# Seachem Fertilisation



## apalsson (Nov 22, 2005)

All,

I have found it difficult to locate the dry fertilisers here in Australia but Seachem fertilisers are readily available. 
I was wondering if anyone could help me with creating a relatively modest weekly dosing schedule based on Seachem products for my 180Gal tank.

The tank has 3 x 150W Mh plus 100W fluoro (all 10,000K) of lighting and mixed Red-Sea Florabase and gravel substrate.
Water parameters are Gh=7, Kh=4
I am injecting pressurised CO2 at roughly 25ppm

Thanks in advance

Ari


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## BryceM (Nov 6, 2005)

For a tank that size you will end up spending loads of money on liquid ferts. The problem is the macros (NO3 and PO4). Even ordering laboratory grade chemicals from a supply house will be much cheaper in the long run. Surely there must be some place to get dry ferts. Try hydroponics shops. Try home brewery shops.

Now, to answer your original question. If you use the EI method of dosing with a 180 US gallon tank (maybe you're using UK gallons?) you'll need:

100 ml of Flourish Nitrogen 2-3 times per week (gives 10 ppm per dose)
200 ml of Flourish Phosphorus 2-3 times per week (gives 1.3 ppm per dose)
probably a total of 90-180 ml of Flourish a week for traces.
It might be good to add another 90 ml of Flourish iron a week too.

The above PO4 dose might be on the low side for some people.

If you want to go with a PPS type dosing regime you can get away with smaller quantities, but will need to watch things more carefully too. I have little experience with that.

As you can see, you'll need to buy the Seachem stuff in bulk, and often. Good luck with whatever you go with.


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## MatPat (Mar 22, 2004)

Here's a link to Greg Watson's site: http://www.gregwatson.com/products.asp

Send him an e-mail about getting some dry ferts. I'm pretty sure he can send most stuff internationally, with the exception of KNO3. Even with the shipping costs, it has got to be cheaper than using comercial liquid stuff. Dry stuff will last a long time too!

There are a few other Aussies on this site and I remember a couple were getting together and ordering some stuff locally. Maybe you could start a thread in the Water Bucket looking for fellow Aussies


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## Salt (Apr 5, 2005)

Seachem is secretive about everything that's in their liquid supplements. It should NOT be dosed according to "EI". NEVER overdose (according to the label) Seachem products, you're asking for trouble if you do. Example --> http://www.seachem.com/support/forums/showthread.php?t=95

Here's Seachem's published recommended dosing:










Dosing per label for 180 gallons:

Flourish - 13.6 mL twice per week
Floursh Trace - 42.6 mL twice per week
Flourish Iron - 17 mL daily
Flourish Excel - 17 mL daily, 85 mL after a 40%+ water change
Flourish Potassium - 27.25 mL three times per week
Flourish Nitrogen - 10.6 mL twice per week
Flourish Phosphorus - 21.3 mL twice per week


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## apalsson (Nov 22, 2005)

All,

Thanks for the helpful comments. I agree, the cost of this will be excessive to say the least.
I'll start looking for hydrophonic shops to see if I can get any of the dry fertilisers.
Regards

Ari


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## BryceM (Nov 6, 2005)

Salt said:


> Seachem is secretive about everything that's in their liquid supplements. It should NOT be dosed according to "EI". NEVER overdose (according to the label) Seachem products, you're asking for trouble if you do.


Yeah, never thought about that. Having never used their stuff (except traces) it seemed easy enough to scale it up for EI. You never really know what's going in if you don't mix your own though. Hmmmm.

Well, in any case, using anyone's off-the-shelf ferts gets quite $$ with a tank that big.


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