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Need a bit of dosing advice

kizkiz

Seedling
Joined
19 Sep 2009
Messages
14
Hi

I set up a large hi tech tank over a year ago.
I've managed to neglect it and stopped dosing too :oops: ...yes, i'm an idiot.
I'm pretty sure i never had set up right in the first place, so i'll list everything here and you can hopefully tell me what i'm doing wrong.
Tank is 72x18x21 inches.
I make the volume about 530 litres (118 gallons)
According to the Nutri Calc i need the following, 3 times a week
Nitrate - 9.08g
Potassium - 4.17g
Phosphate - 2.57g
Mag - 23.53g
Trace - 1.59g
Previously i was mixing up a months batch and using until empty. I did have issues with separation.
Does it matter how much waterthey are mixed in or how long the mixis kept for?

Next, as this tank is set up and now full of various algaes (plants still growing like weeds), and has had nothing added for months, fert wise, is there any point adding higher doses initially? Or should i stick to the guidelines above?

Thanks for any help. I need it!
 
Hi kizkiz

You've done well to keep your plants growing if you're not feeding them. Maybe your fish waste is doing the job :D .
kizkiz said:
Does it matter how much waterthey are mixed in or how long the mixis kept for?
There are limits to how much powder can be mixed with water. (You didn't state what quantity you were mixing up). The limits can be found here Solubility in water at the bottom of the page, thanks to James.
You shouldn't have had any issues with 'separation' in a 1 month supply. There are loads of people doing this. However you may have had 'separation' issues if you had put the Trace in with the rest of the ferts. Trace will react with the Phosphate, so you need to keep your Trace in a different bottle.
kizkiz said:
is there any point adding higher doses initially? Or should i stick to the guidelines above?
No need to dose any higher than recommended, however you will need to address the algae issues as they will just flourish.
 
Thanks ceejay

Just checking the solubility link now.
I did keep the trace mixed separately, so that wasn't an issue

Having read through the algae threads here, i need to look at a better way of adding co2. A 6 foot tank makes it awkward to get a good circulation.
I also need to get a proper drop checker that i can actually get water in to. doh.

So, plan of action:
1. start dosing again
2. get a drop checker
3. Improve co2 circulation (will check large tank threads now)
4. Manual removal of algae
5. Add some shrimp/ otos
 
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