Hi
I have a 2 month old planted tank (360l). Up until now I have been using the pre-mixed fertiliser from aquariumplantfood.co.uk but once my initial supply ran out last week I decided to switch to EI to save a bit of cash.
I bought the starter kit from the same website, but now I am a bit confused about the amounts being suggested.
The guideline on the aquariumplantfood website says to pre-mix 1tsp of micros into 500ml, and add 10ml of that solution per 50 litres of tank water 3 times a week. So for my tank, I'm adding 70ml of micro-mix 3 times a week, so a total of just under half a tsp per week.
By the same guide, that works out my macro dosing to be 1 1/2 tsp potassium nitrate, 1/2 tsp potassium phosphate, and 2tsp of magnseium sulphate. Per week.
Then I looked at the calculator on here and fluidsensor, and the numbers on there suggest I should be roughly doubling all of those doses.
So my question really is two-fold - 1) should I double the dosing? and 2) is there anything to stop me mixing double the amount of dry salts into my mixing bottles so that the mix will last twice as long (or, for that matter trebling it, etc etc).
One other thing, my tank is quite heavily stocked, and my tap water is fairly nitrate heavy (I think, I know the test kits are unreliable). Would it be sensible therefore to scale down the amount of potassium nitrate I'm adding compared to what the calculators say?
Thanks very much!
Joe
I have a 2 month old planted tank (360l). Up until now I have been using the pre-mixed fertiliser from aquariumplantfood.co.uk but once my initial supply ran out last week I decided to switch to EI to save a bit of cash.
I bought the starter kit from the same website, but now I am a bit confused about the amounts being suggested.
The guideline on the aquariumplantfood website says to pre-mix 1tsp of micros into 500ml, and add 10ml of that solution per 50 litres of tank water 3 times a week. So for my tank, I'm adding 70ml of micro-mix 3 times a week, so a total of just under half a tsp per week.
By the same guide, that works out my macro dosing to be 1 1/2 tsp potassium nitrate, 1/2 tsp potassium phosphate, and 2tsp of magnseium sulphate. Per week.
Then I looked at the calculator on here and fluidsensor, and the numbers on there suggest I should be roughly doubling all of those doses.
So my question really is two-fold - 1) should I double the dosing? and 2) is there anything to stop me mixing double the amount of dry salts into my mixing bottles so that the mix will last twice as long (or, for that matter trebling it, etc etc).
One other thing, my tank is quite heavily stocked, and my tap water is fairly nitrate heavy (I think, I know the test kits are unreliable). Would it be sensible therefore to scale down the amount of potassium nitrate I'm adding compared to what the calculators say?
Thanks very much!
Joe