Dry Ferts / Diy Mix Dosages

[McG]

Hi Folks,
Background
I've followed the site for many years and until now haven't felt confident enough with chemicals to try EI, but after some experimenting with test kits and reading a load of articles (to the point of overload- start again, and again, and again....think you get the drift) anyway the point is I am about to start EI on a Rio 240 -55 UK gallon 4 foot long tank (typical footprint), I live in Edinburgh and the water out the tap's soft, so want to get the gH up as currently at 1 dGh and think the addition of some calcium carbonate will benefit all parties (fish and plants in) the tank.

Equipment
Light: 3 x 55 w T5
DIY CO2 hagen reactor and diffuser (soon to be replaced with D&D injected when cannister arrives)
Filtration:
Fluval 305 external (effisubstrat in chambers, +bottom chambers with tights filled crushed coral
juwel internal 1000 g/ph,
Eheim 2322 thermo effisubstrat

Tank Parameters
pH: 7
dKH:5
dGH:1
NitrAtes: 30-40 ppm
(*don't have nitrIte or ammonia tests)

Minimum weekly water change 20%- varies, often more

So my question really relates to the sticky copied info to illustrate below (many many thanks to George Farmer for pinning the info and also to Monkey Biz for different thread info about gH and kH)

anyway it says you can mix all your dry powders to 500ml of water and dose like that. If I am to add all the powders to one bottle will it not mean that dosing 10 ml's of KNO3 (nitrate) would be a the equivalent of a double does of KH2PO4 (or 5 x dose of K2SO4)? Or is it that you would still have three separate 500 ml bottles? Oh and I re the doses- i thought if I started at half dose that way I should see signs from the plant life but not have any drastic effects on the fish, the size of the dose in the aquarium doesn't really matter at this stage though it's more about whether I have three bottles or one - My apologies if it's a stupid question- only just really getting to grips with gH and KH and thanks for bearing with me slavering on


There are two ways in which you can dose the nutrients, by making a stock solution or by adding dry using a set of standard spoons. If making solutions then this is a guide to the amounts required.

Potassium Nitrate - 40g to 500ml of water and adding 10ml per 100L of water would give you a value of 5ppm.
Potassium Phosphate - 15g to 500ml of water and adding 5ml per 100L of water would give you a value of 1ppm.
Potassium Sulphate - 55g to 500ml of water and adding 10ml per 100L of water would give you a value of 5ppm


It is possible to add the solutions into one bottle except for the trace mix as, depending on the chelator used, the iron could react with the phosphate. Generally speaking it is a good idea to make the solutions up in separate bottles until you are comfortable with the dosing.

nb. It is preferable to make up the solutions in RO water or Deionised water, but tap water can be used if need be.


Dosing

This is a general dosing guide that can be used with the following tank sizes. Solution volumes are calculated on making the stock solutions as above. Tank volumes are in US gallons. To convert to UK gallons multiply these figures by 0.83

10-20 Gallons (38-76 litres)
10ml solution or 1/8 tsp KNO3 3x a week
5ml solution or 1/32 tsp KH2PO4 3x a week
2ml solution or 1/32 tsp K2SO4 3x a week
2ml or 1/32 tsp traces 3x a week

 

[aaronnorth]

anyway it says you can mix all your dry powders to 500ml of water and dose like that. If I am to add all the powders to one bottle will it not mean that dosing 10 ml's of KNO3 (nitrate) would be a the equivalent of a double does of KH2PO4 (or 5 x dose of K2SO4)? Or is it that you would still have three separate 500 ml bottles?

you have to calculate the doses so you are only dosing the equivalent of 1 dose.

Potassium Nitrate - 40g to 500ml of water and adding 10ml per 100L of water would give you a value of 5ppm.
Potassium Phosphate - 15g to 500ml of water and adding 5ml per 100L of water would give you a value of 1ppm.

with the above as an example

40g to 500ml of water and adding 10ml per 100L of water would give you a value of 5ppm.
so with the KH2PO4, add 7.5g (1/2 of 15g) to 500ml water, adding 10ml per 100l would still give a value of 1ppm.

the K2SO4 stays the same.

Oh and I re the doses- i thought if I started at half dose that way I should see signs from the plant life but not have any drastic effects on the fish, the size of the dose in the aquarium doesn't really matter at this stage though it's more about whether I have three bottles or one - My apologies if it's a stupid question- only just really getting to grips with gH and KH and thanks for bearing with me slavering on

dose the reccomended, the chemicals wont harm your fish, i know some people who do 3x EI!

you could also add Gh Booster, http/www.aquaessentials.co.uk/index.php?...roducts_id=1377

 

[McG]

Thanks for the info Aaron, I've added some GH booster to my order of dry ferts, so just waiting for the the package to arrive - patience has never been my strong point! So just to recap that I'm understanding correctly, i adjust the original amounts listed when mixing the dry ferts, to take into account the ei dosing illustration.

That seems straight forwards can i just ask why the K2SO4 stays the same when I'm halving the KH2PO4 in the bottle? My apologies if I'm making things difficult for myself but would it not make sense to reduce the concentration also. e.g. KNO3 stays the same 40 g to 500 ml, the KH2PO4 halves to 7.5g as you pointed out (many ta's) but then would it not make sense that the K2SO4 should be reduced to 13 g (since the 30 ml from my DIY 500ml Everthing's in bottle will actually be approx 4 times the recommended dose of 8 ml.

I also hope you know that I'm not questioning your knowledge just got about a zillion nonsense questions buzzing around in my brain and find it difficult to ask the right question.

Anyways thanks again for your help- in all honesty deliberating putting the powders in some aquarium water now though the idea of a 30 ml dose of everything does sound a lot less hassle.


"Potassium Nitrate (KNO3) - 40g to 500ml of water and adding 10ml per 100L of water would give you a value of 5ppm.
Potassium Phosphate (KH2PO4) - 15g to 500ml of water and adding 5ml per 100L of water would give you a value of 1ppm.
Potassium Sulphate (K2S04) - 55g to 500ml of water and adding 10ml per 100L of water would give you a value of 5ppm

40-60 Gallons (152-227 litres)
30ml solution or 1/2 tsp KNO3 3x a week
18ml solution or 1/8 tsp KH2PO4 3x a week
8ml solution or 1/8 tsp K2SO4 3x a week
10ml or 1/8 tsp traces 3x a week"

 

[aaronnorth]

hat seems straight forwards can i just ask why the K2SO4 stays the same when I'm halving the KH2PO4 in the bottle?

Potassium Nitrate - 40g to 500ml of water and adding 10ml per 100L of water would give you a value of 5ppm.
Potassium Phosphate - 15g to 500ml of water and adding 5ml per 100L of water would give you a value of 1ppm.
Potassium Sulphate - 55g to 500ml of water and adding 10ml per 100L of water would give you a value of 5ppm

because i have worked it out so that dosing 10ml per 100l will give you the targets listed on the end of the sentence above, KNO3 is the same as you can see i have made it bold.

if you were to leave the KH2PO4 the same (15g) then you would be adding 10ml, which would give you 2ppm.

Hope i havent confused you!

I also hope you know that I'm not questioning your knowledge just got about a zillion nonsense questions buzzing around in my brain and find it difficult to ask the right question.

I am sometimes wrong so it is always good to ask!