My Custom Trace Mix

[FishWorks]

Hey folks,

I made my own trace mix.

I was able to obtain DTPA FE 11%. The rest of my mix is comprised of Manganese Sulfate Monohydrate, Zinc Sulfate Monohydrate, Copper Sulfate Pentahydrate, Boric Acid, Sodium Molybdate Dihydrate.


The following table represents my percentage analysis:

Chemical Salt (Trace %)	Amount of Chemical Salt (Amount of Trace)	Trace Element Percent of Total Weight
DTPA Fe (Fe 11%)	170g (18.7g)	8.29%
MnSO4.H2O (Mn 32%)	29g (9.28g)	4.11%
ZnSO4.H20 (Zn 35%)	3.1g (1.085g)	0.48%
CuSO4.H20 (Cu 25%)	1.15g (0.2875g)	0.13%
H3BO3 (B 17%)	22g (3.74g)	1.66%
Na2MoO4.2H20 (Mo 40%)	0.45g (0.18g)	0.08%
Total	225.7g

My tank is 400L while my water is 8.1PH which falls to 7.1PH after CO2 injection.


If I follow the EI standard 1ppm of Fe as my proxy, then I should be dosing 132mg of Fe.

However, General Dosing Recommendations for 400L is ½ Teaspoon, which according to my mix ratio is 249mg of Fe (1.89x the proxy).

I could also just dose 1.25x to make sure I am not short on traces, which is 165mg of Fe.


Which dose would you follow? The proxy? The General Dosing Recommendation? Or 1.25x?

Also, Can I get some suggestions on how to improve my current mix?

 

[three-fingers]

I enjoy learing about the chemsitry and often make my own fert mixes, but I presume you are making your own because you can't readily/cheaply source a pre-made trace mix where your located in the Phillipines ATM? Your current mix seems great, assuming your dosing macros separately and aren't using RO water (any missing molybidium for example should be provided sufficiently by tap water).

With regards to dosage, from what you've written, I would just advise following the EI standard of 1ppm, or just over 1/4 a teaspoon. Doesnt really matter, since EI dosage is meant to provide more nutrients than the plants could reasonably use. If you notice any deficiency, just add a tiny bit more. Seem's like a good mix, I very much dount you will see any defiencies, adide form maybe carbon (which is another subject lol).

I can't really advise how to actually improve the mix, since it seems good enough to me, so any changes won't actully improve plant growth. But if you, like me, enjoy improving things past the point of diminishing returns, you could try adding one or two alternative chelators like iron glutamate or EDDHA to give it a wider effective pH range for using in differnt times of the day or in different tanks with differing parameters.