making el solution

[Mrmikey]

hello goin to order some dry salts to make my own fertilizer. I only have a small 30l tank so dont need much. I found a tread to aquaessentials but the links in-bedded are out of date. Could someone please tell me exactly what i need (links if poss).
Another question trace mix, on aquaessentails website it has trace mix 8% iron, would this be to high and kill my shrimp?
I'll need my hand holding through this one. cheers mike

 

[ceg4048]

Mike,
Pretend the tank is a 20G and dose per the reference tank in the EI tutorial:

NPK (Nitrogen+Phosphorus+Potassium) Mixture for 20 Gallon Tank
1 month = 4 Weeks
3 doses of NPK per week
Therefore there are 12 doses of NPK per month.
Multiply a single dose teaspoon value by 12 => [3/16 tsp KNO3]*12 = 2 ¼ tsp KNO3
[1/16 tsp KH2PO4]*12 = ¾ tsp KH2PO4
[1/2 tsp MgSO4]*12 = 6 tsp MgSO4
Add these to 600ml of tap or distilled water

Now this mixture must serve 12 doses so each dose is 600ml/12 = 50ml
This makes life easier because you need only dose 50ml of this NPK solution 3 times per week.

Always separate the CSM+B from the NPK because it has a tendency to react with the phosphate. You can dose the CSM+B as a powder or if it more convenient add 8 * 1/16 tsp => ½ teaspoon to 200 ml of water and dose 25 ml two times per week.

You don't need to worry about the trace harming your inverts. That's another lie created in The Matrix.

Cheers,

 

[Mrmikey]

Alright clive, thanks for that just put an order in so I'll just have to wait untill it shows up and then the laboratory is officially open.
Looks easy enough.
thanks for the heads up again, may get back to you just to double check. I'm tellin you, destroy the matrix and do a book

 

[nayr88]

'Clive says'

That should be the title!

The whole 'laboratory' thing is what I thought when I started reading the ppm is this and I love Nitrogen that and potassium got game and the rest of it, do your good self a favor and read the write up on EI dosing on the articles page, really put things in a better light.

Where did you order from?

 

[nry]

8% iron in the powder....then mix it with water, then stick in the tank, that % will drop massively.

 

[Mrmikey]

do your good self a favor and read the write up on EI dosing on the articles page, really put things in a better light.

yep i have looked at it before but i think id have to read it a few times for it to stick. I hope this is the final piece of the puzzle for me, got my lighting in check, co2 and flow so I think this will make real difference.
I got it from this website because they do a starter pack with a couple of bottles.

http://www.aquariumplantfood.co.uk/prod ... roduct=110

 

[ghostsword]

do your good self a favor and read the write up on EI dosing on the articles page, really put things in a better light.

yep i have looked at it before but i think id have to read it a few times for it to stick. I hope this is the final piece of the puzzle for me, got my lighting in check, co2 and flow so I think this will make real difference.
I got it from this website because they do a starter pack with a couple of bottles.

http://www.aquariumplantfood.co.uk/prod ... roduct=110

The EI dosing article is very good, but you *will* need to read it more than once to understand it completely, I read it as often as I can.

If there is something you want to read this year is the article written by ceg, forget all else.

 

[Mrmikey]

whos the daddy... totally agree I read all his prophets and print them, this 18 pg beast is gonna take some time though.

One day to digest this before my salts turn up.

 

[Mrmikey]

ok have had a quick read of the beast, following the directions you gave me ceg for the 20g/90liter tank i should end up with:

3 months worth of dosing or 36 weeks, dosing 15ml 3x a week.

hows that sound?

 

[ceg4048]

Hi mate,
Yeah, I just wanted to simplify the calculations for you by just using the 20G dosing. If your tank is only 30 liters then that's 7.5 gallons and so you could round up to 10 gallons and you could then just dose 25 ml of the NPK mixture instead of the 50 ml - and the mix would last you 2 months instead of 1 month. If you only dosed 15 ml based on 20G/7.5G then yeah, the mix would last at least 3 months.

Like the guys have said, in the article I put 10 pounds of data in a 5 pound bag, but the mixture formula is the most important piece of information. Remember that your mileage may vary...

Cheers,