Hi all. First time poster, but I've been reading for a while. I have two high tech tanks - a 90L and a 90P. Both have been up and running for about 18 months.
I've been auto-dosing daily with PPS Pro, but I haven't had the greatest results. Both tanks seem to consistently suffer from black beard algae, something I haven't been able to control despite my best efforts. Both tanks have 6.5 hours of lights-on time daily. Both are CO2 injected to drop the pH from~6.2 to ~5.2. I use RO water and remineralize with APT Sky.
The tanks are fairly well stocked with fish, so I've been wondering if I need to try to take fish waste into account. I've been using the IFC Fert Calculator, and APT1 seems to reduce nitrates and phosphates compared to APT 3. One thing I noticed about the PPS Pro formula is it keeps Phosphates very low compared to APT 3 and the NilocG formulas. Is that due to PPS Pro being a bit older and from a time when excess phosphates were believed to be a primary cause of algae? I wasn't quite sure what formula would be a good starting point, so I tried to come up with something that would be in between APT 1 and APT 3.
MACROS
500mL distilled water
20g Potassium Nitrate
6.5g Monopotassium Phosphate
30g Potassium Chloride
20g Magnesium Chloride
20g Magnesium Sulfate
MICROS
500mL distilled water
7.5g GLA Micromix
1mL nickel solution (0.9g NISO4, 100mL H2O - not accounted for in IFC calc)
How did I do? Does this seem like a reasonable starting point for tanks with a lot of plants and fish? Plants are a mix of fast-growing stems, slow-growing bucephalandra and anubias, and some stuff in the middle like java ferns, blyxa japonica, etc.
I've been auto-dosing daily with PPS Pro, but I haven't had the greatest results. Both tanks seem to consistently suffer from black beard algae, something I haven't been able to control despite my best efforts. Both tanks have 6.5 hours of lights-on time daily. Both are CO2 injected to drop the pH from~6.2 to ~5.2. I use RO water and remineralize with APT Sky.
The tanks are fairly well stocked with fish, so I've been wondering if I need to try to take fish waste into account. I've been using the IFC Fert Calculator, and APT1 seems to reduce nitrates and phosphates compared to APT 3. One thing I noticed about the PPS Pro formula is it keeps Phosphates very low compared to APT 3 and the NilocG formulas. Is that due to PPS Pro being a bit older and from a time when excess phosphates were believed to be a primary cause of algae? I wasn't quite sure what formula would be a good starting point, so I tried to come up with something that would be in between APT 1 and APT 3.
MACROS
500mL distilled water
20g Potassium Nitrate
6.5g Monopotassium Phosphate
- Too much? PPS pro recipe much less phosphate…but APT3 more
30g Potassium Chloride
20g Magnesium Chloride
20g Magnesium Sulfate
MICROS
500mL distilled water
7.5g GLA Micromix
1mL nickel solution (0.9g NISO4, 100mL H2O - not accounted for in IFC calc)
How did I do? Does this seem like a reasonable starting point for tanks with a lot of plants and fish? Plants are a mix of fast-growing stems, slow-growing bucephalandra and anubias, and some stuff in the middle like java ferns, blyxa japonica, etc.
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