I also started with a complete fert solution, but in the end i didn't realy like it.. Still kinda ran into issues and was reluctant to add more of everything.
I switched to dry salts and Easylife Profito for the micro nutrients. In the beginning it requires a bit of thinking and measuring to get used to it, but after that i pretty pleased with the concept, much more versatile and cheaper, absolutely not thinking of ever going back to a complete fert solution.
Regarding dry salts in the inert substrate tank i only dose 20 ppm K(Potassium), 1 ppm P (Phosphate) and 3 ppm Epsom salt (Magnesium sulfate). since i know from my water company that they provide my tap water with an average of > 20ppm Nitrates and the live stock poops the rest. I use Potassium Sulfate (K2SO4) and Potassium Phosphate (K2HPO4) which you can buy as dry salts at various places. I also have Potassium Nitrate (KNO3) in the house just in case, but i never needed to use it till now.
Easy Life Profito contains next to Micros also a bit K, but it's not clear to me how much.. But potassium is never an issue it can't realy be overdosed, so i just calculte the 20 ppm K with the dry salts.
With doing this even in low tech a regular water change is required to prevent accumulations. Not that i ever measure anything, not needed i do the weekly water change, is doing its job pretty good. A bit á la Redfield ratio..
🙂
Tho it also depends a bit on lifestock, feeding habbit and soil.. For example in the garden i have a setup with plants on organic clay soil rather rich in ferts, a lot more and bigger poopers in need of more food and the nitrates from the tap added and less water changes, the only deficiency i run into this setup is Magnesium.. That's the only salt i add in this setup, till now with success.
Thats the nice thing with using dry salts, you can have all you need in a seperate bag in the cabinet and add what ever you need when you need.. Know your setup and know your plants, use your plants condition as a marker to know what to add. Or just add in suficient numbers and do your weekly reset water change. Adding a floater or some other fast growing emersed growth can be of great help, these plants show deficiencies rather quicker and clearer than their submersed counterparts.
🙂 If the floater or emersed growth is happy than you always have enough for what grows bellow the surface. Than if you still run into issues it aint the ferts.. Than check light or flow..
I use
https://rotalabutterfly.com/nutrient-calculator.php and calculate the "Dose to reach target" with dry salts.
My average targets are
20 ppm K
1 ppm P
3 to 4 ppm Mg.
Micros go according the bottles manual.
N i don't seem to need, so why add it extra.. But 20 ppm N would be a good starting point if you do not know.
If it doesn't work as expected for what ever reason.. Than dry dosing is a nice alternative.. Once you know the measurments and find the proper scoop for it, it's pretty easy. Scoop it out of the pot into a bottle add water shake it and add to the tank and that's once a week after a water change. Wait a day and add the micros.
