How To Increase Po4 To 1 Ppm

[G_Sharky]

hey guys,
I just wanna know how much should I dose the fleet enema to to increase my phosphate to 1 ppm, this is the first time I'm dosing phospates and actually following the EI method. I test my phosphate 2 days ago and it was below 0.5 ppm and I was told to put 4 drops of fleet enema everyother day.. Also this is my EI list for 7 days: My tank btw is 20 gallons US/6.5 watts per gallon, but will decrease it to 3.5 W/gallon/Co2 is 20 ppm. I'm using dry ferts that is mix with distilled water(2 tbs per 250 ml water)
water parameters:
ph 7
kh 6
nitrate below 5 pmm

Mon KN03 2 ml/ P04(fleet enema)???/ MGS04 5 ml
Tue 2 ml flourish Excel/ tropica master grow 5 ml/ MGS04 5ml/ K2S04 5 ml
Wed KN03 2 ml/ P04/ MGS04 5 ml
Thur 50% WATER CHANGE/ KN03 5 ml/ PO4/ MGS04 5 ml/ K2SO4 5 ml
Fri TROPICA 5 ml/ EXCEL 2 ml/ MGS04 5 ml
Sat KNO3 2ml/ P04/ MGS04 5 ml/ K2S04 5 ml
Sun Tropica 5 ml/ MGS04 5ml/ K2SO4 5 ml

What do you guys think??? Will this work cause i'm currently having some hair algae issues especially on my gloss and all my plants...thanks

 

[George Farmer]

zig's your man on the fleet PO4 issue.

Meanwhile I'd concentrate on getting your CO2 to 30ppm and NO3 to around 20ppm. These two factors will be contributing to your algae. You're wise to drop the lighting too.

When you say "KNO3 2ml, MGS04 5 ml, K2S04 5 ml" what does the ml refer to? Is it a solution, if so what is the ppm (mg/l) of each dose?

 

[G_Sharky]

These are based on the fertilizer calculator for mixing the dry ferts to water so
2 tablespoon of KN03 with 250 ml of water for instance would give me
1 ml of the solution= 1.08 ppm....

Attention Zig....I need help...lol....

 

[George Farmer]

Amazing what the search facility can do!

http/www.fishforums.net/index.php?showtopic=99017

 

[zig]

Sorry i didnt see this post on my last visit to the forum.

Personally i dont like useing the drops method that some advocate, i have tried in the past the supposed appropriate amount of drops for my tank size, and basically it didnt come anywhere near what i would have measured out in mililiters, the dropper on your bottle of fleet may be different than mine, you could always try measureing out the appropriate amount of drops and see if they equal the amount of mls they are supposed to, i would definatly suggest you do this first of all, because in my case it was way off the mark and i would have been consistantly underdosing the tank, anyway just a word to the wise, it may work for you but i would double check it first of all.

As a rule of thumb you dose 1/3 of a ml (0.33ml) of fleet enema for every 10 US gallons, this rule of thumb is pretty accurate, the computation for a 20 gallon would be as follows.

20 US gallons = 80 litres

The amount of usuable phosphate in each standard bottle of fleet enema is 131 ml

80/131 = 0.61 ml

>So each 0.61 ml of fleet enema will give you 1ppm po4 if dosed in your tank

Personally i use a plastic syringe which i got for free in my local chemist for dosing, but if you work out the drops to make up that amount of mls as stated above this will be fine, and just make sure to check your tapwater for po4 as well before you start, mine reads 0 so all of my po4 comes from the fleet.

How much did you pay btw for the bottle of fleet just out of interest?

So basically approx 0.60ml of fleet = 1 ppm po4 for a 20 gallon.

 

[G_Sharky]

Thanks for the info zig...I actually have a dropper that measures mills so thanks for the specific amount....The fleet was around $8 canadian, but my mom works at shoppers so she probably got a discount.... Ohh yeah one more question...should I add 1 ppm of phosphate everyday or should I increase it slowly if i'm starting of really low....the last time I test for phosphate the result came close to 0

 

[zig]

I would dose 1ppm at a time, no need to build it up over the course of a few days or anything like that, you will not dose the phosphate everyday, there is no need, in my main tank i dose 1ppm po4 every second day and this is more than sufficient for me, 1ppm 3x per week should be loads for most tanks between water changes, i am presuming you are dosing in accordance with EI principles. Normally you want to aim for a 10-1 ratio of nitrate to phosphate if following EI. Only dose the po4 on the same day you dose the KNO3, these macros should be dosed seperatly from the micronutrients, the po4 can react with iron and precipitate out of the water and also cause you tank water to cloud up.

 

[G_Sharky]

thanks zig...my EI routine is on the top post btw.....I look at yours and at day 7 you dose nothing before the water change..Is there a significance on this??? is it bad to dose ferts the day before the water change??? sorry if i'm starting to sound annoying......

 

[zig]

thanks zig...my EI routine is on the top post btw.....I look at yours and at day 7 you dose nothing before the water change..Is there a significance on this??? is it bad to dose ferts the day before the water change??? sorry if i'm starting to sound annoying......

well planted tanks are hard work and you deserve a day off!

No significiance really, basically you only need to dose so much ferts each week, and because we dose macro and micros on different days, 3x by micros and 3x by macros is enough to give us a good spread throughout the week, but its not set in stone, you can dose 1x or 2x per week if you wish as long as you dose the appropriate amount, most peole though will spread the ferts right throughout the week like i do if dosing EI, its probably fairer on your fish as well not to be dosing large amounts of ferts all at once.

Im just looking at your dosing routine

I would not be tempted to run 6.5WPG over this tank you will be infested with algae in know time, id say go 3.5WPG until you get a grip on things and the tank gets balanced out, even then 6.5WPG is excessive IMO.

You will definatly be dosing too little nitrate at 2ppm every second day

dose 10ppm KNO3 3x per week
dose 1ppm po4 3x per week
dose 5ml trace (flourish) 3x per week
add extra k or potassium to bring you up to 15-20ppm per week
you dont need to dose magnesium every day (if at all) dose about half a teaspoon of mg once a week after the 50% water change
Keep your CO2 at 30ppm or above, at the current 20ppm co2 you will get algae continuiously until you correct this.

The above is presuming you have enough plants in the tank to begin with.

Best of luck with it and post some pics.

 

[G_Sharky]

thanks zig...my tank is heavyly planted and I just bought and planted a couple more species.....my tank is posted on the members tanks section that is pinned on this forum....I will take a pic as soon as the plants take off and the algae goes away.....If I get this right It could be a nicer one....lol..