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Tropica Premium, Masterline Golden or APT Zero?
- Thread starter illumnae
- Start date
Thank you very much! I'm planning to use bottled distilled water to mix my AIO. My tank is on a 24/7 constant drip water change at roughly 10% daily. I think the attachment is my tap water quality report. Water from my tap is about 80-90 tds so at the lower end of the range.
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Good morning,
Have you not added your water report parameters to the Core Settings along with ensuring the tag 'Planning to use RO Water' is set to 'No' under the 'Tank and Dosing tag, I know your water contains very little but it will give a more complete picture?
Cheers!
Have you not added your water report parameters to the Core Settings along with ensuring the tag 'Planning to use RO Water' is set to 'No' under the 'Tank and Dosing tag, I know your water contains very little but it will give a more complete picture?
Cheers!
Hi all,
I'm guessing that it is mainly from desalination plants?
Cheers Darrel
That is very different from the water that most of us in the UK would get. No nitrate (NO3-) and very variable conductivity.
I'm guessing that it is mainly from desalination plants?
Cheers Darrel
I've added it in, but my tap water contains quite negligible amounts of anything significant except perhaps moderate amounts of calcium.
It's mostly treated rainwater from reservoirs, but also contains 10% treated sewage waste water (sounds disgusting I know) bug it's supposed to be as pure as distilled water and safe to drink. We do have desalination plants here but I think they're mostly for industrial use.
I've tweaked my proposed recipe slightly to make it more lean. Does this look OK?
@bazz You mentioned that Calcium Nitrate is unsuitable for use in an AIO solution like I'm trying to create, could you elaborate on why this is so please? I thought it should be acceptable since it's included in the calculator?
If Calcium Nitrate is not suitable to be used, should I use Urea instead? As mentioned I use a dosing pump and I dose small amounts 5x a day so I won't be dumping a large amount of Urea into the tank at each dose. However given that I am using a dosing pump I mix up a large batch of AIO each time (about 2 months worth) and I've Urea read that may decompose into ammonia during storage in a non sterile environment (i.e. the dosing container) - is this going to be an issue?
If Calcium Nitrate is not suitable to be used, should I use Urea instead? As mentioned I use a dosing pump and I dose small amounts 5x a day so I won't be dumping a large amount of Urea into the tank at each dose. However given that I am using a dosing pump I mix up a large batch of AIO each time (about 2 months worth) and I've Urea read that may decompose into ammonia during storage in a non sterile environment (i.e. the dosing container) - is this going to be an issue?
John q
Member
It's a chemical thing.
In lay man's terms calcium attracts sulphates, phosphates, carbonates. Etc. Eg mix calcium nitrate with magnesium sulfate and you'll end with calcium sulphate which is insoluble. Mix calcium nitrate with potassium phosphate and by the wonders of science you'll have a mix of calcium phosphate and potassium nitrate... the calcium phosphate isn't soluble in our realms.
No idea why this happens, but it does 😀
Ah OK thank you for the explanation! So can/should I use Urea instead in my AIO?
John q
Member
Yes you can use Urea instead, I add it in with the micro's solution.
I believe over a period of time once in solution the Urea will break down to NH4, but I don't know how long this process takes in the ferts bottle, either way you will still have a source of Nitrogen.
I believe over a period of time once in solution the Urea will break down to NH4, but I don't know how long this process takes in the ferts bottle, either way you will still have a source of Nitrogen.
I've ordered everything and should be ready to start mixing up my AIO in the next week or two (some items are coming from China). Is this the right order to be mixing stuff:
1. Prepare 4500ml of distilled water in a mixing pail with a small pump switched on for mixing
2. Add 2g Potassium Sorbate and allow to mix
3. Add 2.5g Vitamin C powder and allow to mix
4. Add all macros (order doesn't matter?) and allow to mix
5. add Rexolin APN and allow to mix
6. Once all mixed pour into dosing container
7. Top up distilled water to 5000ml total
1. Prepare 4500ml of distilled water in a mixing pail with a small pump switched on for mixing
2. Add 2g Potassium Sorbate and allow to mix
3. Add 2.5g Vitamin C powder and allow to mix
4. Add all macros (order doesn't matter?) and allow to mix
5. add Rexolin APN and allow to mix
6. Once all mixed pour into dosing container
7. Top up distilled water to 5000ml total
Hi all,
cheers Darrel
Ideally you usually start with the least soluble salt first. You can get solubility values (at 20oC) from <"Wikipedia">. If you get a precipitate forming warming may help (but not if it is a carbonate compound) and the salt that <"precipitates out"> will be the least soluble salt.
That should be fine.
cheers Darrel
Thank you very much!
Hi I'm back! The AIO fertilizer seems to be working well for my display tank, thanks to the great advice I got here! I'll be mixing up my 2nd batch next weekend. I'm now thinking of mixing another set of DIY fertilizers for my wife's new 60p as well as my office tank (60x30x30 cm). We just bought 2 Chihiros dosing pumps to use on the 2 tanks. However, as the dosing pumps have 4 heads, and my office tank is not supervised often (I usually work from home and go into the office once a week), I'm thinking that perhaps it may be better to split the macros and micros for the dosing of the 60cm tanks. No point letting the spare dosing pump heads go to waste after all. If I were to do this, how should I mix the ferts? Do I mix the urea, Potassium dihydrogen phosphate, Potassium sulphate, Potassium chloride and Magnesium sulphate into 1 solution, and the Rexolin APN solo in another solution? Do i need to mix the Vitamin C powder and Potassium sorbate into either of the solutions?
Sorry another quick question: if I use distilled water instead of tap water and want to add some calcium in, can I mix Calcium chloride into the solution (the AIO solution and the macro solution) or will that cause the same issues as Calcium nitrate?
Hi all,
The compounds calcium nitrate (Ca(NO3)2.4H2O) and calcium chloride (CaCl2.nH2O) are soluble, because their anion has a valency of one (NO3-) and (Cl-).
However the Ca++ ions (that are now in solution from their dissolution) can combine with any sulphate (SO4--), carbonate (CO3--) and phosphate (PO4---) ions to form insoluble compounds that will precipitate out of solution.
That is why calcium compounds are usually dry dosed.
cheers Darrel
Yes, same issues. The problem is the calcium ion (Ca++), it forms a lot of insoluble salts <"Cacl2 + MgSO4 in the same bottle ?">.
The compounds calcium nitrate (Ca(NO3)2.4H2O) and calcium chloride (CaCl2.nH2O) are soluble, because their anion has a valency of one (NO3-) and (Cl-).
However the Ca++ ions (that are now in solution from their dissolution) can combine with any sulphate (SO4--), carbonate (CO3--) and phosphate (PO4---) ions to form insoluble compounds that will precipitate out of solution.
That is why calcium compounds are usually dry dosed.
cheers Darrel
Hi all,
Yes, same issues. The problem is the calcium ion (Ca++), it forms a lot of insoluble salts <"Cacl2 + MgSO4 in the same bottle ?">.
The compounds calcium nitrate (Ca(NO3)2.4H2O) and calcium chloride (CaCl2.nH2O) are soluble, because their anion has a valency of one (NO3-) and (Cl-).
However the Ca++ ions (that are now in solution from their dissolution) can combine with any sulphate (SO4--), carbonate (CO3--) and phosphate (PO4---) ions to form insoluble compounds that will precipitate out of solution.
That is why calcium compounds are usually dry dosed.
cheers Darrel
What if I mix my macros solution using urea, monopotassium phosphate, potassium chloride, potassium sulphate and magnesium sulphate; and my micros solution using Rexolin APN and calcium chloride? I can set the dosing pump to dose my macros and micros say 30 minutes apart?
Reason that I'm using distilled water for my large tank is because I'm doing a 24/7 drip auto water change using dechlorinated tapwater on that tank so it has a constant supply of calcium from my tapwater without needing me to include it in my AIO solution. The smaller tanks however are getting smaller weekly water changes so I will need to supplement calcium in the fertilizers.
