I recently set up my 7 x 3 x 4 ft tank as a planted tank with mostly simple plants like echinodorus, cryptocoryne, anubias, bolbitis and Java ferns. Lighting over the tank is 3x Chihiros Vivid 2 (10th Anniversary Edition) at about 70% power raised 6 inches over the water line currently at 6 hours of light (with additional 30min each of sunrise and sunset). Co2 drops pH by about 0.8-0.9. The rooted plants are planted in ADA Amazonia 2 substrate with power sand below. I also run a uv sterilizer on the system to control fish disease in the tank, so I understand I would need to increase fertilizer dosage to compensate for that. About 10% water is changed daily via a 24/7 drip system.
The tank has been cycling for just about 2 months, comprising about 1 month of dark start and being planted 1 month ago. Fritzyme 7 was added to help the filter mature faster. I added have 250 amano shrimp (pretty sure at least 50 either climbed out of the tank and dried out in some dark corner or found their way into the sump tank), 100 orange cherry shrimp and 200 red nose shrimp to start on algae and detritus feeding. The first batch of tester fish went in 1 week ago (50 diamond tetras) and they have been fine. The plan is for a high fish load eventually, stocking over the next few weeks.
I'm currently dosing 70ml of Masterline Golden and Masterline Carbo daily. The Carbo is dosed all at once a couple of hours before lights on, and the Golden is dosed over 5 doses throughout the photo period to minimize denaturing of the fertilizers by the UV sterilizer. Based on tank water volume (minus sump volume), the Carbo is being dosed at the recommended amount while the Golden is supposedly the recommended amount but instructions said to double the dose if running UV so it may be considered to be half dose.
Given that I intend to stock heavily in the future and my plants are not particularly fast growing plants, I think that I will have sufficient nitrates and phosphates in the water column from feeding the livestock. From my understanding, Masterline Golden is very lean in nitrates, phosphates and potassium so that's fine. However, does it contain enough trace elements for the slow growing plants that I am keeping? I am concerned that because it ultimately does still contain nitrates and phosphates, I may end up with excessive amounts of these 2 macros when dosing to have enough potassium and trace elements, especially since it's quite lean in potassium too. The other comprehensive fertilizers available to me are APT Zero and Tropica Premium/Specialized. Once the tank is fully stocked, should I switch to either APT Zero or Tropica Premium which don't contain any nitrates and phosphates at all? In terms of price per litre, Tropica Premium is the cheapest for me, followed by Masterline Golden with APT Zero being significantly more expensive. Based on recommended dosage (not taking the UV sterilizer into account), Tropica recommends 35ml daily, Masterline 70ml daily and APT 60ml daily. I assume doubling all will account for the UV sterilizer, as recommended by Masterline. So it seems that by far Tropica Premium would be the most economical for me - however I have also read that Tropica's recommended dosage is very inadequate.
Long story short, based on the above, which of the 3 fertilizers should I dose for my tank in the long run, and how do I best determine how much I should actually be dosing daily notwithstanding the manufacturers' recommendations?
The tank has been cycling for just about 2 months, comprising about 1 month of dark start and being planted 1 month ago. Fritzyme 7 was added to help the filter mature faster. I added have 250 amano shrimp (pretty sure at least 50 either climbed out of the tank and dried out in some dark corner or found their way into the sump tank), 100 orange cherry shrimp and 200 red nose shrimp to start on algae and detritus feeding. The first batch of tester fish went in 1 week ago (50 diamond tetras) and they have been fine. The plan is for a high fish load eventually, stocking over the next few weeks.
I'm currently dosing 70ml of Masterline Golden and Masterline Carbo daily. The Carbo is dosed all at once a couple of hours before lights on, and the Golden is dosed over 5 doses throughout the photo period to minimize denaturing of the fertilizers by the UV sterilizer. Based on tank water volume (minus sump volume), the Carbo is being dosed at the recommended amount while the Golden is supposedly the recommended amount but instructions said to double the dose if running UV so it may be considered to be half dose.
Given that I intend to stock heavily in the future and my plants are not particularly fast growing plants, I think that I will have sufficient nitrates and phosphates in the water column from feeding the livestock. From my understanding, Masterline Golden is very lean in nitrates, phosphates and potassium so that's fine. However, does it contain enough trace elements for the slow growing plants that I am keeping? I am concerned that because it ultimately does still contain nitrates and phosphates, I may end up with excessive amounts of these 2 macros when dosing to have enough potassium and trace elements, especially since it's quite lean in potassium too. The other comprehensive fertilizers available to me are APT Zero and Tropica Premium/Specialized. Once the tank is fully stocked, should I switch to either APT Zero or Tropica Premium which don't contain any nitrates and phosphates at all? In terms of price per litre, Tropica Premium is the cheapest for me, followed by Masterline Golden with APT Zero being significantly more expensive. Based on recommended dosage (not taking the UV sterilizer into account), Tropica recommends 35ml daily, Masterline 70ml daily and APT 60ml daily. I assume doubling all will account for the UV sterilizer, as recommended by Masterline. So it seems that by far Tropica Premium would be the most economical for me - however I have also read that Tropica's recommended dosage is very inadequate.
Long story short, based on the above, which of the 3 fertilizers should I dose for my tank in the long run, and how do I best determine how much I should actually be dosing daily notwithstanding the manufacturers' recommendations?