# TPN+ Potassium and Nitrates



## tat (Apr 10, 2011)

Hello,

According to popular knowledge the proportions for NPK on a planted aquarium is: 5:1:20, which means for 5 ppm NO3 I should have 20 ppm K.

But playing around with "Fertilator" I see that TPN+ adds 5 NO3 ppm for 1 K ppm.

Anyone can explain this?

Thanks


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## OTPT (Sep 27, 2010)

tat said:


> Hello,
> 
> According to popular knowledge the proportions for NPK on a planted aquarium is: 5:1:20, which means for 5 ppm NO3 I should have 20 ppm K.
> 
> ...


Convention recipes shoot about equal NO3 and K.
Are you sure the 5 is NO3? It's probably N only.

22 PPM of NO3 equals 5 PPM of N.

5 PPM of NO3 equals 1.1 PPM of N......


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## tat (Apr 10, 2011)

OTPT said:


> Convention recipes shoot about equal NO3 and K.
> Are you sure the 5 is NO3? It's probably N only.


I am sure, you can try it by your self.

1 ml of TPN+ diluted on 50 liters adds:
1.23 NO3
0.06 PO4
0.21 K

The proportion is:

20 : 1 : 3

It's weird, why TPN+ adds 7x more NO3 compared to potassium.

Any idea?



> 22 PPM of NO3 equals 5 PPM of N.
> 
> 5 PPM of NO3 equals 1.1 PPM of N......


I see, so the popular recipe in fact says:25 1 20.
More or less 25 NO3 ppm for 20 K ppms.
Makes sense.


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## OTPT (Sep 27, 2010)

I think they (Tropica) may rely on different philosophy/theory. 
I mean there're some people think an amount of excess K can stunt plants 
while another side don't think so. Confusing as usual for this hobby 
Try emailing them.


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## wet (Nov 24, 2008)

Hey tat.

Perhaps this is because many folks, especially outside the US, use soils and other substrate additives, and K+ can be bound in soil (then churned up by biological processes to become available to our plants).

Another thing to consider is Klaus's presentation at AGA2010, where he explicitly stated his goal is not to grow plants as quickly as possible. Afterall, a fast growing tank is a huge pain for some folks.

Just ideas.


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## tat (Apr 10, 2011)

I use Elos Bottom Mineral, it's a enriched subtract with macros and micros.
Nevertheless I need to dose potassium separately, TPN+ and the elos substract does not have enough potassium to my plants.

Well, I sent an email to tropica.


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