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My 60p soft water

Haha it's convenient quite like the pump bottle, and it is quie accurate+precise.

Yes, it really is. For my micro blend I use in my shrimp tank, I use an old Tropica specialized bottle 750 ml. bottle as well. I measured the pumps a few times and its pretty much spot on 2 ml.

Of course, in my so called lean tank (150L low tech) I use the real deal from Tropica - still applying (for 10 months now) only do 6 pumps every week per @Happi's instructions to maintain that fabulous 1 ppm of N :) I do add a little bit more P and K with my WC water over the 0.079 ppm and 0.916 ppm respectively that I get from Specialized (not endorsed by @Happi btw. :lol: ), but nothing else.... and only relying on the crazy low 0.055 ppm of Fe and other tiny amounts of micros I get with it... Anyway, so far good plant health, no algae and much higher light than my more traditionally dosed shrimp tank. I need to get around to writing it up for my journal...

Cheers,
Michael
 
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I'll do an experiment with this quite soon.
Light water+inert substrate+ marschner collumn. Will it fail drastically? Will nothing happen? Who knows
N. 2
P 0.3
K 1.3
Fe 0.016
Mn 0.0075
B 0.003
Cu. 0.0025
Zn. 0.0025
Mo. 0.00008
Ca. 0.66
Mg. 0.33
Ni. 0.00001
if this fails down the road, try removing the Ca and Mg from this solution and add about 1 ppm Ca and 0.4 ppm Mg to the water.
 
if this fails down the road, try removing the Ca and Mg from this solution and add about 1 ppm Ca and 0.4 ppm Mg to the water.
So far this solution stays clear. Thinking about doing 50-80% WC this will get Ca Mg to 10:4~5:2
 
N. 2
P 0.3
K 1.3
Fe 0.016
Mn 0.0075
B 0.003
Cu. 0.0025
Zn. 0.0025
Mo. 0.00008
Ca. 0.66
Mg. 0.33
Ni. 0.00001


New miracle gro dosing I used miracle gro and a couple other compounds to reach these targets. Mainly Mn EDTA., Boric acid, cacl, mgso4 and k2so4.
The tank water has Ca Mg very low and TDS is around 30.

Immediate reaction. Algae.
IMG_20230111_185508.jpg


Almost exclusively on my wallichii? Seems odd.

The wallichii seem to have had a growth spurt aswell.

IMG_20230111_185535.jpg

Do the bottom leaves on my macrandra make you happy @JoshP12 ??? 😂

IMG_20230111_185457.jpg

Thought I'd see slowed growth and trace deficiency at my ppms but not yet. Lowered Ca definitely helps.
 
why such a weekly dosage of iron? usually at least 0.05, but here it is 6.25 times less. Is it due to low TDS? The rationale is interesting..
Hi @Gerald_meer, Somewhere between very soft to extremely soft water, in terms of Calcium and Magnesium (GH), and somewhat acidic water (pH 6-6.9) with near zero KH, is certainly part of the equation that makes this ultra lean approach working and that it is low everything and in proper ratios. Light spectrum just might play role as well, but I don't think so in the grand scheme of things. Correct me if I am wrong Master Noob :)

Cheers,
Michael
 
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Hi @Gerald_meer, Somewhere between very soft to extremely soft water, in terms of Calcium and Magnesium (GH), and somewhat acidic water (pH 6-6.9) with near zero KH, is certainly part of the equation that makes this ultra lean approach working and that it is low everything and in proper ratios. Light spectrum just might play role as well, but I don't think so in the grand scheme of things. Correct me if I am wrong Master Noob :)

Cheers,
Michael
under lean dosing and high lights, you can expect very strong coloration, almost like HDR.
 
Hi @Gerald_meer, Somewhere between very soft to extremely soft water, in terms of Calcium and Magnesium (GH), and somewhat acidic water (pH 6-6.9) with near zero KH, is certainly part of the equation that makes this ultra lean approach working and that it is low everything and in proper ratios. Light spectrum just might play role as well, but I don't think so in the grand scheme of things. Correct me if I am wrong Master Noob :)

Cheers,
Michael
Bang on.
 
Lovely fishies! But how will they work with all the red plants, I wonder?
True! I do love red though😂

IMG_20230114_223347.jpg


Anyway, this is the tank post trim yanked out a bunch of wallichii, senegalensis , macrandra weeds. Even had to rip out some blood vomits. They were suffocating everything.
Need to lower the number of species, sitting somewhere around 20-25. Can't remember all of them and occasionally I find a stem a forgot I had.... Recently that was this,
IMG_20230114_220228.jpg

Lyssimachia nummularia growing in almost now light behind the mess. Quite a pleasingly neon green plant. I have too many of this green though.


Pedicellata seems to be unstunting? Forgot I even had Cuba growing in this tank behind all the macrandra. They are pretty.

I bought syngonanthus giant a while back but wasn't sure if it actually was giant, but the plant seems to be gaining size so I will keep it😉

IMG_20230114_224027.jpg


Beautiful colour contrast with the pantanals.
 
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