# Help with a newbie here please.



## Yeaulman (Jun 23, 2005)

Ok so I am a newbie when it comes to aquarium plants. When I had the low lighting in my 20g everything was great. Growing so fast I couldnt keep up. Now I moved everything to a 45g with 130w PC lighting and compressed CO2 and they are not doing the best as I would have hoped for.

What I use for fertilizer right now is:
Seachem Flourish and Flourish Trace
Hagen Plant Gro NPK 
Hagen Plant Gro Iron Enriched

Now I am a member on the other forum and I was completely lost when they started saying you need NKO3, CSM+B, etc... so I need a very low down on all of this. I know of Greg Watson, but since I live in Canada, how hard would it be to get over the border.

Also how do you know how much of each fertlizer to dose with? The guys at the LFS here say just start dosing and if you see a decline in plant quality, double the dose. But where do you start :-s

Hope you can all help a newbie here.


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## plantbrain (Jan 23, 2004)

Yeaulman said:


> Hope you can all help a newbie here.


Why did you add more light etc if things were great?
More light is not "better".

First off, Greg will gladly sell over the border.
Second, stop worrying about the name game.

Sodium bicarbonate, gee sounds scary........it's baking soda, 
Sodium chloride, gee, salt.......

You get the picture.

All we need to add really are 3-4 main things.

KNO3 
KH2PO4
Traces.

If you have low GH or KH, less than 3 degrees(~50ppm), then you might need to add something else(good old baking soda for KH and Use SeaChem's Equilbrium for the GH). A few folks add MgSO4, gee this is plain old Epsom salt.

Traces=> use SeaChem's Flourish for that. Use the Hagen iron stuff for now.
Or Use the CMS+B in 500mls of water+ 2 table spoons of the mix.

A KH and a GH test kit will tell if you need to add these after water changes or not.

I have no clue what is in the Hagen stuff.
Doesn't matter too much, the stuff from Greg will last several years for a few $.

Certainly 10-50X cheaper and way easier to suggest dosing.

Here's a simple routine:

Test GH/KH
Make sure they are 50ppm or higher.
Add baking soda and/or SeaChem's EQ to raise

Add after 50% weekly water change:
1/3 teaspoon of KNO3 3x a week
1/16 teaspoon of KH2PO4 3x a week(divide a 1/4 into 4 equal parts)
Add 10mls of traces

That's it.
Add enough CO2 to keeop 30ppm in there for the entire time the lights are on.

Nothing hard nor complicated.
It's also cheap.

Regards, 
Tom Barr


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## HeyPK (Jan 23, 2004)

Something I learned to my great amusement a couple of years ago: 
1/16 teaspoon is officially a *dash*
1/32 teaspoon is a *pinch*
1/64 teaspoon is a *smidgeon*


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## Yeaulman (Jun 23, 2005)

Hi, thanks for the great reply. 

I increased the lighting because it was a new tank and I got everything new. I went from a 20g to a 45g (48" x 18" x 12") and bought a coralife 2x65w power compact lighting.

What about the Fe dosing? What does everyone do and how do you test for the correct levels in the tank?


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## baj (Nov 2, 2004)

Fe tests are a waste of money and more importantly...time. If you're dosing traces which has Fe, I wouldnt bother at this point with adding more Fe, until you are sure of what your tank can handle... To make the jump from newbie to guru, 2 things are necessary in this hobby, observation and patience.


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## Yeaulman (Jun 23, 2005)

Ok as for what I need from Greg Watson, is this  it or what do i need to buy for the KNO3 (which I think is Potassiym Nitrate), KH2PO4 (which I dont know what it is).

As for the traces, what do you suggest I make or buy?


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## JeffB (Mar 24, 2005)

KN03 - for nitrate and Potassium
KH2PO4 - for Phosphates and Potassium

You can use Seachem Flourish or Plantex CSM+B for traces.

Use the Fertilator to calculate your dosage requirements.

I use Flourish, it's one less thing to mix, I buy the 1-liter size and keep it in the fridge.


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## Edward (May 25, 2004)

Hi
You can get all those chemicals in your area as a six pack at any Hydroponics store. 

Edward


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