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Sorry, yes, you are right I should have multiplied it. Even then to have that much nitrate does seem to imply your plants aren't using a lot. Perhaps alternating with TNC lite or something else to just top up micro would be an option?

As much as I agree nitrate testing isn't particularly accurate, but it gives you a rough ball park. I'd still be a bit interested in how you are running in the ballpark of 40-80ppm when dosing 11ml of on TNC a day - which the rotala butterfly calculator suggests adds about 1.8ppm (so roughly...

I think my scedule is just not organised enough - my water changes probably average around 10 days but the gap isn't rigid, so calculating the percentage change and the time period would be tricky. I appreciate the thought though. I think the autodoser will keep a more stable base line even if...

I'm thinking of getting an auto doser. I'm just not very good at the routine of daily dosing manually and it seems a good solution. My duckweed is doing terribly and I know I'm chronically sort on nitrate! (I'm going to remove the duckweed while it's not fighting back in favour of frogbit). I'm...

If you are dosing the same amount, but either in one go or split equally by day, aren't you either 1. dosing enough daily for the plants to have all they need for the next 24 hours so it doesn't matter if it's lower total at water change as it's still excess of what they need or 2. not dosing...

Very helpful thank you. I'm one of those that's often reading old posts or google searching and reading other forums on a topic so I very much appreciate your way of writing.

So are there specific benefits to it - why have they picked that instead of KN03 as their base? If you were picking between TSN and TNC what would the criteria be? Is it something that the tank is going to adjust to over time too e.g. is it just a case of ramping up slowly so the plants adjust...

I can't help with the science, but I've been doing a 50l low tech tank, with approx. 2ml per day for the last 2 weeks - slightly over double the bottle dose. Which has successfully raised my nitrate from 0 to around 10-15ppm but still showing 0 Nitrite. Admittedly those numbers are from a dip...

I think rotala could work as a rough under water indicator in low tech, if you look at a long stem you can see the leaf size and stem change when ferts have got a bit lean and then recovered again. I haven't paid attention to how rapid the reaction is though.

That would be my guess for the source then. I would continue as normal, and monitor it. Hopefully it will drop down again. Would be worth keeping an eye on the occupants/ammonia level, I'm guessing though it's already on the way to stabilising.

Was it new substrate? That could be a source of extra ammonia > nitrate.

Are you doing 50% water changes alongside the EI dosing? The idea is it resets each week. That seems quite high so I wonder if something other than ferts is causing it.

I used to feel like you, adding nitrate in ferts seemed like a crazy thing to do, when previously everything was about limiting nitrate for fish health. I eventually 'risked it' and the fish didn't notice at all. In fact, I've had them happily breed (corys and tetras) in a tank I dose it on and...

How are your plants looking? If they look good you are doing about right, if not then you might need to dose a little more.

Might just be it makes grabbing the complete v. lite bottle easier?

You could look at a soil base and might be able to skip the water column dosing all together. Reducing the light period when you are away would reduce demand too.

I don't think it's you, I had two out of two bottles do the same. Just got a new style one I'm being gentle with and seems to be surviving so far, although it's crusty around the pump like it's not well sealed. Glad the consensus is old stuff is ok, I'll use up the broken topped one I have too...

My TNC lite and complete separates and needs shaking between each use - the lite is the worst. Just in the original bottle not diluted.

It's definitely not something you'd want them to come into contact with straight from the bottle. Diluted in the tank is safer, but I've seen reports of skin reactions. I'd treat it as a chemical you don't want to let them have access to, but not too worried once it's in the water and dispersed...

Do you want to use 'liquid carbon' (excel)? You don't have to, it will probably make your plants grow quicker but that's not something everyone wants, sometimes slow and healthy is fine if you are getting that already. If you do use it, you have to dose it daily and the plants will probably also...

I think even low tech you can get a false positive from fish waste or even decomposing plants and substrate and hardscape that may be leaching small amounts too.

You need to wait long enough for the ferts to mix evenly with the water - how fast will vary - I usually test anywhere between an hour and the next morning (basically when I remember). TNC+ dosed according to the bottle (7ml in a 70L tank) raises my TDS by approx. 18/17, TNC Lite by 4/5. I...

Not 100% there yet, but the new growth is definitely looking healthier... Still a fair bit of algae that seems to mainly collect around their roots. I've taken an hour off my lights and knocked them down another 5%. And, look what my anubias did! First time I've had a flower :D I'm...

The specialised has N & P which the premium doesn't. If you are running CO2 you might need the specialised as the plants will grow faster/use up resources more quickly. It probably depends how much you water change too. If you are doing 50% a week, you could dose like you would EI using the...

Just noticed the TNC ferts seem to have settled out a bit - I guess I should be shaking it before dosing? Maybe they haven't actually been getting everything I thought they had.

The Profito isn't really an all in one - it doesn't contain any N or P.

Thank you both :) That grass photo is pretty much exactly how the leaves look. I've a bottle of the TNC lite as well. Would it be worth trying that as an additional dose (or two)? Looks like the Fe is the same, it's just the N P missing.

Lately my floating plants have been looking a bit sad. Everything else is doing ok, but maybe a bit slower growing that it has been. It's a low tech tank with slow growers, uses RO remineralised with Tropic Remin to about 6GH, about 20% water changes. I'm using TNC Completed dosed weekly...

That's what I'd do. Rather than guessing the water change % you could also use a TDS pen - that would let you know when things creep up and how/often to change keep things steady. If you have trouble with the floaters and water movement, coral some in a hoop of airline tube :)

If you are using very little of what you add (as you don't have high light/CO2/fast growing plants), a 50% water change wouldn't reset it though would it? Like Paul says, you'd get a steady TDS and fert level increase over time. If you want to do minimal water changes you want to avoid putting...

That's not what I said at all. What I actually said was that the total nitrates from all the potential sources could add up enough to cause a problem for the fish. So, if you already have nitrates that are 'off the chart' then adding more via fertilisation was unnecessary and not going to help...

I think it's worth looking at what you are putting in. We know that Nitrate can cause long term health issues, and not keeling over instantly isn't the same as not effecting fish welfare. You could have someone with nitrate in the tap water, high stocking density and plant choices with a lower...

Try testing the water you are using for a change, and the water you are using for the change with the appropriate amount of ferts added. That will tell you roughly what's from the fish, the tap and the ferts. If your water/fish are producing enough nitrate/ammonia you could swap to a 'lite' fert...

I was worried about the kh so I swapped to tropic re-min a couple of months ago which includes it, but maybe I haven't changed enough water to bring it up. I might do a couple of slightly bigger changes to make sure I've cycled most of the water. They've offered to replace them but didn't give...

Nope, nothing I can think of that could have unbalanced the filter. I rinse the top fleece/sponge layer in old tank water when I do a water change but otherwise haven't disturbed it. My tank TDS is 215, ph is 7.8, and temp 24.5oC. Water is remineralised RO so no nitrate or anything else from...

I'm hoping someone can help me work out what's going on with some tank readings/shrimp issues. I got five cherry shrimp last saturday - lost two within 24 hours and another yesterday (not sure about the status of the other two), so I got them the shop to test a water sample and they said my...

Do yo have fish/shrimp in there? If so would say it depends on the consistency of your water, if it doesn't vary much or your are mixing it up to exact spec then big water changes probably don't matter, if it does vary then smaller changes mean you aren't making dramatic changes to conditions...

The top fell off my bottle of tropica fertilizer - can you buy similar bottles with pumps I could decant it into which deliver set amounts of liquid? I think the tropica bottle is 1.2ml per pump but 1ml would be close enough for me. Thanks Tam

They both have the same stuff in them, but the specialised (green) has added nitrogen etc. I don't think you have to use both, but if you wanted more micros you could also add some of the premium (orange) so you could add extra micros without increasing the macros. Just to give you a bit of...