Help with all-in-one recipe

[deeproots]

Hi All - sorry for the long post - I've made up the following with 1 litre of RO water, 2g of ascorbic acid and 2g potassium sorbate:


My tap water already is already 5ppm phosphate, zero nitrate. I'm running co2 injection at 3bps 2 hours before lights on (drop checker is green on lights on and ) and a fluval plant 3.0 on the default photoperiod in my 280L tank.

I've suffered a bit with BBA and the plants seem to be growing slowly but not as well as when I used to use glut for my carbon source.

I want to make sure I'm dosing correctly. I'm dosing ~7ml per day (~50ml/7) and 25ml on water change day (just because I figured it would load up levels a bit).

I used rotala butterfly for my calculations. What's the view on my mix and overall regime?

Thanks!

Deeproots

 

[dw1305]

Hi all,

My tap water already is already 5ppm phosphate, zero nitrate.

I'd be surprised.

You should be able to get accurate nitrate (NO3) values from your water company, but everywhere in S. England has appreciable levels of NO3-, from agriculture and sewage treatment etc.

Your water company doesn't have to report how much much phosphate (PO4---) is in the water (there aren't any health implications to elevated PO4--- levels), but I'd be surprised if there is that much.

but not as well as when I used to use glut for my carbon source.

Your plants should definitely be growing more quickly with added CO2, so it looks like something isn't quite right.

want to make sure I'm dosing correctly. I'm dosing ~7ml per day (~50ml/7) and 25ml on water change day

We can't tell without the tank volume.

I used rotala butterfly for my calculations. What's the view on my mix and overall regime?

Should be fine.

I'd add some potassium phosphate (either K2HPO4 or KH2PO4), it isn't going to do any harm. It would just make sure that there is some PO4--- ions, if the level in the tap water isn't what you think it is. Other than that I might try a separate iron source, you, almost certainly, will have hard tap water, so you might need a <"different chelator to FeEDTA">.

cheers Darrel
.

 

[deeproots]

Thanks darrel. It's 280l I did mention but there's a lot of info in my post so you'd be forgiven for missing it. I tested using a brand new api liquid po4 test. I use half tap water which is hard and half rain water which is much like ro from my tests. Let me check on that iron source. I need to be super careful as I've got shrimp and I don't want to kill them.

Thanks

 

[dw1305]

Hi all,

It's 280l I did mention

Apologies, my excuse it was hiding at the edge of the screen.

Your calculation works for 280 L. I'm a rain-water user as well. I'd be interested in what the water report says from your water supplier.

cheers Darrel

 

[deeproots]

thanks again Darrel. i just topped up my mix with 10g of potassium phosphate which should add 0.5 ppm phosphate (I figure to up the levels a little at a time).

I'm on Anglian water (central bedfordshire), I'll see if I can find out what the analysis is. In the past I have used 2 parts rain to 1 part tap as well but tbh I've just been a little lazy collecting and warming the rain water so hence I've been mixing warmer tap with rain on a 1:1 ratio.

 

[deeproots]

Here's the analysis - no surprises there on hardness, looks like I need to ask them for phosphates - apparently they dose it to deal with lead in pipework:

333.5 mg/l (or parts per million) :Calcium Carbonate
133.4 mg/l (or parts per million) :Calcium

Nitrate - average 30ppm (mg/lt)
PH 7.7

 

[dw1305]

Hi all,

i just topped up my mix with 10g of potassium phosphate which should add 0.5 ppm phosphate

Keep us informed. It will be interesting to see what happens. It is often a <"bit of guessing game"> why some tanks have BBA and/or sub-optimal plant growth and others don't.

looks like I need to ask them for phosphates - apparently they dose it to deal with lead in pipework:

Yes they do, EU limits for lead (Pb) in potable water are 10 microg/L. We have a a few threads about it. Technical term is "phosphate induced metal stabilization" or "PIMS" for <"control of "plumbosolvency">.

333.5 mg/l (or parts per million) :Calcium Carbonate

That is hard, about 19dKH, the <"workings are here">. I would definitely look at <"iron and chelators">.

Nitrate - average 30ppm (mg/lt)

Pretty standard for most of SE and E. England. You are only likely to have less if your water comes from a deep limestone aquifer, and isn't blended with any surface water. There will be variation through the year dependent upon rainfall and agricultural nitrogen usage.

cheers Darrel
.

 

[deeproots]

Thanks. The link you sent had this

https://www.amazon.co.uk/Chempak-Sequestered-Iron-250g/dp/B00M48LGKO/

Is that the product you use in the aquarium? Is it invert safe? How do I measure how much to use? Thanks for your help so far Darrell

 

[Jayefc1]

I have to say that I'm no expert but 7ml dont sound like enough to me my 140ltr is dosed at 15ml a day I use this mix for 500ml bottle and have no issues
10g Potassium Nitrate
2.3g Monopotassium Phosphate
4.0g Potassium Sulphate
8.0g Magnesium Sulphate Heptahydrate (Epsom Salts)
0.5g E300 Ascorbic Acid
0.2g E202 Potassium Sorbate
6g EDTA Chelated Trace Elements Mix (TNC Trace, CSM+B)
500ml boiled tap water
So yours is just double
Have you tried upping your dose
Cheers
J

 

[dw1305]

Hi all,

Is that the product you use in the aquarium? Is it invert safe? How do I measure how much to use?

No, but <"other members have"> without any problem, I use soft water, so I can just use FeEDTA. there shouldn't be any toxicity issues with any of the chelated products.

To work out how much you need you just need to add to the tank (to give ~ 0.5ppm Fe) you just to know the <"percentage of iron"> in the compound you add.

cheers Darrel

 

[deeproots]

thanks - I've ordered the sequestered Iron - just need to work out the calcs to add to my mix.

Also worth stating I used rotala butterfly low light weekly/ei as the basis for my calcs as didnt want to take too much risk on adding too many fertz.

As per jayefc1's post (thanks) - am I adding too little per day? My mix is 1000ml and his is 500ml and my ratios are different anyway. i've upped the dose to an unscientific 10ml per day for now as I want to adjust slowly so I can measure the effects.

 

[Jayefc1]

Upping it isnt going to hurt as long as your doing your weekly water change
What colour does your mix come out like mine is green and smells just like tnc complete

J

 

[deeproots]

@Jayefc1 mine is light brown - probably because we use a different trace mix - I use the UK plant food one.

 

[Jayefc1]

Me too mate the one in a black foil packet

J

 

[deeproots]

@dw1305 i followed the link you sent:

"So our fertiliser has 20,000 ppm of Fe. If we take 1g of "Chempak sequestered iron" and add it to 1 litre of water, we've divided 20,000/100, so we have 20 ppm Fe.

We want 0.5 ppm, which is equivalent to 1g in 40 litres (20/0.5 = 40).

You have a 450 litre tank, so we can multiply by 10 to give us how we would need in 400 litres of water: 1g x 10 = 10g and then add add on the amount we would need for the extra 50 litres, = 1.25g (40 x 1.25)

Total amount of "Chempak sequestered iron" to give ~0.5 ppm = 11.25g in 450 litres."

Given mine is 280 and I'm using the same fertz - I need a total of 7g (280l / 40 litres=7g) to give me 0.5 ppm. How do I work that out for my 1 litre all in one mix which adds 50 ml as an overall dose?

I'm missing some variables in my calculation here I think!

 

[dw1305]

Hi all,

What colour does your mix come out like mine is green

@Jayefc1 mine is light brown - probably because we use a different trace mix

Me too mate the one in a black foil packet

It sounds like the iron is in different forms, if it is ferrous iron (Fe++) the solution will be green, if it is ferric iron (Fe+++) the solution will be rust coloured. It could be an oxygen, and/or a pH, effect (green in low oxygen/low pH situations).

So our fertiliser has 20,000 ppm of Fe. If we take 1g of "Chempak sequestered iron" and add it to 1 litre of water, we've divided 20,000/1000, so we have 20 ppm Fe."

Thanks, I couldn't find that exact post earlier, but it tells us what we need to know.

Chempak Sequestered Iron = 2% Fe.

Given mine is 280 and I'm using the same fertz - I need a total of 7g (280l / 40 litres=7g) to give me 0.5 ppm.

That would give you 0.5ppm.

How do I work that out for my 1 litre all in one mix which adds 50 ml as an overall dose?

You would need each 50 mL dose to contain 7g of Fe.

In a litre there are 20 x 50mL doses, which makes the total amount required 20 x 7g = 140g "Chempak Sequestered Iron".

You may find you can't get that much into solution. I would be tempted not to try, and to just dose the iron separately.

cheers Darrel

 

[deeproots]

Wow that's a huge amount of fe to add
In other words I would need to add 140g of that to a 1l solution which tbh frightens me a bit for my inverts (maybe irrational I know) to dose 1g per day. I might go much lower to start with a build it up slowly? Thanks for the advice BTW I'm trying to get this right

 

[dw1305]

Hi all,

Wow that's a huge amount of fe to add

Yes, it is a large amount, mainly because you only have 2% Fe.

I might go much lower to start with a build it up slowly?

That is it really, you only need a little bit of iron, the issues tend to be where you don't have any plant available iron.

I'd try a 1/4 of that for starters (0.125 ppm), if you see an improvement that is enough. I'm not interested in optimal plant growth, so I use <"plant health and colour as an indication of when to add nutrients">, rather than adding them on a regular basis.

You don't get an instant greening with iron deficiency, because iron isn't mobile within the plant, so it is <"only new leaf tissue that is green">. As you can see below in @Zeus.'s very informative photo.



Have a look at <"(Early) sign of deficiency"> and the <"hybrid duckweed index">.

cheers Darrel

 

[deeproots]

Darrell thanks so much I'm gonna go for the lower dose to start and take it easy. Will post some pics in a couple of weeks if all works out

 

[deeproots]

Ok - update 2 weeks later. I still have issues - sorry for the long reply. Some of my plants aren't growing particularly well. My cabomba is growing like crazy but others are suffering. My red plants at the back are growing slowly, lots of aerial roots and not looking great, my dwarf hairgrass is suffering (along with other bottom level plants), my floating floating water lettuce is growing slowly and my java fern isnt looking great and covered in bba/staghorn (which I'm squirting with h202 but I've had enough it grows back in days). I dont want to go back to using liquid carbon to control bba as i've got vallis.

I've doubled my dose to 14.5ml per day, 10 hours light under my fluval plant 3.0, co2 4bps and drop checker green all day from 1 hr before lights on to lights off. Updated recipe below as I've increased some amounts and added the sequestered iron: