# Fertilizers and chemicals that you dose?



## Doc (Apr 13, 2005)

I have a little over 3watts per gallon and I am injecting CO2. Currently I am using Flourish, but is that all I need or is there anything else I need to give my plants? Are there any specific levels that I need to maintain? Thanks!

Doc


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## spyder (Nov 30, 2004)

Scroll down a ways, and you can check out the "Fertilizer" sub-forum, and I think you'll find lots of options and opinions there!

Fertilizing!

You may also want to check out some discussion on The Krib.


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## Bert H (Mar 2, 2004)

In a word, YES. With that much lighting, you're driving your plants metabolism pretty strongly. Flourish only gives you micro nutrients, you also need the macro nutrients: nitrates (NO3), phosphates (PO4), and to a lesser extent, potassium (K). I would suggest dosing around 10pm of NO3 twice a week and 1-2ppm of PO4 also twice a week. Potassium comes with the NO3 and PO4, or you can also add separately. This will work fairly well with weekly water changes. 

There are a couple of different thoughts on how to dose properly, estimative index (EI) vs pps, you can read up on these in the fert forum. For me , EI works well.

HTH


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## clay (Jul 3, 2004)

are you using most of the products on the flourish line, or just the one chemical called flourish? what kind of a set up do you have as far as plants and substrate?

clay


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## cS (Jan 27, 2004)

Since you're new to fertilization, reading all those posts and discussions in the Fertilizing forum can be quite confusing. Consequently, you may put off fertilizing your tank for a long time; and that is not going to be good for your tank. So below you'll find a fertilization routine to hold you through, while you're reading up on all those posts. It's adapted from the Estimative Index. Don't worry about knowing what that means right now. ;-)

This is standardized for a 10 gallon tank. Scale up or down as necessary to suit your tank's size.

*SATURDAY*
50% water change
1/2 tsp CaCl2.2H2O
1/2 tsp MgSO4.7H2O
1/8 tsp KNO3
1/32 tsp KH2PO4

*SUNDAY*
1/32 tsp Plantex CSM+B

*TUESDAY*
1/8 tsp KNO3
1/32 tsp KH2PO4

*WEDNESDAY*
1/32 tsp Plantex CSM+B

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Since you're using Flourish, you may omit the Plantex CSM+B and just follow the instructions on the Flourish bottle. Both products provide micronutrients.

You may purchase all the ingredients, including measuring spoons, at www.gregwatson.com/products.asp

You can buy MgSO4.7H2O at Greg's or at any gardening center. It's called Epsom Salt. Make sure it has no other additives. The other chemicals can be difficult to source locally so Greg Watson is your best bet.

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Do let us know if you're confused about anything. I know that when I first started, I was so overwhelmed by all the jargon that I didn't fertilize my tanks for months. This way, you'll have something simple to follow while you read up on all the different fertilization techniques to find one that best suits you.

Good luck. :mrgreen:


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## trenac (Jul 16, 2004)

Doc, here is a good link on dosing ferts... http://www.csd.net/~cgadd/aqua/art_plant_fertilizer_intro.htm

I dose... 
*CSM+B & Magnesium Sulfate, mixed together for my micro nutrients.
*Kent Grow for macro nutrients
*Kent iron
*Seachem phosphorous
*Green light stump remover for potassium nitrate

I dose small amounts every night alternating micros & macros. Iron I dose once a week and phosphates twice a week.


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## Doc (Apr 13, 2005)

Thanks all for your replies! Doesn't adding nitrates and phosphates cause algae problems?

Doc


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## cS (Jan 27, 2004)

Yes, dosing NO3 and PO4 do promote algal growth but they will also promote plant growth. And as a result of plant growth, algae is suppressed. The exact mechanism of why that is so is still unknown; but observations do support the correlation. ;-)

This is why, as a general rule of thumb, you'll often hear folks saying, "Don't focus on killing the algae. Focus instead on growing plants well. Because in doing so, the algae will disappear."


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## ardvark (Feb 26, 2005)

I disagree with this statement. In fact, in and of themselves, the dosing of NO3 and PO4 DO NOT promote algae growth. They DO promote plant growth. Algae is not supressed as a result of plant growth. The algae could care less about what the plants are doing and they do not compete directly with plants. The environmental parameters that promote algae growth are different than the parameters that promote plant growth. The mechanism IS fairly well understood. Just ask plantbrain. Apparently he suppresses algae and kills weeds for a living.

According to plantbrain optimum algae environment includes high light, moderate-to-high NH4, low NO3, varying CO2 and just about low everything else.

Plants on the other hand are optimized for high everything. This is why nutrient deficiencies often result in algae blooms. Having said that, once algae start to proliferate as a result of a particular nutrient deficiency they simply fuel their growth with whatever nutrients are available, so yes, if Nitrate levels are low, the plants begin to starve, algae increase and adding PO4 can fuel their growth.

High NO3 levels are actually one of the signals for the algae to go dormant along with lower light levels, low ammonia, lower temperatures etc. The problem is we never really send all the right "winter" signals to algae for them to go dormant. Their supression is done by hook and by crook so that when we supply all the nutrients levels to optimize plant growth, this approximates algae "winter" and their growth is suppressed, ergo the rule of thumb.

Algae and plants live in different "niches" and that's actually the good news. This is why the EI dosing method is so successful because you seldom have to worry about too much of this or too much of that. Just dose, and the minimum levels which act to keep the spores dormant are maintained.

Cheers,


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