# [Wet Thumb Forum]-adding Fertilizers



## Quark (Apr 1, 2003)

alright, I just started my 55gal tank back on the DIY CO2 and turned back on an extra 2x40 watts florecents for a total of 4x40watts. I did this before on this tank and at first few days the tank bubbles like champange, but after a few weeks the plants start to slow down, and algae begins to grow, specially the green kind on the glass, and some thread algae. I believe the plants ran out of some nutrient and I want to add fertilizer, right now i only have florish, but thats trace only. So my question is can I make a reciepie of adding NPK for an all around for my tank? or is there anything comercially available thats not too expensive that I can add? I eventually want to add NPK seperately but i dont have any testkits that will tests for those.


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## Quark (Apr 1, 2003)

alright, I just started my 55gal tank back on the DIY CO2 and turned back on an extra 2x40 watts florecents for a total of 4x40watts. I did this before on this tank and at first few days the tank bubbles like champange, but after a few weeks the plants start to slow down, and algae begins to grow, specially the green kind on the glass, and some thread algae. I believe the plants ran out of some nutrient and I want to add fertilizer, right now i only have florish, but thats trace only. So my question is can I make a reciepie of adding NPK for an all around for my tank? or is there anything comercially available thats not too expensive that I can add? I eventually want to add NPK seperately but i dont have any testkits that will tests for those.


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## IUnknown (Feb 24, 2004)

Just look at the plants, you don't need test kits. If you can't find out whats in your tap water by contacting your water company then maybe dose a little less on macros and micros to be on the safe side, and when your plant shows a deficiency increase what ever is causing the problem. Although being able to test for nitrate and PH/KH (for Co2) would help out a lot. I wanted to get away from pmdd and move toward Seachems line. I got Seachem Potassium and I am better off with dosing potassium sulfate dry. I also bought a test kit for potassium, but it said the optimum level is 2 ppm, which is not what everyone goes by here. This is a good thread for getting your macros,
http://aquabotanicwetthumb.infopop.cc/groupee/forums?a=tpc&s=4006090712&f=8006023812&m=9136059912


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## Guest (Apr 12, 2003)

Here's a way around testing for most things, you still need to be very good about making sure there's enough CO2 in the tank and test the pH. Especially with DIY CO2.

http://www.aquatic-plants.org/fert/est_index/est_index1.html

Regards, 
Tom Barr


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## Quark (Apr 1, 2003)

ok, so if I do get thes macros, how do I know how much to add?

ohh, and I cant tell what my tank is deficient in, cause I cant seem to tell, they just grow slow. There was a chart somewhere on how to tell? i cant seem to find it.


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## Guest (Apr 13, 2003)

Well that's the point, why guess in the first place?

Do a 50% water change and re set the tank. It's that simple. Why guess when you can cover all your bases? 

For a 55 gal with 160w:
As long as you can keep the CO2 up in the 20-30ppm range you can do the following:

Add 1/2 teaspoon KNO3 2x a week
Add 1/2 teaspoon of K2SO4 once a week
Add 2-3 rice grain's worth of KH2PO4 2x a week
Add traces, 10mls, 2-3x a week.

Do weekly 50% water changes.

The above is less complicated than many test kit protocols!

Just make sure you have good CO2 levels.
That will be the hardest thing for you to do.
The nutrients are rather easy.

Regards, 
Tom Barr


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## Rex Grigg (Jan 22, 2004)

Is that long grain or short grain rice Tom? I know, old joke. I prefer to make a stock solution with my KH2PO4. I made it up so 1 ml adds .5 ppm of PO4 to my 55 gallon tank.

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## Quark (Apr 1, 2003)

awesome, thats what i was looking for.

I still got a few unaswered questions boiling in my head though.

ok, so the 50% water change gets rid of the excess stuff right?

can I modify this to make like say %50 water change not so often?

also, how do you guys do 50% water change when there is CO2 in the system with out raising the pH up again, cause when I run my CO2 (dunno what the ppm is yet cause i havent gotten my KH test kit yet) im running like 6.7-6.8 pH, and after the water change, i get like a reading of 7.2-7.3. and it seems like sometimes one of my black tetras decides to go belly up the next day.


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## Rex Grigg (Jan 22, 2004)

> quote:
> 
> ok, so the 50% water change gets rid of the excess stuff right?
> 
> can I modify this to make like say %50 water change not so often?


 No, not doing regular water changes defeats the purpose of doing water changes. If you have pH problems then try doing 25% water changes twice a week. Or 20% changes three times a week. Or you might have to go to small changes, say just under 10% every day.



> quote:
> 
> also, how do you guys do 50% water change when there is CO2 in the system with out raising the pH up again, cause when I run my CO2 (dunno what the ppm is yet cause i havent gotten my KH test kit yet) im running like 6.7-6.8 pH, and after the water change, i get like a reading of 7.2-7.3. and it seems like sometimes one of my black tetras decides to go belly up the next day.


 Do you know what your tap water pH is? I can see you have no idea what your kH is. This is why test kits are so important. It almost sounds like you have high pH water and very little kH and gH in the tank. That's the only way one could get those kinds of pH swings due to a water change. You may have to condition you water before you do the water change. This could be as easy as filling a bucket/barrel and just aerating it overnight or for a day or two.

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## mdv (Mar 3, 2003)

What is K2SO4 and where can I get it? And while I'm asking, where can I get KH2PO4?
-thanks


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## Rex Grigg (Jan 22, 2004)

Answered in the new thread.

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## Guest (Apr 15, 2003)

A decent CO2 system will drop the pH etc back down to the normal level in about 30-60 minutes, no big issue.
Even with Altums and Discus etc. Done it for years and years, fish seem to love it.

Regards, 
Tom Barr


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