Start with the Tropica recommended levels of dosing (as per James' website), then adjust up or down if needed.
IME dosing levels vary between 1/4 strength (dosing the weekly rate, but only once a month), to dosing double weekly.
Contrary to popular belief you can dose micros and macros at the same time, as long as the residual level of phosphate in the tank doesn't hit a certain threshold it will be fine.
If you do hit that threshold it means you are putting in more than you need anyway, so if that happens, just skip a week or so of dosing and/or do a large water change, then dose at a lower level when you resume.
(Remember, this strategy is aimed at low tech tanks where missing a week will not impact otherwise well fed plants.)
Watch the tank as you add the ferts, if you are adding too much you will see lots of white flecks when the ferts hit the water (the flecks are iron and phosphate precipitating out of solution and becoming unavailable to the plants). Don't confuse bubbles with flecks!
That covers dosing too much. You can tell if you are not dosing enough by observing whether the plants look deficient or have stopped growing.
There are lots of different dosing methods (I for one love going down the rabbit hole of trying different levels of this and that, the above recipe is a work in progress), and they all have their pros and cons, but as a one size fits all method for low tech, I can strongly recommend JamesC recipe. With or without my tweaks, it is fine to grow plants with.
A lot of us owe a debt to James for his work with fert mixes (I think there are even a few selling ferts commercially that used his research as a foundation for their product). If you see this James, thank you!