Hi all,

Thanks for the further info!!

To answer the questions (admittedly, I should have included this...)

52 gallon (200 Litre) tank
Ph is 7 in the morning and I aim for 6.6 at night.
KH 2 degrees
GH is around 3 degrees
NO3 is 5ppm
I perform a 40lt (approx 10 gallon) water change on Sunday and a 20lt (half
gallon) water change wednesdays

I have just made a batch of Magnesium from Epsom Salts as per the page given
by Elaine and added that. My Iron I've just lifted to just above 0.4.

I would like to use TMG, but unfortunately it is not availible here in
australia... Seachem is only availible in one state in australia and that
is on the other side of OZ... We have very generic brands of fertilizer
here is australia... Dupla is availible, but is VERY VERY expensive and
only a few places stock it as it's too expensive for most people. I started
out on dupla plant 24, but changed to flourish and my plants are growing
better with that. However, I have just gone back to dupla iron tab's as
they are good and i feel they stay in solution longer than flourish iron (i
put the tab's in the gravel whole and they slowly disolve, so that is also
maybe why they keep the iron higher for longer)

KNO3 KH2PO4 would not be that easy to obtain in Australia...

I use cable heating here as I'm in the south part of australia, where it can
go down to 10 degrees celcius at night. Also, when I was setting up my
planted tank, I was told that it was a must. On another tank w/out gravel
heating, the stones were getting black stuff in them and there were
(anerobic) bacteria building up causing the plants to rot at the base...

I am saving up for a PH probe and have decided on the American Marine PH
controller. That way I can take my KH a bit higher... I would like my KH
to be 3, but w/out the PH controller, in the mornings my PH would be about
7.2 - 7.4 which is a bit high... Especially as I am going to change my fish
to Discus...

Thank you all.

Justin.



wrote in message
ups.com...


Justin wrote:
I am also worried about over-dosing... I just started dosing various
nutrients e.g. calcium, potassium, nitrogen and phosphate but i only have
a
test kit for nitrogen...


You don't need a test kit, especially doing all the water changes.
See Estimative index on the site below.
If you do a 50% weekly water change, the most you build up to it 2x the
weekly dosing amount.

So if you dose 10ppm of NO3 per week, then the max amount of build up
with no growth or plant uptake would be 20ppm.

It does NOT increase infinitely straight up, it levels off and never
quite makes it to 20ppm.

I very rarely add phosphate (only add a small amount when my sword starts
showing green spot algae), I add potassium at every water change (the
flourish postassium and I add enough to increase by 2ppm), nitrate I
measue
with my kit and dose accordingly to keep at 5ppm and for calcium, I just
stick a calcium tablet under the Rotala's.

Am I on the right track?

Thank you once again everyone. Your advise is very appreciated.

Justin.


I think more CO2 definitely, Give the pH/KH range there, you cannot
have enough.

Target should 30ppm, especially with high light.

KNO3
KH2PO4
Traces, either TMG or SeaChem Flourish are good, so is Sera.
Dupla is bit pricey, it might be cheaper there.
For GH: CaCl2 and MgSO4 are good, a test kit will tell if you neen need
to add that(it's fine if it's 3 degrees or higher, same for KH)
KH: baking soda

These are the only real things you might need, if you want higher K+
levels, K2SO4 works well.

How big is your tank?
The plants sound like there is a NO3 deficiency.
Test kits are cheap and poor accuracy, test them against a known
concentration standard to see if they are accurate.
Few brands are. Lamotte and Hach have been the most consistent and also
run the most $$.

But you can estimate the NO3 range easy enough without any testing
other than pH.

A pH probe style monitor are worth their weight in gold for checking
CO2 FYI.
Why do you use a heating cable in Oz?

Regards,
Tom Barr