Hello everyone,Based on its ancestor, the new IFC Aquarium Fertilizer Calculator is completed at last. This has been a long (sometimes fun, sometimes painful) adventure for me. I have spend more time than I care to admit but here it is, ready to roll. Home screenshot here below:
In short, this calculator will enable you to do the following in just a few clicks:
- Create clones of well known commercial/regime fertilizers (macro & micro);
- Create fertilizers from predefined ppm targets (macro & micro);
- Create fertilizers from predefined weights (macro & micro);
- Create custom trace mixes with the ability to do serial dilution easily.
To conclude, the file is Excel based and there is no MACRO/VBA involved. Before hitting the download button, read the Technical notes below. Trust me, they will save you, and us, some undesired headaches. This said, if you have questions, doubts or suggestions then shoot.
Enjoy.
Note: < Here is a video > made by @aquariumshed about the IFC calculator. Good work mate.
How it works:
Some general recommendations:
A few technical notes:
Bug reporting:
Any comment even those that could seem insignificant are welcome. If you notice something not working or out of wack please state the following:
- SIMPLE: when opening the file everything should be self-explanatory but just in case, you need to start from the 'Home' sheet and follow from there. Carefully read everything as all has its purpose. It can seem daunting at first but learn to love it and it will love you back.
- Although not required, for best experience and improved visuals you can do the following:
> disable Gridline, Headings and Formulas Bar.
> disable Error Checking: Tools>Options>Error Checking and uncheck "Enable Background Error Checking"
Some general recommendations:
- Using RO/DI water to prepare your fertilizer is strongly advised. At the very least use RO water. Also always acidify the water prior adding any compounds. This is specially true when doing AIO (all-in-one) fertilizers.
- Prefer dilute solutions that will last you a month or so rather than highly concentrated ones that will last longer. This will prevent unwanted mold build up and/or interactions between elements.
- The calculator will not tell you which compound you have to use to built your fertilizer so a little research from your side is required (and expected).
A few technical notes:
- Compatibility: Excel 365 (Win and Mac). Should also work fine with Excel 2016 and Excel 2019. For Excel 2010 and 2013 our initial tests show it works fine but we did not fully test under those versions. In terms of visuals, things might also slightly differ from the intended look. Below those versions (i.e Excel 2007 or lower, the calculator will definitely not work as intended and I will not support if run under those versions, sorry).
- File will definitely not work as intended with free and open-source office suite like LibreOffice or under Linux and Co. Sorry.
- Under Excel Online things don't look as intended so I also don't recommend using Excel Online. I have not yet fully tested it but will do when possible.
- If you feel you screwed up something with the file or your Excel crashed unexpectedly it might be worth making a fresh download.
- Although the user has the option to select between metric and imperial units, all user input NEEDS to be done in metric units. Why? Because the imperial units are only there to provide visual guidance.
Bug reporting:
Any comment even those that could seem insignificant are welcome. If you notice something not working or out of wack please state the following:
- your Excel version;
- a screenshot showing what is not working, and;
- a short explanation so we can track the issue easily. Make it short and straight to the point please.
[4 Dec. 2020] IFC Fert Cal- v1.04br MasterRelease
[5 Dec. 2020] Added note to OP about Excel Online
[8 Dec. 2020] Added comment about imperial units in technical notes
[9 Dec. 2020] Update to v1.05br. This update covers the following fixes:
[16 Jan. 2021] Update to v1.07br. This update covers the following features & fixes:
[29 March 2021] Update to v1.08br. This update covers the following features & fixes:
[24 May 2022] Updated to v.1.2b1. This update covers the following fixes/upgrades/improvements:
[5 Dec. 2020] Added note to OP about Excel Online
[8 Dec. 2020] Added comment about imperial units in technical notes
[9 Dec. 2020] Update to v1.05br. This update covers the following fixes:
- Typos
- Formula enhancements in non-user sheets
- Clarification on the use of "Units" in CoreSettings sheet
- Dennerle products prices were picking the wrong prices
- NEW: Added a new trace mix (Manutec Trace Elements)
- Incorporated Calcium and Sulphate in Trace tables in TargetCalculator and DIYCalculator. This is to allow traces containing Ca and SO4 to show up
- Added dGH to Trace tables in both TargetCalculator and DIYCalculator
- Added data validation in TankAndDosing sheet to prevent water change volumes (TAP, RO or combined) going above the tank volume due to incorrect user input
- Added additional disclaimer regarding product composition
- Several formula improvements and fixes
- File cleanup and typos
[16 Jan. 2021] Update to v1.07br. This update covers the following features & fixes:
- NEW: Added Fe 8 % to traces
- NEW: Added cost per 1 ppm of element in CostDetails sheet
- NEW: Added "ADA Green Brighty Iron" and "ADA Green Brighty Mineral" to clone list in TargetCalculator
- Fixed compare list in DIYTraceCalcuator. It was locked and prevented users from selecting compare traces
- Fixed text in formula in the "Instructions" column of DIYTraceCalculator when no serial dilution was selected
- Fixed "ADA Green Brighty Mineral" Fe content (0.01% instead of 0.001%)
- Fixed Ca % of "Thrive AIO" and "Thrive+ AIO"
- Fixed elements %. "APFUK Chelated Trace Elements" and "Aqua Plant Care CSM+B" elements % were inverted
- Renamed "APFUK Fert" to "APFUK Ei Starter 1 Kit" to reflect real product name
- Added missing traces to "APFUK Ei Starter 1 Kit"
- Added color coding to Guide sheet
- Multiple improvements and fixes to formulas and conditional formatting
- File cleanup and typos
[29 March 2021] Update to v1.08br. This update covers the following features & fixes:
- NEW: Added "Solufeed Sodium Free TEC-ST" to traces
- NEW: Added "VIMI AIO", "VIMI AIRED" and "VIMI MICRO" to clone list in TargetCalculator sheet
- NEW: To alleviate the perception of calculator complexity, the Home sheet now links to the TankAndDosing sheet instead of the CoreSettings sheet. The CoreSettings sheet has also been moved further back
- Fixed "ADA Green Brighty Mineral" which was added in v1.07br but was wrongly tagged so it was not showing in compare drop down lists to user
- Fixed ml/week needed for "Tetra pH/KH Plus (R-dKH)". It was picking full tank volume instead of WC change volume
- Fixed dosing of "NilocG Thrive+ All-in-One". It was set at 2ml instead of 6ml. This bug was introduced in v1.07. Previous versions do no have this issue
- Fixed Commercial Fertilizer unit header in CoreSettings sheet. It was in Liters instead of Milliliters
- Added dKH content of ADA Brighty K as manufacturer indicates the product is derived from Potassium Carbonate
- Added additional informational text in TargetCalculator, DIYCalculator and DIYTraceCalculator sheets top boxes for when total water change volume = 0
- Added two (2) additional links in the Calculator section of the DisclaimerNotes sheet
- Added half doses to "x-dose by:" in TargetCalcuator to allow more refined increments
- For better accuracy, yearly cost is now calculated on the basis of 52 weeks instead of 12 months. Applies to both TargetCalculator and DIYCalculator sheets
- Urea and Ammonia are now enabled by default in CoreSettings sheet
- Increased Fe upper limit in CoreSettings to 1.6ppm and NO3 upper limit to 45ppm to allow commercial fertilizers with >1ppm Fe and >40ppm NO3 to show properly (e.i: "NilocG Thrive +", "VIMI AIO" and "VIMI AIRED")
- Increased PO4 upper limit in CoreSettings sheet from 5ppm to 10ppm to allow >5ppm PO4 to show properly in TargetCalculator (when "x dose by:" x2 for some fertilizers)
- Simplified bottom table in CostDetails sheet for improved users readability. Only the selected fertilizer and clone are shown. Table is now hidden if no clone is selected
- Moved CoreSettings guide text in the Guide sheet to the bottom
- Some column heading in CostDetails sheet were renamed for clarity
- Multiple improvements and fixes to formulas and conditional formatting specially in CostDetails sheet
- File cleanup and typos
- NEW: Added "Aquagreen Amgrow Mix CSM+B" to traces
- NEW: Added "APT E" to clone list in TargetCalculator and Mg is now publicly available
- IMPORTANT: Fixed formula in a cell in DIYTraceCalculator which was miscalculating solubility of Fe in case stock solution was prepared
- Renamed APT Complete to APT 3, APT 0 to APT 1 and APT Estimative Index to APT E to reflect product current names on website
- Added trace mixing order recommendation in DIYTraceCalculator sheet. See page bottom
- Corrected 2 formulas in TargetCalculator which were picking up SO4 instead of Mg
- Edited multiple cells in DIYTraceCalculator sheet to account for when AIO is selected in TankAndDosing sheet
- Improved wording in DIYTraceCalculator sheet Instructions column for improved comprehension
- Minor text edits to CoreSettings, Guide, DisclaimerNotes and CopyrightNotice sheets
- File cleanup and typos
- IMPORTANT: Fixed formula in backend sheet. SO4 was being miscalculated for MgSO4 and CaSO4 hydrates
[24 May 2022] Updated to v.1.2b1. This update covers the following fixes/upgrades/improvements:
- NEW FEATURE: ReminCalculator to allow targeting dGH, dKH, Ca:Mg ratio and K
- NEW FEATURE: Added total estimated TDS to TargetCalculator, DIYClaculator and ReminCalculator
- NEW: Added new commercial fertilizers and remineralizers products
- NEW: Added Dipotassium and Tripotassium phosphate
- NEW: Added Carbonate Hardness (CH-dKH) in water report in CoreSettings sheet
- Hydrates are now properly showing in each calculator
- Fertilizers are now arranged in alphabetical order in all calculators
- All disabled commercial products in CoreSettings are now visible to user
- Modified how dGH was calculated from water report
- Molecular formulae with subscript is now consistent throughout the calculator
- Decreased by half ascorbic acid amounts in calculators
- Fixed how Pseudo compare cost of clone is calculated
- Spelling of 'sulfate' was made consistent throughout the calculator
- File cleanup and typos
- Fixed conditional formatting in ReminCalculator sheet. Formula was picking up the wrong compounds.
- Adjusted Fe content of Fe Gluconate to 11% instead of using elemental mass. Solubility was also modified from 6g/100ml to 9.1gr/100ml. For clarity, "iron(II)" was removed from name while "11%" was added instead
- Fixed in CoreSettings the Carbonate Hardness value parameter input cell was locked to editing which prevented users from entering any value
- Added rounding functions to formulas in "Instruction" column to prevent lengthy decimal numbers if user used decimals in Stock solution columns
- Removed duplicate conditional formating in DIYTraceCalculator sheet
- In the mixing order text In DIYTraceCalculator, "sodium Molybdate" was simplified to "Molybdate"
- In DIYTraceCalculator, adjusted decimals for Fe, Cu, Mo, Ni and Co in "Desired Weekly Target (ppm)" column to match decimals in columns "Per Dose" and "Per week"
- In DIYTraceCalculator, adjusted to 2 decimals for all elements in column "ml of stock solution to add to container"
- Removed dKH values from EI pre set regimes (EI Dosing Full, Mid and Low)
- NEW: Added "APT Sky" to remineralizer clone list in ReminCalculator
- NEW: Added "Masterline AIO Soil", "Masterline AIO Golden" and "Masterline AIO" to clone list in TargetCalculator
- NEW: Added Calcium sulfate hemihydrate (CaSO4⋅0.5H2O). In the process, we noticed there was a miscalculation with that compound in Rotala Butterfly. Consequently we informed RB and the bug was fixed
- Added common names for both magnesium sulfate and calcium sulfate in the CoreSettings sheet
- APFUK Starter 1 Kit ppm values were updated to better reflect teaspoon guidelines provided by APFUK
- GLA EDTA Micromix Molybdenum % value was updated from 0.06% to 0.6% as per the manufacturer website
- Added new links to DisclaimerNotes sheet
- NEW: Added new fertilizer Planted Box AIO 'Lean Dosing'
- Improved Data Validation in ReminCalculator to prevent dropdown menus from showing if not required
- Fixed data validation in TargetCalculator!K25. Dropdown list was not showing if water change volume was equal to 0
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