Tropica Plant Nutrition + How do you dose it?

[Matt Holbrook-Bull]

Personally I gave up using TPN+ as whenever I have Ive had lots of algae issues..

Id much rather use dry salts to dose instead as I feel as I have much more control over things such as ferts in my tap water.

 

[Egmel]

Personally I gave up using TPN+ as whenever I have Ive had lots of algae issues..

Id much rather use dry salts to dose instead as I feel as I have much more control over things such as ferts in my tap water.

I think I've read somewhere that TPN+ has relatively low phosphate levels compared to other dosing methods. I've made my own batch of DIY TPN+ using James' formula but I've doubled the amount of potassium phosphate to see if it makes any difference. While I still have some GSA and hair algae it seems to have stopped spreading, I'm hoping the malaysian trumpet snails will polish it off in the next couple of weeks.

 

[Matt Holbrook-Bull]

Personally I gave up using TPN+ as whenever I have Ive had lots of algae issues..

Id much rather use dry salts to dose instead as I feel as I have much more control over things such as ferts in my tap water.

I think I've read somewhere that TPN+ has relatively low phosphate levels compared to other dosing methods. I've made my own batch of DIY TPN+ using James' formula but I've doubled the amount of potassium phosphate to see if it makes any difference. While I still have some GSA and hair algae it seems to have stopped spreading, I'm hoping the malaysian trumpet snails will polish it off in the next couple of weeks.

go snail dudes!!!

i need some more snails, i miss my old ones

 

[Egmel]

i need some more snails, i miss my old ones

Well if you want some bog standard MTS then I can post you some as a starter colony. Just PM me your address and I'll try and get them in the post before Thurs.

 

[swackett]

Hi

Matt Holbrook-Bull wrote:
Personally I gave up using TPN+ as whenever I have I’ve had lots of algae issues..

Id much rather use dry salts to dose instead as I feel as I have much more control over things such as ferts in my tap water

I've just started out on the EI approach and having read various articles I'm slightly baffled by that comment. I thought as long as you put in a given amount of any type of fertiliser (dry or liquid) to ensure the plants do not starve then algae should not be issue as the plants will be healthy. According to Clive algae only really thrives when there is ammonia in the water from detritus/dying plants/fish waste, etc.

Thanks

 

[Egmel]

Hi

Matt Holbrook-Bull wrote:
Personally I gave up using TPN+ as whenever I have I’ve had lots of algae issues..

Id much rather use dry salts to dose instead as I feel as I have much more control over things such as ferts in my tap water

I've just started out on the EI approach and having read various articles I'm slightly baffled by that comment. I thought as long as you put in a given amount of any type of fertiliser (dry or liquid) to ensure the plants do not starve then algae should not be issue as the plants will be healthy. According to Clive algae only really thrives when there is ammonia in the water from detritus/dying plants/fish waste, etc.

Thanks

Yes but when you dose with the dry ferts you add each nutrient separately and can therefore have more control to tailor the amounts to your tank/water parameters.

For instance, the people who've had really good results using TPN+ often live in areas where the water contains high phosphate levels. I don't, when I used TPN+ I had GSA which is often caused by low phosphates. I now mix my own equivalent of TPN+ but I use a higher rate of potassium phosphate, this has stopped the spread of GSA within a week and now I'm just waiting for my algae munchers to clean up what was there.

Of course my other option would be to dose higher levels of TPN+ but this is not only costly but also means I risk having too much of some nutrients which may not be beneficial to my pets (think copper and shrimps for example). While this is unlikely to happen unless I seriously overdose I can see why it makes sense to tailor your ferts to match what you need. Then you can give your plants an excess of all nutrients without having ridiculous quantities of some of them.

 

[swackett]

I agree , TPN+ is expensive if you dose highly each day and with dry ferts you do have control, it's just the principal is "If you give enough ferts to the plants then algae should go and plants should be happy " so you could in theory increase the dose of TPN+ to remove algae.

I use TPN+ but because of the size of my tank I have to does about 15ml daily - Which will be expensive, so have bought dry fert and as soon as the TPN+ has run out (that won't be too long) I'll switch.

Steve

 

[yodaman23]

hi thanks for reply it is just tropica plant nutrion nothing else
my plants look a bit slow growing but i have only planted them about a month again do you think I should up the tpn or leave it as I only dose once a week
regards

yodaman23 (richard)

 

[Egmel]

hi thanks for reply it is just tropica plant nutrion nothing else
my plants look a bit slow growing but i have only planted them about a month again do you think I should up the tpn or leave it as I only dose once a week

Ok, TPN is just the trace elements (the fertilisers that you only need a little of, iron, copper etc.) so increasing it is unlikely to increase growth. However if you are using the original lights(T8s or J5s?) then you're probably doing a low light tank so with the bio-load you may find you have enough macros (nitrogen (N), phosphates(P) and potassium(K)) in the water without having to add them. It does depend on your lighting but if you were to begin using TPN+ (which has added N,P & K) then you would probably notice increased growth. The only other thing I would do would be to spread the dosage over the week, say do 3 doses of 5ml.

Latest thinking suggests that there's no point in having the siesta and that you're better off just having a straight 8 hour photo period with your CO2 doing the same an hour or so in advance.

 

[yodaman23]

Thanks again for reply I have the original t8? fittings but the bulbs are Interpet 18w Triplus 30% more light ment to be shall I go for the T5s and what bulbs would you recomend either way .
The reason for the siesta is that I developed slime algae but it is under control now and was advised by lfs to do a siesta
Do I up the dose of the tpn as some leaves are yellow/brown in color
thanks again for help

richard

 

[Ed Seeley]

The siesta idea was a bit of a fad in my opinion. One idea behind it was that it allowed CO2 levels to increase during the dark period that the plants could then use when the lights were on. The other was that plants didn't mind having two short daylength periods whereas algae hated it. To be honest neither really seem to hold water. Get good CO2 and decent lights; set them for 8 hour daylength to start with and you can increase to 10 hours if there are no problems. I have used Daylight Plus lights in Compact T5 and T8 versions and they are good, but you can get good daylight bulbs much cheaper from other sources.

 

[Egmel]

Do I up the dose of the tpn as some leaves are yellow/brown in color

http://www.theplantedtank.co.uk/deficiencies.htm

I would guess it's more likely a lack of nitrogen and you may need to look at a fert which includes this, try TPN+ or you could use dry ferts and follow EI or a similar routine.