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Fert Calculator V1.8 - New version out! Check Note first/last post!

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Zeus.

Fertz Meister
Joined
1 Oct 2016
Messages
4,813
Location
Yorkshire,UK
NOTE: This calculator has now been super seeded by this new version:

The IFC Aquarium Fertilizer Calculator

We will keep this post here for historical background.

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Hi all,

The IFC Aquarium Fertilizer Calculator is an intuitive Excel based spreadsheet that does all your calculations for one or more tanks, it isn’t anything new, there are plenty of recipes, calculators, forums and sets of data already freely available that will do more or less what we set out to accomplish. The advantage is that it does it all in one place without the need for any calculations or internet and you only need to enter your details once. It is not intended for a user without any experience, as when we tried to simplify things, we found we was on the path of what was already freely available already. Making two versions also wasn’t an option, as this time was better spent on one version being as comprehensive as possible.

Download and enjoy

Its ‘International’ status is achieved by co-operation of folk from all over the world in its making and sourcing of information/data relevant to the hobby. The Metric system of units is in the core of the coding, it does also allow the end user to have Imperial units as well. We hope it is used internationally.

All prices were correct for salts and commercial fertilisers as off August 2020 and are in pounds sterling, the end user can change the currency of the nation, but all the program will do is change the currency units and not the exchange rate. It is up to the ender user to find to prices locally and keep this update if they wish, we all felt incorporating a currency convertor was a little “over the top”. If a user/group wishes to add prices for some other nation and distribute that nation version ‘kudos’ on them.

Some fertilizers are very country specific, and you may be unable to get them locally. We have tried to cover as many commercial fertilizers as possible for comparison and cloning. We are also happy to add more if you can get the data on them. We have not included fertilisers when there was not any or enough data on the product.

Why ‘IFC’ in the early stages before the program had a name, I had a personal message/thread going with the main contributors at the time, Hanuman, Darrel, X3Nith and Fablau. I thought “Fert Club” sounded good as “fert” could be pronounced “Fight” which sounded much cooler, nobody objected and then Darrel came up with the strap line and added an “I” for international and it was sealed, the IFC was formed

Ownership of this program is everybody’s – so free to use or distribute as you see fit. Please support your local forum.

Thanks to all who have helped ‘freely’ in the making of this program directly and indirectly. Without your blogs, threads, posts, articles, FAQs etc it would not have been possible.

Special thanks to

@Hanuman, without whom I dread to think how long it would have taken me, he has spent countless hours working though my coding errors to get the program as intuitive as possible. There’s a cool beer waiting in my fridge and a place at the table for you any time M8

@Darrel (aka dw1305), patience of a saint, with the reference ability of a super nano computer when doing replies to my enquires. Author of the IFC ‘strap line’

@X3NiTH (aka – ‘The Half Blood Prince’) Hope we manage to share your potion abilities with all that dare the finer arts of potion making.

@fablau – who has been maintaining and updating Rotala Butterfly for the hobby, since its original author ‘Wet’ sadly passed away



Andrew Butler – (he requested a copy of my original fert spreadsheet on 2/2/2020)

Hi Andy,

Sorry the first spreadsheet wasn’t very good; I have managed to ‘pool’ together an international team and tidy up the coding a little. Hopefully this version will meet your needs.

Zeus.
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above update 5/12/2020
Hi Folks

I was recently asked by a UKAPS member for my fert dosing I had on an Excel spreadsheet :eek: was my initial reaction. But in the spirit of UKAPS ie friendly and helpful, and help others as others have help you. I went about tidying my spreadsheet up and a bit of chaos to something some else could use.

In the process I discovered an error on my spreadsheet which had my tanks not getting enough Mg. Which is one of the small issues with Rotala Butterfly and other calculators, is that you have to input all your data each time choose your salt or make adjustments get the ppms then choose another salt rinse repeat add them all up :bored::bored:. So plenty of room for human error. Having a Calculator which does it all and adds up all the ppm makes some sense IMO.

Then thought lets add the elements in the tap water, work out the GH of the tap water, Lets see the 'ratios of out fert mix', lets compare our results/ppms with fert regimes and commercial products. What are the Dry dosing weights- Think you get the picture.

Not trying to re-invent the wheel - akin to adding headlight auto dip, self activating wipers,cruise control, park assist and pro pilot. The wheels still spin the same but there's a better driving experience ;)

Version V1.9 coming soon

@Hanuman is on the development team and the 'Barr Team' who made Rotala Butterfly have also asked if they can help the team :D
1589994839402.png
1589994890681.png





Lots of changes and made more mobile friendly - still Beta

Its feed back I am after even its just to inform me some regime isn't correct or complete, or the ppms don't match you working out, does the calculation I have on a commercial product not match your calculations. Even if you don't use it your input could help others with the whole DIY ferts dosing regime without the headache of multiple searches etc.

If you don't have Excel on your PC you can get Excel Viewer for free.

I'm not an Excel power user so be kind :angelic:

not available to download ATM - working on next release

Comparisons

It can be tricky as manufacturers try to hide what they actually contain by supplying the analysis in format most folk dont understand - its an age old trick

So therefore I (we) have to make some assumptions to be able to compare the products

eg.

Manufacturer quotes Nitrogen as Urea so 'CO(NH2)2', so

upload_2020-3-1_17-25-21.png


Therefore 100g of urea has 46.64grams of Nitrogen (N)

Will will assume all this 'N' gets converted by the bacteria in your tank to NO3 ions

upload_2020-3-1_17-31-50.png


So 46.64g N. / 22.59% x100 = 206.5 grams NO3

Therefore if 1.0 litre of product 'X' has 1.0% urea as Nitrogen by mass and a dose regime say 2ml per 50Litre tank

So 1.0L has mass of 1000g so in there is 10.0g of Urea or 4.664g of Nitrogen or (once the bacteria in your tank has converted it 20.65g of NO3 so 20.65g/litre NO3 or 20650mglL NO3

So product 'X' has 20.65mg per 1.0ml

Dose 2ml per 50l then 20.65mg x 2ml / 50litres = 0.826mg/L NO3 or 0.83 ppm NO3 for comparison.

Hope my explanation make sense, maths are correct and assumptions correct.

I sure @dw1305 will correct me if i'm wrong :angelic:
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I have never seen this as 'my' program, as its build on the ideas/posts/requests of users on the forums and Rolatala and Zorfoxs calculators was the go to reference points. Its for the users and made by the users and its free for everybody to use, the 'end goal' is to have a user friendly app/program you can use on any PC/Mac/mobile device to do your fert calculations 'ad free' without the need for any calculations.

Then base on the principles of 'Good Science' that's 'Accurate' , 'Peer Reviewed', 'Open', 'Honest' and 'Free'

Any one contributing to the development of this app/program does so freely and does not expect to gain any monies or gifts from it -Any 'Kudos' gained is paymant in full

Its is used at your own risks and should not be used for personal profit or gain

Cheers.

Zeus.
 

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Comparisons for -
CSM+B
SeaChem Flourish

Added

Hmm just filled in the macros and I got some crazy amounts compared to what I had calculated before with the butterfly site.. I will check again later on if I didn't do something wrong..

:angelic: If you can take a screen shot or use snipping tool and post or pm it m8
 
Hey @Zeus. regarding the feedback, section with water re-mineralisation to desired hardness will be very useful.

Thats one of the things I was planning already and it does it to some extent with the MgSO4.7H20 which is added

upload_2020-2-29_22-31-15.png


But if you let me know which GH booster (with a link your using) I will add the Compound so it will do the maths and add the relevent ppms and the GH Boost ;) the grunt work is done so adding more shouldnt be take long.

Edit -Was also planning an RO and Tap water mix and resulting GH
 
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Still have a few tweaks to do. Also have a DIY trace chelates section almost ready to add in.

I think it is a pretty cool list also with the comparison drop down..

Yes shows you what you get (or not get!) for your money ;)
 
Hehe I just ordered 5kg buckets of KNO3, K2SO4 and 1kg of KH2PO4 for about 60 euro last week.. This will last me a while (lifetime?:) and just cost nothing compared to premade mixes.


Well if folks spend less on ferts for the same fert regime they an pocket the money or get so more scaping gear :lol:

The DIY fert route can be a bit daunting at first (it was for me), if 'we' can help the folk new to the hobby make transition to DIY ferts easier then that good IMO.
 
Hey Zeus,

Interesting spreadsheet, not sure if it is my mistake but based on the calculations I get from rotala butterfly your ppm dose/weekly for NO3 and PO4 seem massively different. Rotala gives me a 30 and 12 ppm weekly dose respectively and your sheet gives 120 and 48 for the same dose. Both a factor of 4 different.
 
Am I doing something wrong it is saying I need to add 300gr of MGSO4 get 9.6ppm

I get from rotala butterfly your ppm dose/weekly for NO3 and PO4 seem massively different. Rotala gives me a 30 and 12 ppm weekly dose respectively and your sheet gives 120 and 48 for the same dose. Both a factor of 4 different.

If you can both post a screen shot of the calculator showing all the input data and results -then I can see where the problem/error is ;)

Big thanks guys for trying it out :clap::clap::thumbup:
 

Big help - found error and sorted it :thumbup: ( with my tank, volumes and salts it was right, your it was way off :oops:, sorted the error in formula and now mine data is unchanged,but yours is correct :D)

upload_2020-3-1_15-26-37.png


Am I doing something wrong it is saying I need to add 300gr of MGSO4 get 9.6ppm

Hard to say without the tank details entered as well - but probably same issue as 'papa'

Update uploaded

Thanks again Guys :clap:
 
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