# how would YOU fertilize a 5.5 gallon tank?



## lowfi (Apr 18, 2007)

Alright so Ive had my little 5.5gal for a while now...battled algae and am frustrated with a dosing schedule. How would you guys fertilize this thing? I am giong to be using seachem products and have DIY CO2. The plants are C. lucens and Dwarf Sag. I have 5 cardinals and some amano shrimp. The history of the dosing schedule is some nitrates, 1 ml of F. Iron, 1 ml. of Fluorish, 1 ml of Fluorish K almost everyday (cept weekends & a 50% water change). What would YOU do! thanks everyone.

sean


----------



## goalcreas (Nov 20, 2006)

Pfertz, 
one pump per bottle daily
If it is lightly planted you might cut back to one pump per bottle every other day.
They will last forever and they work great.
I will not be using anything else on my smaller tanks ever again.

Soon Pfertz will release a LARGE TANK SET which will dose at 1 pump per 20 gallons.
I will probably use that for my 75 and combo it for my 30 gallon's.


----------



## lowfi (Apr 18, 2007)

that sounds pretty interesting! I kind of pricey though (i guess not any worse than seachem!!) where can I get that stuff? Is it an only online thing??!

ps: I made a signature...sweet!


----------



## goalcreas (Nov 20, 2006)

mostly online for now. I is in some local Phoenix and Tucson shops.
I am not aware of any CA shops yet, but you could ask them via e-mail.

I think in the store, they are a couple bucks more per bottle, around $17 to $18 plus tax.
Online you only pay shipping.

You will get between 500 and 1000 days per set, so it is really not that expensive when you think about it.

One pump per 5 gallons of water per bottle per day.
One pump + 1ml and the bottle is 500ml

But you will probably use it every other day in your small tank, so you might get closee to 3 years out of one set.


----------



## lowfi (Apr 18, 2007)

wow that is pretty awesome, and you are right that isnt very expensive...better put it on my wish list! what would I do if i wanted to dose PPS-pro? It calls for a ml. per 10 gallons. It is annoying measuring .5ml. everyday. Thats why I was wondering about what to do. thanks for the heads up about pfertz. 

PS: you affliated at all?


----------



## goalcreas (Nov 20, 2006)

Are you talking about making up the PPS fert solutions?
YOu can always either add 1/2 the dry fertz to 100% the distilled water, or
add 100% the dry ferts to twice the water, that would make a solution
that you could dose 1ml to 5 gallons of water.


----------



## StevenLeeds (Jul 21, 2007)

Hey Sean,

I couldn't imagine using 1ml of Flourish Comprehensive in a 5.5 daily. No wonder you are battling algae.

I use all of seachems flourish line on my smaller tanks with a good deal of success Here's what I have been using on my 5.5 gallon:

Day One:
2.5ml of Excel
.5ml of Iron
.4ml of Flourish
.3ml of Phosphorous
.3ml of Nitrogen

Day Two:
.5ml of Excel
.5ml of Iron
1.3ml of Trace

Day Three:
.5ml of Excel
.5ml of Iron
.8ml of Potassium

Day Four:
.5ml of Excel
.5ml of Iron
.3ml of Phosphorus
.3ml of Nitrogen
1.3ml of Trace

Day Five:
.5ml of Excel
.5ml of Iron
.8ml of Potassium

Day Six:
.5ml of Excel
.5ml of Iron
.4ml of Flourish

Day Seven:
25% percent water change.
Test and adjust pH, KH and GH if necessary.

Start over the next day. I've been using this for awhile now and algae is scant and plant health and growth is excellent. Hope this helps.

Cheers,
Steven


----------



## Demise (Aug 5, 2007)

I'd go with pfertz, my hygros were on the verge of melting and in a few days there was new growth, response to lighting, and green,lush plants.


----------



## colonel mustard (Apr 21, 2007)

I would use this 
http://www.pfertz.com/
only because with dry ferts it would be hard to measur accuratly


----------



## FobbyBobby23 (Mar 8, 2005)

Well in my 5.5 gallon, I bought these set of smidgen, dash, and pinch spoons.

I believe a smidgen spoon is roughly 1/32 of a tsp, and pinch is 1/16 tsp.

What I dose is on 

Day 1

Dose 1/16 tsp of N
1/32 tsp of P
1/16 tsp of K

Then Days 3, 5

Dose 1/32 tsp of N (I do this since it helps bring out red plants more, you could also just dose 1/16 tsp of N)
1/32 tsp of P
No K dosing

Days 2, 4, 6
Dose 1 mL of flourish
.25 mL of flourish iron

Day 7 I don't dose anything

Keep in mind I have 48 watts over the 5.5 gallon and pressurized CO2. But I guess this can help you in formulating a dosing plan. I am basically just doing EI dosing.


----------



## Edward (May 25, 2004)

Hi
You have a 5.5 gallon aquarium? That's very easy. You can get enough fertilizer for 1000 years for few bucks, easy to order on line too. Mix your own solution as per PPS-Pro recipe and dose 10 drops per day. That simple. 

Enjoy


----------



## JustOneMore21 (Mar 19, 2007)

I mix dry ferts up with water in 250ml bottles (usually old flourish line bottles) and dose the recommended doses. I used Rex Grigg's suggestions on how much to mix with 250ml of water and then adjusted my dosing accordingly. I think I used Chuck Gadd's calculator to adjust to a 5.5g (and 3g) to find out how much to dose. I mixed up the KNO3, but still add a pinch or 2 of the K2SO4 since you can't really OD it. For micros, I use Flourish and just adjusted my dose to the smaller tank sizes.


----------

