thdesilva2000
Seedling
Hi all, I've never grown Tonina etc, but I probably wouldn't re-mineralise your RO water at all with a known weight of your salt mix.
You can use your tap water to cut the RO with, you are only going to need a very, very small volume of tap, so it doesn't really matter too much about the quality of the tap water. You will only really be adding Ca++ and HCO3- ions, because of the geology (Chalk).
Rather than aiming for a specific dGH/dGH value, you can use a conductivity meter to give you a datum (I'd aim for about 50 - 100 microS), and then use the <"Duckweed Index"> as an indication of when to feed the plants. The conductivity will rise after the fertiliser addition, but will drop back down again as you use RO for the water changes.
If you would rather use the salt mix, you can. Just do the same, add the amount of mix that takes you to ~100 microS in the tank. These are very small additions of salts.
Again it isn't too every-bodies taste, but I would add enough tannins to tint the water. Oak leaves, or Alder cones, are fine for this, and should allow the pH to drop down below pH7.
You will have to balance the amount of floating plant, and the tint, against the light requirements of the Tonina, and a lot of other <"plants aren't going to enjoy themselves">, due to the low nutrients and soft water.
cheers Darrel
Very interesting, for every 1L of RO, how much tap would I need to cut the RO with? A friend from the UK who successfully grows Toninas adviced the following:
“Here’s some info on the mineral I use in ro. I use measuring spoons for the quantities, per 25 litres of ro with 0dgh and 0dkh. 0.5ml of calcium sulphate, 1.25ml of magnesium sulphate and 2ml of potassium carbonate, this should give you roughly 3-4 dgh and 2-3 dkh. This should keep your water soft enough but stable enough for tonina but they are still a tricky plant”.
I am going to use DIY chemicals from Ebay so not aiming to spend a fortune on salts. I spent about £10 on the salts which is going to last two years with 50% weekly water changes.
What are your thoughts? Thanks for the help.
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