IFC Aquarium Fertilizer Calculator

[Hanuman]

As I have a single 60cm tank, roughly 100 litres

Not sure of the dimensions of your tank but the standard dimensions of a 60cm are 60x30x36cm, which is 64L raw not counting the glass thickness.

so I'm using the spreadsheet for that purpose rather than to calculate how to DIY.

Yes with only 1 tank it wouldn't make sense financially to do DIY other than being a nerd like me and knowing it is costing more than just buying a pre-made product, OR, because you want a specific mix that no other fert out there provides.

IFC Fert Calculator includes APT Complete but not APT EI

Indeed and that is on purpose: the manufacturer purposely omitted Mg for APT EI on the label. Secret recipe so it seems. How I know? I asked Dennis. In fact APT EI is in the calculator already but we have hidden it as it wouldn't make sense to show a partially complete product.

I wont get into the details of the calculations you did (@Zeus. will probably answer the calculation part as he loves numbers, more than I do) as this would be nik-picking between APT Complete and APT EI (rebranded as APT 3 and APT e respectively BTW). Now, how to put this, the question you should be asking yourself is why you are choosing one fert over the other. Cost here is not really the factor as they are both the same price, granted not the same price per ppm of compound. APT Complete is a nitrate limited fert so are you looking for redder plants? If not then it would make sense to move to APT EI, otherwise stay with APT Complete.

Note that APT EI dosing quantities is different from APT Complete so with APT EI it's 14ml/100L/week if dosed daily, or 15ml/100L/week if dosed 3x a week. That's the recommended manufacturer dosing.

The Calculator also has a CostDetails sheet where you can see the price details and cost per major compound (Po4, K, Mg and Fe).

Note: I have actually been using APT complete for nearly a year now as I was carrying out some tests on that product. The only problem I see with that fert is it is low in phosphate and this has had the consequence of promoting GSA. I countered that by increasing the dosage to x1.5. GSA is now nearly completely gone.

 

[Zeus.]

I noticed that the IFC Fert Calculator includes APT Complete but not APT EI

We have added APT EI , however due to not being able to find the [Mg] of the product we was unable to do a clone so it is inactive. @Hanuman even contacted D Wong to try and get the [Mg], his answer was very polite however no [Mg] was revealed. We have the issue with many ferts that the data analysis of the product is unavailable to the public.
If a fert isn't on the calculator there one of two reasons
1. unaware of fert or not been asked
2. No/incomplete data analysis or total weekly yields for recommended dose.

I could live with the cost of dosing 3ml of APT EI a day.

Yes with a tank of 100 liters or less the cost of using a commercial fert isn't great so I would normally advise using them - plus D Wong does some very nice scapes. For cost I would advise TNC in the UK or TSN if your happy dosing ammonium salts, if in the US or you can get it Thrive doses provide a great valve for money fert.
Getting the right fert is only a small part of the equation, common sense observe you plants and just dose a bit more fert, if after inducing a defiency for leave colour change then you need to be a bit more selective in you fert or go DIY

Hani posted whilst doing post 😉

 

[erwin123]

Thanks for the guidance. My tank is 60x45x45 but effectively 60x45x40 (108 litres) because I have 10 years worth of plant soil in the tank reducing the effective height of the water.

From the APT website APT Complete and APT EI have the same amount of Magensium per 5ml dose, so my calculations my also have to be redone (thats why I 100% appreciate the efforts in creating the spreadsheet so I don't have to do the maths myself! 🙂)

The question I was trying to answer was if I am on APT Complete, if I switch to APT EI which costs the same, do I end up using less of it (i.e. it ends up being cheaper)? From the extract below, the answer seems to be a qualified yes?

 

[Wookii]

Both are quite low on Mg, so you may want to supplement with some Epsom salts unless you know you have some Mg in your tap water.

 

[Zeus.]

From the APT website APT Complete and APT EI

Thanks for posting that, ther must of been an update which we both missed

When D Wongs gives use the Nitrogen is he talking [N] or [NO3] we decide to always use [NO3] although the calculator does quote both in the later details, folk use what they are familiar/happy with.
However you get x3+ NO3 for every N , so I will assume Dennis is talking N as it says Nitrogen - plenty of NO3 then

The question I was trying to answer was if I am on APT Complete, if I switch to APT EI which costs the same, do I end up using less of it (i.e. it ends up being cheaper)? From the extract below, the answer seems to be a qualified yes?

Yes I agree, or dose the same and plants have a greater abundance.

We will update the APT range on next release/update 😉

 

[Hanuman]

The question I was trying to answer was if I am on APT Complete, if I switch to APT EI which costs the same, do I end up using less of it (i.e. it ends up being cheaper)? From the extract below, the answer seems to be a qualified yes?

Yes and I answered that question partially before. The recommended dosages are:

• APT EI it's 14ml/100L/week if dosed daily, or 15ml/100L/week if dosed 3x a week.
• APT Complete it's 21/100ml/week if dosed daily, or 20ml/100L/week if dosed 4x a week.

So you can see that you need less APT EI.

As for the FAQs of 2HRs aquarium, I just contacted Dennis. He said that they have added the Mg ppm value recently because customers though the product did not contain any Mg. On next release I will activate APT Complete in the calculator since now we have that information but this might take a while since I am quite busy at the moment.

 

[Hanuman]

Both are quite low on Mg, so you may want to supplement with some Epsom salts unless you know you have some Mg in your tap water.

It is highly possible that if one is using tap water it will already contain enough Mg. However if using RO, indeed you might need to supplement the water with additional Mg. That's exactly what I do by using Magnesium Sulphate Heptahydrate (MgSO4·7H2O), or as you mentioned and more commonly known as Epson salt. Between 3-10ppm should do the trick.

 

[erwin123]

Yes and I answered that question partially before. The recommended dosages are:

• APT EI it's 14ml/100L/week if dosed daily, or 15ml/100L/week if dosed 3x a week.
• APT Complete it's 21/100ml/week if dosed daily, or 20ml/100L/week if dosed 4x a week.

So you can see that you need less APT EI.

As for the FAQs of 2HRs aquarium, I just contacted Dennis. He said that they have added the Mg ppm value recently because customers though the product did not contain any Mg. On next release I will activate APT Complete in the calculator since now we have that information but this might take a while since I am quite busy at the moment.

Thanks for the advice and answers. When my bottle of APT Complete is finished I'll be switching to APT EI because it 'costs less' the same 'but has more'.

I'm currently dosing my 100 litre tank 6ml of APT Complete and 2ml of APT Zero daily.

 

[Hanuman]

I'm currently dosing my 100 litre tank 6ml of APT Complete and 2ml of APT Zero daily.

That indeed brings it closer to EI levels.

 

[JacksonL]

Is there a way to add in our own trace element mix? Or to see the % composition of the ones in the sheet in order to identify which is closest?
I use a micro mix sold by Aquagreen in Australia that is very popular and would be worth having in, it is an EDTA CSM+B mix from Amgrow, the makeup is;

Amgrow Mix
Fe 7.5%
Mn 3.7%
Zn 0.6%
Cu 0.3%
B 0.7%
Mo 0.2%

 

[Nont]

Off-topic, Just noticed I’m not the only Thai member here 🙂🙏

 

[Zeus.]

Off-topic, Just noticed I’m not the only Thai member here 🙂🙏

No @Hanuman is in here and along with myself was the main team in the making of the IFC, without him it my of never got to the level it has 😉

 

[Tim Harrison]

No @Hannah

Or @Hanuman ?

 

[Zeus.]

Or @Hanuman ?

My mistake 😳😂, @Hanuman would never make such a typo as he double/triple checked everything, I was always a little slap/dash

 

[Hanuman]

What's up? Always late to the party!! Damm.

Off-topic, Just noticed I’m not the only Thai member here 🙂🙏

Yes. One of the only here! What's up? If you need any help live I'll be happy to help.

 

[Nont]

What's up? Always late to the party!! Damm.

Yes. One of the only here! What's up? If you need any help live I'll be happy to help.

Where did you and most people here get knowledge mainly about biology and chemistry?
I want to be a professional aquascaper and I’m currently looking for subject in the university that related to it.

 

[dw1305]

Hi all,

I’m currently looking for subject in the university that related to it.

I don't know what options you have, but "Freshwater Ecology" would be your key words to search on.

cheers Darrel

 

[Zeus.]

Where did you and most people here get knowledge mainly about biology and chemistry?
I want to be a professional aquascaper and I’m currently looking for subject in the university that related to it.

Well being a retired Dentist, most of it came from the study of the subject, but its my love of maths and software and liking a puzzle to solve that gave the drive to do the IFC. I don't feel the is a need of a degree to do become a 'professional aquascaper' it it wouldn't harm in the quest. Its more a cast of a multi discipline of many subjects help in the creation of something natural that looks great or is pleasing to the folk you are paying for your services.

 

[Hanuman]

Where did you and most people here get knowledge mainly about biology and chemistry?
I want to be a professional aquascaper and I’m currently looking for subject in the university that related to it.

I am no bilogist or chemist just passionate about plants, water, fish and whatnot. You will see that the very large majority of people have jobs and activities which are not remotely related to aquascape. It's just a passion or a hobby to most. In fact some of the pro aquascapers I know don't even have a degree. Some are photographers, others engineers or salesman... you name it!
All you need is patience, observation, dedication and time...and money (if you intend to go the high tech route).

 

[deeproots]

first of all - thanks for creating this, just need a bit of (really basic) guidance for mine. What should I set salt ratios to on "tank and dosing"? If I've set the tank volume, wc data, AIO daily dose and container volume as follows:



I set the ratios to "1" and clone tnc complete but the values look really low for my container:



I think I've put everything in right, but the ratios are confusing me. Thanks in advance.