# [Wet Thumb Forum]-no NO3, not sure what to do...



## Kyle V (May 8, 2005)

My NO3 has totally bottomed out.Tank's only been up for about 3 weeks. Everything's going great, but should I just start dosing KNO3?


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## imported_BSS (Apr 14, 2004)

If you don't dose it, where else would it come from







? Clearly, feedings won't keep it above a 0 level. Go for it!


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## Pete City (Sep 18, 2004)

How are your PO3 readings? You should probably start dosing that as well, unless you have a sufficient amount.
What part of Boston you from?


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## imported_russell (Sep 14, 2004)

i'm sure pete ment PO4.


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## Pete City (Sep 18, 2004)

NO3, PO4, PPM, CO2,KNO3, KNOS 56.....
 







its making me insane.
Thanks for the correction my friend in Weatherford.


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## imported_russell (Sep 14, 2004)

no problem. i know you know what you ment, but i didn't want kyle to be searching for a po3 kit for hours on the internet


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## Kyle V (May 8, 2005)

ok, thanks guys...I just read so much that it gives me stage fright. one thing says dose right away, another says wait two months. One says start trimming your plants, another says let them grow in for three months...Brian, I think either you or Hawk already said this to me, but I just need to chill out and start by doing what I think is right...huh?!...that being said, here are two more questions. 

I know I need to start adding NO3, K, and PO4...the K and PO4 are supposed to be approximately 1/10 NO3, right??? So, if that's the case, and I start dosing NO3 by adding KNO3 (simple per Chuck Gadd's sweet site and calculator), and PO4 by adding KH2PO4, how do I regulate the amount of K that's being added? Both of those ferts will add K, and for example, if I'm dosing 1ml/day over the course of a week to get my NO3 up to 5ppm, how can I possible regulate the K, or even have any idea if the increase will corolate proportionally??? I don't have a K test either cause I heard they're no good.

So that's my hard question, here's the easy one. Where do you all get your dosing equipment..? I read that I need to add 1ml/day, and with the exception of trying to get a syringe somewhere, can even imagine how I'll measure that. Do you guys just use kitchen measuring utensils? I feel like I need labratory equipment or something similar...

Pete, I live in Southie. Actually from NY and went to college in Maine, but my wife's from here so I transplanted, since 2001. You from back east or know Boston well?


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## Pete City (Sep 18, 2004)

Cool, 
I can answer the easy question, go to your local drug store/pharmacy (CVS) and ask for the dosing spoons for childrens medicine, they are marked in millimeters and go from 1 to 10ml, and they are free.
Sorry I can't answer your chemistry question, I'll leave it to the more experienced.
It's really east yo get caught up in testing for this and that with this hobby, Tom Barr is a big advocate of let your plants tell you when something is wrong and enjoy the hobby of the planted tank, I agree. My tank is a chemistry nightmare, all my numbers are out of wack, but my plants grow well, and like everyone here I battle with algae.
And yes, I'm originally from Marlboro, just outside Framingham. Man I miss the food of the North End.


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## Kyle V (May 8, 2005)

ahh, good ol traditional Italian in the North End. Can't beat it! I was at CVS looking for dosing spoons yesterday, but never even thought to ask the pharmacist. I'll go again today and see what they've got.


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## imported_russell (Sep 14, 2004)

they also have mL surrenges used for giving medicine orally to babies.

as far as the NO3/PO4 relationship of 10/1. all that means is whatever your NO3 level is, you should divide that by 10, and that is what you should keep your PO4 at.

like me, i keep my NO3 at 10ppm, so i keep my PO4 at 1ppm.

K can be calculated along with the others using this fertilizer calculator, which i have found to be better than any others. chuck's calculator is still great, but this seems to be easier.

http://www.aquaticplantcentral.com/forumapc/fertilator.php?

this shows how much k there is in kno3 and kh3po4 along with others. with this calculator, you can test then adjust all your dosing at the same time.


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## Kyle V (May 8, 2005)

cool Russell, thanks! I'll check out that new calculator this evening. I guess my real question from earlier was, if I'm dosing NO3 via KNO3 and PO4 via KH2PO4, how do I regulate the amount of K that's being added? Let's just take KNO3 for example, is there 10x more NO3 than K in a single dose? If I am trying to dose 1ppm/day of NO3, would I also be adding .1ppm K in the same dose?


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## imported_BSS (Apr 14, 2004)

Kyle - K is not in proportion to your NO3 or PO4. Most say you want K around 20 ppm. If you regularly dose KNO3, you will likely have enough K. In my case, with lots of fish, I don't need to add KNO3 during the week, because the feedings keep the NO3 at a good level. So, I add K2SO4 as my K source. Until recently, I was only adding K during water changes. When I started adding 1/3 tsp of K2SO4 every other day with my PO4 dosing, my plant growth really took off.

You're definitely at the point where you need to set a schedule, see how it works for a couple of weeks and tweak from there. But, be warned, once you get it right, you'll be a plant trimmin' fool







.


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## Kyle V (May 8, 2005)

nice Brian, thanks man! good advice.


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## imported_russell (Sep 14, 2004)

as i said before, check out that calculator, and when you add kno3, it will tell you how many ppm no3 and k you are adding.

but like brian said, use k2so4 for adding large amounts of k.


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## Kyle V (May 8, 2005)

couldn't get that calculator to work last night. i would punch in my numbers and then hit enter and everything would just reset to 0. i'll try again this evening. 

Here's another chemistry question for you. Is there the same amount of K in KNO3, K2SO4, and KH2PO4?


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## imported_BSS (Apr 14, 2004)

No. It is close between KNO3 and K2S04. For my tank, 1/4 tsp of each something like 3.11 ppm and 3.4x ppm. As to KH2PO4, so little of that gets added, that I don't really even bother with it.


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## imported_shalu (Feb 13, 2004)

I agree with BSS. I don't dose any KNO3 due to high fish load, so I dose a lot of K2SO4.


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