Justin wrote:
Thanks for the response Elaine!

I looked at the BarrReport web-page and the article that you
mentioned... It was slightly confusing I must say... But what I
basically got from it was that you put in the amount of ferts that your
plants would take up as a maximum and then accompany this with large
water changes... i have also boosted my CO2. I think I may need to
pull back a bit on the K2SO4 though, unless I am putting in matching
amounts of Nitrogen or PO4 ( that is to bring it up to the NPK
ratio)... Is that right?

K won't hurt your tank unless you really overdo it. However, it is
better to balance the NPK ratio. The nice thing about putting in
nitrogen and phosphate if your fish load is light is that the plants
really green up and look nice.

I am going to purchase the Trace mix and make PMDD... The only problem
I had with the trace mix I found was that the calcium was in a carbonate
form... Is this ok to use? Or should I hunt around for one that has
calcium as citrate or another form?

Tom recommends Seachem Equilibrium for Ca++ and Mg++ if your water is
soft or you're using RO. You'll be mostly Seachem Equilibrium, trace &
iron mix, KN03, and a touch of K2P04. Seachem Equilibrium provides
potash too, so you don't need to dose with K2S04 if you use it. Do you
know about gregwatson.com for PMDD supplies? Plantex CSM+B at the
regular iron is working well for me.

--
Elaine T __
http://eethomp.com/fish.html '__
rec.aquaria.* FAQ http://faq.thekrib.com