Nutrient calculator help

[gcodrutv]

Hi,

During years I was a big fan of EI dosing method and high light/high energy tanks, but the work involved maintaining the tank was too much for me and also never got a algae free tank. Always had massive issues with GDA and BBA.

Now I have decided to take a different approach and after rescaping the tank I want to clone the APT 1 solution. Seems to be a much leaner dosing regime and will suits better to my needs.

The ingredients listed on the product are:
- Potassium sulphate (CMC1 CAS n°7778-80-5)
- Potassium chloride (CMC1 CAS n°7447-40-7)
- Magnesium sulphate (CMC1 CAS n°7487-88-9)

Using IFC Fert Calculator will give me the following:

- Aquarium volume: 300l
- Dosing container: 450ml
- Daily dosing: 20ml

- Potassium sulphate - 35.96g
- Magnesium sulphate - 21.53g

Each daily dose will add:

K - 2.28
Mg - 0.3

Because I don't have Potassium chloride, I set the calculator to use 100% Potassium sulfate.
Will this case any issues with too much sulfate ?

Current regime:
Water change 30-40% every week, 100% RO + re-mineral.
No3 - 5-7ppm
Po4 - 1.5-2ppm
Fe - 0.05ppm
Dosing:
10ml of Easy Carbo via dosing pump + 15ml fogging - need to eradicate some BBA introduced from another tank + leftovers from previous setup.
4ml Profito ever day.
Co2 - drop checker very light green to yellow.
Filtration 2x Oase Biomaster 850 with a combined flow of 3100l/h

Tanks is more on the heavy stocked side with not too many plants.
18 rummy nose tetra
16 cardinal tetra
10 cherry barb
3 bristle nose pleco
3 golden gouramy
uncounted army of malaysian trumpet snails .


Plants,

Anubias barteri on wood
Hygrophila pinnatifida - not doing so well
Cyperus helferi
Microsorum pteropus
Pogostemon helferi
Micranthemum tweediei 'Monte Carlo'

 

[Hanuman]

Because I don't have Potassium chloride, I set the calculator to use 100% Potassium sulfate.
Will this case any issues with too much sulfate ?

No.

[...] with not too many plants.

This and the light intensity will be the cause of algae. Not the ferts.

I am not sure what your nitrate and phosphate sources are but you could mix up all your macros and do an AIO. Not sure what Fe you are using as well but you could throw that in it too. Simply make sure the solution is acidified prior adding any compounds.

Final thoughts. Considering how many fish you have in there and the fact that you said you don't have many plants, I am wondering why you are even adding any nitrates and phosphates at all. Perhaps post a picture so we can assess the amount of plants.

 

[gcodrutv]

@Hanuman, my curent source of Fe is EasyLife Profito 4ml/day, every day.
I run few tests (4 different brands/sources) and I got similar readings.

No3 - 5 - 7
Po4 - 1.5 - 2

This the main reason why I decided to add only K and Mg.
Also I noticed that if I add only Potassium Sulphate, the solubility will go to 87%.

Just trying to find a middle ground here, so i'm trying to tweak the formula till I get the correct balance.

 

[Hanuman]

Your NO3 and PO4 are coming from fish and/or other sources because Profito explicitly claims it does not contain those elements. It does however contain Potassium already although I am not sure to what degree since the manufacturer does not provide the detailed composition of the product (at least I could not find it). However, Rotala Buterfly states that it only contains trace levels of K, so yeah adding more K is probably wise.

You can keep using Profito no issues there.

Also I noticed that if I add only Potassium Sulphate, the solubility will go to 87%.

No issues. Solubility level of salts is set at 75% in the CoreSettings of the calculator so you still have some margin left. If you need to reduce the concentration for whatever reason simply increase the daily dosage in the calculator. This will automatically decrease the concentration.

 

[gcodrutv]

Managed to find a reasonable source of Potassium Chloride and Potassium Sulphate.

Industrial Chemical Supplier UK B2B | Mistral Chemicals | Buy online

Top UK supplier of quality technical and industrial chemicals. Sizes 1Kg to 25Kg and bulk loads. Free delivery to the UK and Ireland.

mistralni.co.uk

Anybody got any experince with them ?

 

[gcodrutv]

Here is my tank.
A bit of a mess, but still work in progress...