Search results for query: *

Yeah and the thought of expired GH test kit pops up every time when I come across this story. An expired GH test kit is just like that. I mean I don't doubt his water is very hard. But it should not be that hard. Just saying.

But if I remember correctly, Tom Barr lives in soft water areas most of the time, except Davis and Santa Barbara (USA). Now he is in SF with 0-1 dGH and dKH soft water. Yeah, I see the problem here. The Seachem's would precipitate too easily in hard water while Cu level in Microplex would be...

I've just seen this thread. As far as I can remember. The quoted sentence above is not from Tom Barr's site (barrreport.com). Equilibrium is never considered to be used as a "Trace Elements" or "Micros" in Tom's EI. Because it doesn't contain chelated nutrients. The recipes in Tom Barr's...

Yes. :)

Right. I do that sometimes.

So the chelator problem is not limited to some DTPA, but EDDHA as well, which is good to know. I'm glad your DTPA works. :)

PPS Pro includes K2SO4, you can cut or even omit this one to lower K.

Well, I know that graph well. I've been making my micro mix for nearly ten years. I have key chemicals for Fe, Mn, B, Mo, Zn, Cu, preservatives and pH adjuster in hand to create my own mix. Anyway, the pH of the solution that the 7% Fe-DTPA got precipitated within minutes was 6. That's why I...

It's not about the type of chelator. It's the quality of it. I had problem with 7% Fe-DTPA powder from a brand, it precipitated within minutes when mixed with KH2PO4. While Fe-EDTA, commonly regarded as inferior to DTPA, didn't have this problem. Lowering the pH, even by using distilled vinegar...

If both the first batch (little precipitation) and the second batch (more precipitation) come from the same bag, it could be distribution issue. Since most of these trace mixes, CSM+B for example, are not homogenous. Different areas in the bag may contain different ratios of ingredients. And if...

Yes. Temperature won't help prevent the precipitation, soft water might. But honestly, I would not put high hope on it.

The powder at the bottom looks exactly like iron phosphate. This is why a high quality chelator is needed so that iron and phosphate can both dissolve without binding to each other and precipitate out. I would discard the mix because it's now practically insoluble. The possible causes of this...

You can still use them. For micros, I use 1g of ascorbic acid and 0.5g of potassium sorbate per 500ml to prevent mould. For macros, I add 30ml of 3% hydrogen peroxide per 500ml because ascorbic acid and potassium sorbate don't work with them in my experience. PS. Using hydrogen peroxide can...

Yes. But you have to factor in the accumulation as well. That is if your weekly water change is 50%. The highest theoretical amount of accumulation will be 2x. By this, the safe dose is 0.03/2 or 0.015 PPM a week or about 0.002 PPM a day. However, those safety levels are based on free Cu in the...

Correction: ferric

This is, I think, from the quality of the chelators being used. Brands with Fe-Gluconate will generally have very high Fe ratio compared to brands that use EDTA or DTPA. I suspect it's to compensate for the shorter life in the water column. Further more, the quality is not the same among the...

You can get an idea about the amount of ascorbic acid to use here. But I use 1 gram per 500 ml personally. http://www.theplantedtank.co.uk/allinone.htm Ascorbic acid can reduce iron, but I found this property quite useless because the iron will be oxidised back to ferrous almost immediately...

Fe chelated with EDTA (and DTPA—I would add) is FEIII only. But it is still available to plants because it is chelated. There is a post from Greg Morin, the president and CEO of Seachem, if you're interested. http://www.thekrib.com/Plants/Fertilizer/gluconate.html#5

It should be, if the water is not too hard (too high kH) since it uses gluconate to complex metals. It is one of the two Tom Barr based on in his EI method. "5 mls 3 x a week for a 20 gallon is about all I needed. EI was based more on/used TMG and SeaChem than other brands."...

I don't know how many mls are there per the two-pumps. And ferts level is also affected by the frequency and the amount of water change which I also don't know. So couldn't comment there. Your light bulbs don't cover the full width of the tank. And the Rotala's are at one of the worst locations...

KH2PO4 is necessary for EI, it is the only chemical that provides Phosphate. Some people intentionally omit phosphate. But it can't be called EI dosing if there is no phosphate. The thing that may be unnecessary is K2SO4 if you're already dosing KNO3 and KH2PO4 because you already get enough K...

My experience about 7% Fe-DTPA was not so good. I tried making the all-in-one fert with it and it precipitated out wihin a few hours. I thought my pH was not low enough. So I tried using white vinegar instead of water just to see if it helped. It didn't, still got the precipitation. It's a shame...

Just would like to add more info, there is another thing called "Chlorite" which sounds like "Chloride" but they're also not the same thing. Chlorite is Chlorine dioxide anion. Popular bleaching agents are Calcium Hypochlorite and Sodium Hypochlorite.

Yes, I would use it, Yara, Haifa, SQM, etc. They are not lab/pharmaceutical grade so some contamination is expected. There are also people using Potassium Chloride in planted tanks. Chloride is not the same as Chlorine, in case you're worried about that.

To be rest assured, I've been buying it from a hydroponic supply shop.

I mean if you have to mix the dry powder then it's not very different from having to mix your solution: you gain the benefit of being able to dose all NPK in one go at the expense of having to spend time and energy to mix them first. The benefit of the "classic way" of dry dosing (open the...

Nope, I just answer the question because I believe everyone has one's own reason to do things differently. :)

The effort needed to mix different kinds of powder to get a good consistent mix is not much different from mixing them with water. (edit: well I think it's quite hard to make it consistent and you have no easy way to verify it) It kind of breaks the benefit of dry dosing in the first place.

Because I can dose all NPK in one go. And KH2PO4 dust makes my skin rash.

E202 is potassium sorbate. But it needs an acidic environment to work well enough.

I don't think it's the best way to add K. I think ADA use it just because it has good solubility. All ADA ferts dosages are standardised to 1 ml per 20 litres of water. And with that dosage, you will get 3.4 PPM of K from Brighty K. They can't do that with K2SO4 without changing the dosage and...

Just noticed you listed K2CO3, then I think you can't. Because even ADA warn against mixing Brighty K with other ferts. K2CO3 is highly basic. I'm not sure if it is a worse enemy to chelated iron than phosphate or not. You can try it.

I've tried mixing my micro and macro in a vial and left it overnight, no precipitation.

Yes. When I didn't use preservatives, it would get mouldy after a while. So I stored it in the fridge. People do this all the time.

In short, no. The accumulation has a peak and will not exceed that. If you dose 1 PPM of something and change 50% of water every week, the accumulation of that thing will be never reach 2x of the amount you dose each week, i.e., 1 PPM x 7 days x 2 = 14 PPM. It will never really reach 14 PPM...

First of all, when there are metals in the water, the weight tends to be heavier than pure water. Look at the Tropicas' liquid ferts for example, 250 ml of it weights 260 grams, not 250 grams like pure water. But it's just a small difference. So it's OK to assume the weight of an unknown liquid...

Sorry, I can't answer that without knowing your tank size and the total amount of the solution that contains the 20 g of Fe. :dead: I know that in some countries, they use the word PMDD for any kind of DIY fertiliser for planted aquarium, not just the original PMDD Paul Sears and Kevin Conlin...

It seems Cu is too high. Because Mn is about right ratio with Fe. I mean when compared with popular trace mixes for planted tanks. Yes. It's what I have done. Starting with buying Fe-DTPA then Mn-EDTA, then H3BO3, etc. Eventually, the only thing my trace mix does is providing Cu... Life would...

I think the Cu is too high compared to Fe for me. The better choice is Rexolin APN which is on the same page of the catalogue, if you can find it. Rexolin APN is also included in http://rotalabutterfly.com calculator.

OK, to put it to rest, here is the MSDS of Krista MgS: http://www.lambrouagro.com.cy/lambrou/userfiles/files/KRISTA%20MGS.pdf It is Magnesium Sulphate.

Yes because it's MgSO4. Heck, my Potassium Sulfate (K2SO4) is labelled K2SO3 by the same regulation.

It seems it's required by law to declare it that way, SO3 equivalent in this case. Even though it's actually SO4. The same way that PO4 is declared as P2O5...

It's Magnesium Sulphate: http://www.jfcmonro.co.uk/magnesium-sulphate---krista-mgs~219 End of story.

Roughly, yes, because adding 100g of the fert to 1l of water will result in a little more than 1l of solution. To be more precise, make a mark on the bottle at 1l level, add the fert in, then add the water to reach the mark. If 1000ml contains 12000mg, then 1ml contains 12000/1000 = 12mg...

I don't give a -- about the 1.03% gain. Although the about 20% gain is "interesting" for me. But it was the false 100% weight gain that made me worry and started the thread. Funny that not long ago I just told someone not to worry about the time of dosing. I don't know if the high heat will...

...So I had the brain dead moment. :hungover: I thought the initial weight already included the weight of the cup. But it's not. :banghead: The correct result of leaving them in the cups for about 36 days is: The trace mix gets 21.72% heavier and remains damp and sticky. I think it will...

Actually it is the chelating agents that are affected by the light. But the rate is slow that nowadays they are one of the significant pollutants in the water. www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/9297986 As long as you dose regularly, this should not be an issue. In the past I suspected that the time...

I used to think that the caking of some ferts, especially micro nutrients, was trivial when it came to mixing a solution, as long as they were not deliquescent. Just crush them, weight them, and mix. But recently I've got a new bag of Fe-DTPA 7%. Its colour looks bright reddish brown and will...

Whenever I think of an all in one fertiliser, Tropica's Specialised Fertiliser always pops in my mind. ADA don't carry this kind of fert.

The correct answer is mixing the 70 grammes to make the 500ml of final stock solution. IE, mix the 70 grammes to...for example, 300ml. Then, after it is all dissolved, add more water to make it 500 ml. This will end up with more than 500 ml solution. And will make you dose less frets than what...

I'm not sure. But Tom Barr had said another one is not enough CO2.

I think EI is more like an attitude toward fertilisers than the amount of them. The crux is the idea "fertilisers don't cause algae". If you have to adjust your ferts to suit plant mass all the time because you “think” too much ferts is not good for plants and will cause algae. Then you're not...

May be it's like Tropica's liquid fertilisers' instructions. Which generally suggest quite a conservative amount. Because most tanks don't have many plants or get frequent water change. But for “our” kind of planted tanks that amount is usually not enough. Have a look at this 200 litre tank...

But EDDHA is not EDDHMA. They are not the same thing. If they were the same, there should not be a study like this: http://pubs.acs.org/doi/abs/10.1021/jf010313t?journalCode=jafcau

Yeah, that colour. That page states DTPA is also compatible. Although I think it's not as stable as EDDHA. Fortunately DTPA is good enough, I'm using it.

EDDHA is just 30% more expensive than EDTA. But the problem is its colour. It's like adding potassium permanganate, the whole tank turned dark pink even with small dose. I've tried it.

To clarify, I meant Tom said 2:1:1 but Greg said 3:3:1. Yep, it's not written in stone. But the contradiction could frustrate newcomers.

I would choose option 2. GH Booster is very confusing about its composition. Tom Barr said one thing, the manufacturer said another. :crazy: Melting at the bottom within just 3-4 day period is extremely fast. And you havn't planted them too close together to cause suffocating. So I think it's...

So 1 tsp of GH Booster can't boost the GH of your 80 US gallon tank by 1 degree. If 16 grams (3 tsps) of GH Booster raises the GH of 60 US gallons of water by 1 degree. Then for a 80 US gallons (your tank size), that would be 21.3 grams. By the ratio, 21.3 grams of GH Booster contains 3.04...

Thanks for the correction. So please disregard this sentence:

Let's get some facts straight in the context of EI. What level does Tom suggest? "I generally suggest adding GH booster to raise the GH about 1-2 degrees from what ever it might be in the tap."...

Based on ceg4048's article, this is the target: (per week) NO3 20 PPM K 30 PPM PO4 3 PPM Mg 20 PPM And these are already in your water: NO3 15.61 PPM (-4.39) K 7.99 PPM (-22.01) PO4 0.00762 PPM (-2.99238) Mg 7.49 PPM (-12.51) To reach the values in the article, add: (per week) KNO3 0.00716...

Can. It is K2CO3 and K2O3S2. ;)

You can check how much Tropica ferts (green + brown) aquascapers use in their layouts here. http://www.tropica.dk/en/layouts The data is somehow more complete and done less sloppily than that in tropica.com site. Try comparing this...

He said sand but his pictures say normal grain sized gravel many people are using in planted tanks. I have no objection to using better substrate though.

It might be your substrate. Is it reasonably clean? When BGA was established in my tank. I had tried changing in dosing, increasing water flow, increasing CO2, changing 75% of water every other day for two months, increasing water surface agaitation, turning on air pump at night, using activated...

Is it impossible that moss simply prefers cool water? People grows moss and fern in non CO2 tanks with good results.

Hehe, been lurking here loooong enough to know about the trend here. :D Yep, I think. But it's probably better to buy new ones from a popular source (like one of the web's sponsers). This way you will have others in the same boat to consult with. And the test is just telling what it is not...

Are these methods valid ? Test Calcium Nitrate and Magnesium Nitrate with GH test kit. Test Ammonium Nitrate with NH3/4 test kit. Differentiate Potassium Nitrate from Sodium Nitrate by solubility in 25? water. (KNO3 is 3.6 g/10 ml while NaNO3 is 9.21 g/10 ml)