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How to dose Macronutrients
I have a heavily planted 80 gallon with CO2 injected and 190 watts of CF.
Lately I have been fighting a horrible case of thread algae. I think it is because my macros are not dosed enough. My question is this. Do you think it is ok to dose 1/4 tsp of KNO3 a few times a week? I never register nitrates even after using 5 ml per day of a solution of 3 tsp KNO3 per 500 ml water. I think this method is just too little nitrate. I also use K2SO4 to supplement the K. I use approx. 4 ml of iron per week and 4 ml of Flourish per week. thoughts.... |
#2
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How to dose Macronutrients
"Mike" wrote in message igy.com...
I have a heavily planted 80 gallon with CO2 injected and 190 watts of CF. Lately I have been fighting a horrible case of thread algae. I think it is because my macros are not dosed enough. My question is this. Do you think it is ok to dose 1/4 tsp of KNO3 a few times a week? I never register nitrates even after using 5 ml per day of a solution of 3 tsp KNO3 per 500 ml water. I think this method is just too little nitrate. I also use K2SO4 to supplement the K. I use approx. 4 ml of iron per week and 4 ml of Flourish per week. thoughts.... Here you go Mike: This is an easy method: First trim off all algae, prune as needed well, try to get all the algae off. Then clean filter etc and do a 50% water change. Check the CO2 twice at least. Make sue it's 20-30ppm for the entire day cycle. Then: 1/2 teaspoon 2x a week till your plants grow back and get lush again. 3x a week thereafter. This should yield 6 ppm or extremely close(+-1ppm) if the tap water has none and there's none in the tank per dose. 1/2 teaspoon K2SO4 after water change only 1/8 teaspoon KH2PO4/(or Fleet enema/H3PO4 etc) 2x a week, 3x a week after the tank grows out 15mls of traces 2x a week then 3x later. Pick on the algae good, add SAE's, Amano Shrimps. Otto cats, snails, Mollies, Barbs, Flag fish etc. Scrub tank good and be very thorough about picking off algae and maintaining this for 2-3 weeks. You should be in good shape right away and it should be in very good shape after 3 weeks. Make sure you have at least a KH and GH of 3 or more. Keep on this routine and you'll be good. Now get to work and keep the tank fed and clean. It's not some secret, it's plain old work and thereafter it's relatively easy to keep up. Regards, TomBarr |
#3
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How to dose Macronutrients
Thanks Tom. Is the 15 ml traces total for the week or for each dose twice a
week for a total of 30. Also, would I trace 15 of Flourish and 15 of iron simultaneous? I have not been dosing near that much in fear that the excess iron is what is causing the thread algea. Mike " wrote in message om... "Mike" wrote in message igy.com... I have a heavily planted 80 gallon with CO2 injected and 190 watts of CF. Lately I have been fighting a horrible case of thread algae. I think it is because my macros are not dosed enough. My question is this. Do you think it is ok to dose 1/4 tsp of KNO3 a few times a week? I never register nitrates even after using 5 ml per day of a solution of 3 tsp KNO3 per 500 ml water. I think this method is just too little nitrate. I also use K2SO4 to supplement the K. I use approx. 4 ml of iron per week and 4 ml of Flourish per week. thoughts.... Here you go Mike: This is an easy method: First trim off all algae, prune as needed well, try to get all the algae off. Then clean filter etc and do a 50% water change. Check the CO2 twice at least. Make sue it's 20-30ppm for the entire day cycle. Then: 1/2 teaspoon 2x a week till your plants grow back and get lush again. 3x a week thereafter. This should yield 6 ppm or extremely close(+-1ppm) if the tap water has none and there's none in the tank per dose. 1/2 teaspoon K2SO4 after water change only 1/8 teaspoon KH2PO4/(or Fleet enema/H3PO4 etc) 2x a week, 3x a week after the tank grows out 15mls of traces 2x a week then 3x later. Pick on the algae good, add SAE's, Amano Shrimps. Otto cats, snails, Mollies, Barbs, Flag fish etc. Scrub tank good and be very thorough about picking off algae and maintaining this for 2-3 weeks. You should be in good shape right away and it should be in very good shape after 3 weeks. Make sure you have at least a KH and GH of 3 or more. Keep on this routine and you'll be good. Now get to work and keep the tank fed and clean. It's not some secret, it's plain old work and thereafter it's relatively easy to keep up. Regards, TomBarr |
#4
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How to dose Macronutrients
15mls per DOSE (Flourish only)
I would do this for the iron: add a spike 3-5mls say once a week, in the middle or 2-3days prior to the water change. Some feel this added iron will add a little sparkle to their tank. Although many claimn that excess iron cause algae, thread or other wise, I have consistently over dosed iron way beyond any possible plant requirements and have not had thread algae issues or any algae issues. I have added 2x the amount I suggested to you at higher lighting. Much of the dogma concerning iron causing algae, or PO4 causing algae is due in most part to some other nutrient or light/CO2 issues. If the CO2 or the NO3 are too low, adding "too much" iron appears to cause algae. Look at it this way: there can only be "one" limiting nutrient. If I'm adding everything above this limiting nutrient threshold for the algae, why don't I have algae? The plants need more than the algae. They are much larger in terms of biomass and exporting biomass out of the tank. Try and remove a kg of biomass in algae out of your 75 gal tank weekly. Now what about plants? Regards, Tom Barr "Mike" wrote in message igy.com... Thanks Tom. Is the 15 ml traces total for the week or for each dose twice a week for a total of 30. Also, would I trace 15 of Flourish and 15 of iron simultaneous? I have not been dosing near that much in fear that the excess iron is what is causing the thread algea. Mike " wrote in message om... "Mike" wrote in message igy.com... I have a heavily planted 80 gallon with CO2 injected and 190 watts of CF. Lately I have been fighting a horrible case of thread algae. I think it is because my macros are not dosed enough. My question is this. Do you think it is ok to dose 1/4 tsp of KNO3 a few times a week? I never register nitrates even after using 5 ml per day of a solution of 3 tsp KNO3 per 500 ml water. I think this method is just too little nitrate. I also use K2SO4 to supplement the K. I use approx. 4 ml of iron per week and 4 ml of Flourish per week. thoughts.... Here you go Mike: This is an easy method: First trim off all algae, prune as needed well, try to get all the algae off. Then clean filter etc and do a 50% water change. Check the CO2 twice at least. Make sue it's 20-30ppm for the entire day cycle. Then: 1/2 teaspoon 2x a week till your plants grow back and get lush again. 3x a week thereafter. This should yield 6 ppm or extremely close(+-1ppm) if the tap water has none and there's none in the tank per dose. 1/2 teaspoon K2SO4 after water change only 1/8 teaspoon KH2PO4/(or Fleet enema/H3PO4 etc) 2x a week, 3x a week after the tank grows out 15mls of traces 2x a week then 3x later. Pick on the algae good, add SAE's, Amano Shrimps. Otto cats, snails, Mollies, Barbs, Flag fish etc. Scrub tank good and be very thorough about picking off algae and maintaining this for 2-3 weeks. You should be in good shape right away and it should be in very good shape after 3 weeks. Make sure you have at least a KH and GH of 3 or more. Keep on this routine and you'll be good. Now get to work and keep the tank fed and clean. It's not some secret, it's plain old work and thereafter it's relatively easy to keep up. Regards, TomBarr |
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