wrote in message
ups.com...

Koi-Lo wrote:
wrote in message
ups.com...

You need to provide a nice range of nutrients for plants in order for
them to grow well, not too low= algae, not too high= dead fish from
very high NO3(100ppm or more using KNO3)
====================
Not everyone knows what you're talking about. Not being a chemist, I
have
no idea what the above are. And not everyone can afford a large number
of
tests kits. So we tend to stick to the plants that thrive for us with a
minimum of supplements.
--
KL
======================
Hi,
You know what baking soda is? Sodium bicarbonate.
If stump remover(KNO3) works better for you, that's simple enough.

I'm not suggsting you buy a test kit, I never once did.
Actually quite the opposite, but if you want to verify vai a test kit,
you may, but then you also need to make some standard solutions of
known amounts of NO3 to make sure the test kit is not in error. Many
folks have made that mistake and still do.

NO3= nitrAte

There are many acronyms that chemist, hobbyists, feeble minded people
like myself use. LFS is a common one few outside our hobby might
know........
Any chem formula is easy to search to see what it might be.

You do have google search right here on the page after all
Still, it sounds all Greek if you are not a little familar with it.
You see the fertilizer bags for your lawn etc, they have 3 numbers,
NPK, % of the these same fertilizers, Nitrogen(N), Phosphorus(P), and
Potassium(K).

Yes. Those are the ones I'm familiar with - along with the micronutrients
mentioned on the containers of regular houseplant fertilizers.

Now Farmer Bigweed is no chemist either..............but he knows that
adding his fertilizer 3x a week on his rice keeps the algae back and
the rice growing well.
He's a little worried that his crops might get burned from all this
fertilizer and potential for build up.

So he drains the field once a week and then adds the fertilizer right
back to prevent any residual build up.

I see.

The main difference between us and Farmer Bigweed is that we use only
dose NO3, not NH4 (Ammonium, you know the stuff that kills fish real
well even if there's a little).

I know the stuff.

Otherwise, it's the same............
Farmer Bigweed needs no test kits because he knows how much water
volume is in his fields, and he knows how much kilograms of fertilizer
he needs to add to get a good level of NO3.

So if he changes say 50% of the water in the rice field, he will never
build uop more than 2x the maxmimum amount dosed for that week.

You can easily estimate tha ppms using a dosing caluculator on
line(there are many, see Chuck Gadd's dosing calculator).

I know adding 1/4 teaspoon of KNO3 will add 10-11ppm of NO3 to an 20
gal tank for each dose.

So if I dose 3x a week: 30ppm total.

If I assume that the plants will not take up any and do weekly 50%
water changes, the max build up possible is 60ppm NO3.

This is a simple mathmatical equation referred to as an infinite series
of dilutions.

4x 7 = 28ppm.

Brevity snip!

Give me a tank volume and light, whether you use CO2 or not, and I can
prescribe a very simple, cheap way to dose it and target these levels.

OK... I have 55g tanks and 10g tanks,... all planted. I would love the
information and where I can get cheap fertilizers without the high cost of
shipping and handling ($18 per order). Potassium nitrate is not available
in my area.

You can read more about EI and there's even an "EI light" version
around on the web etc

http://www.barrreport.com/forums/forumdisplay.php?f=4

Thanks... I'll check this out. :-)
--
KL.......
Frugal ponding since 1995.
Aquariums since 1952.
My Pond & Aquarium Pages:
http://tinyurl.com/9do58
*Note: There are two "Koi-Lo's" on the pond and aquaria groups.
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