Seachem's NPK products, Australian planted aquarium and Correct Ratio's

Hi all,

I just want to check if I have understood something correctly, it's just
that I have started dosing NPK and I am putting a lot more in than I thought
I would be, well that is a lot more than Seachem recommend...

I am working off (what I think is Tom Barr's ratio) of 15:1:20 and I through
that a level of 15mg/l for Nitrate was too high, so I am keeping my tank at
levels of 7.5:.5:10 being mg/l... I don't know if this is correct to start
with (i just divided everything by 2)

Seachem recommend putting in roughly about 30ml of Potassium a week whereas
I am putting in 40-60mls and most websites I read say Nitrate and Phosphate
should be zero, but I cannot get my Nitrate to drop to zero, it is
constantly at 5mg/l (and i'm bumping it up to 7.5 for the ratio's) But my
Phosphate drops to zero every week...

I am getting great growth and everything was going well until tonight after
my water change I did all my tests and Nitrate was 20mg/l whereas I have
been following the above fertilzation regime that I have been doing for 6
weeks now... When I last tested Nitrate, it was 5mg/l so I added enough
Seachem Nitrogen to bring it up to 7.5 as I have been doing for weeks, but
somehow it has just quite alarmingly... The only thing I can contribute it
to is my Red Tiger Lilly (or is it Lotus...?) has lost two leaves this week
and I have been letting them just rot in the water as I was advised never to
cut their leaves if you want them to flower...

Can anyone tell me if i'm on the right track or if i'm way off?

thank you.

Tank Spec's.
MH lighting
Pressurized CO2
KH3
PH6.8
200litre (approx 40gal)

Justin

Justin wrote:
Hi all,

I just want to check if I have understood something correctly, it's just
that I have started dosing NPK and I am putting a lot more in than I
thought I would be, well that is a lot more than Seachem recommend...

I am working off (what I think is Tom Barr's ratio) of 15:1:20 and I
through that a level of 15mg/l for Nitrate was too high, so I am keeping
my tank at levels of 7.5:.5:10 being mg/l... I don't know if this is
correct to start with (i just divided everything by 2)

Seachem recommend putting in roughly about 30ml of Potassium a week
whereas I am putting in 40-60mls and most websites I read say Nitrate
and Phosphate should be zero, but I cannot get my Nitrate to drop to
zero, it is constantly at 5mg/l (and i'm bumping it up to 7.5 for the
ratio's) But my Phosphate drops to zero every week...

I am getting great growth and everything was going well until tonight
after my water change I did all my tests and Nitrate was 20mg/l whereas
I have been following the above fertilzation regime that I have been
doing for 6 weeks now... When I last tested Nitrate, it was 5mg/l so I
added enough Seachem Nitrogen to bring it up to 7.5 as I have been doing
for weeks, but somehow it has just quite alarmingly... The only thing I
can contribute it to is my Red Tiger Lilly (or is it Lotus...?) has lost
two leaves this week and I have been letting them just rot in the water
as I was advised never to cut their leaves if you want them to flower...

Can anyone tell me if i'm on the right track or if i'm way off?

thank you.

Tank Spec's.
MH lighting
Pressurized CO2
KH3
PH6.8
200litre (approx 40gal)

Justin



MH lighting over a 40 gal?!? Cool! No wonder your tank sucks down
ferts. Seachem probably calculated for a more typical 2-3 wpg. I
wonder about the accuracy of your nitrate test kit reading since things
have been stable for a bit. Did you try to retest? Also test your tap
water and see if there was a nitrate spike.

I grow full-sized Nymphaea lilies in my pond, and I cut off the old
leaves. They flower fine. I don't know specifically about red tiger
lilies, but I've never grown any flowering plant in either my pond or
garden that missed it's dead leaves.

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

Personally I stick to Tom Barr's ratio as best I can. I've been algae
free for over 12 months now so something must be right.

Statements that zero PO4 and NO3 are good are plain rubbish. A good
idea perhaps for beginners with low plant bio-mass and nutrient uptake
but for anyone with more that a little growth then it's asking for
trouble. Before I became aware of dosing N, P and K I ran very low NO3
and zero PO4 (using RowaPhos) because I beleived as commonly stated -
that zero NO3 and PO4 are good. The end result was a massive
infestation of BGA and all sorts of other algae.

Thankfully I have seen the "light" and dose KNO3 and KH2PO4. NO3 -
15ppm and PO4 - 1ppm. I've just looked into dosing K seperately (see
my first post).

Just my two pence worth.


--
gf225

Thanks for the responses!

I am thinking of making up some PMDD... As per www.thekrib.com, however I
am a bit nervous as my tank is going so well at the moment using seachem NPK
products and dupla for my micronutrients... I was always taught, "if it's
not broken don't fix it", but there is only one place in Australia that
sells the seachem products and they are out of Seachem K at the moment and
it's working out a bit expensive... I am dosing 40ml a week, sometimes
more, so the 250ml seachem bottle is only lasting around 6 doses then I have
to buy some more... Expensive journey... Whereas if I do use Muriate of
potash, it's about AU$6.00 for approx 2kg which should last a couple of
years, I'm just worried about the chlorine in it...

Also, sourcing KH2PO4 and KNO3 is proving difficult in australia... I went
to a chemist last night and got excited when the had the Fleet product, but
it was lemon ginger flavour... Don't think the fish would like that too
much... Will keep on looking...

Any Aussies out there able to tell me when I can get KH2PO4 and KNO3 in
Australia??

If anyone is interested, I found these sites a great help...

http://rexgrigg.com/dosing.htm

http://www.plantedtank.net/forums/ar....php/f-11.html


Thanks.

Justin.

"gf225" wrote in message
...

Personally I stick to Tom Barr's ratio as best I can. I've been algae
free for over 12 months now so something must be right.

Statements that zero PO4 and NO3 are good are plain rubbish. A good
idea perhaps for beginners with low plant bio-mass and nutrient uptake
but for anyone with more that a little growth then it's asking for
trouble. Before I became aware of dosing N, P and K I ran very low NO3
and zero PO4 (using RowaPhos) because I beleived as commonly stated -
that zero NO3 and PO4 are good. The end result was a massive
infestation of BGA and all sorts of other algae.

Thankfully I have seen the "light" and dose KNO3 and KH2PO4. NO3 -
15ppm and PO4 - 1ppm. I've just looked into dosing K seperately (see
my first post).

Just my two pence worth.


--
gf225

Justin wrote:

Any Aussies out there able to tell me when I can get KH2PO4 and KNO3
in Australia??

A hydroponics shop, or the hydroponics section of some large retail
nurseries.

Justin wrote:
Thanks for the responses!

Whereas if I do use Muriate of potash, it's about AU$6.00
for approx 2kg which should last a couple of years, I'm just worried
about the chlorine in it...

As mentioned elsewhere, it's chloriDe not chloriNe - it's about as inert
an ion as one can get - "Mutiate of potash" is Potassium chloride, the
potassium equivalent of table salt.

The only concern is eventual accumulation of chloride salts in the tank,
but you'll be dosing at so low a level that it shouldn't be a concern if
you have any sort of water change regime at all.

Also, sourcing KH2PO4 and KNO3 is proving difficult in australia...

Don't know about the phosphate, but the KNO3 is also sometimes sold as
stump remover. Don't know about the legality of it in Oz - it might
potentially be regulated as bomb making material.

I
went to a chemist last night and got excited when the had the Fleet
product, but it was lemon ginger flavour... Don't think the fish would
like that too much... Will keep on looking...

Hmm ... I'm only familar with Fleet Enema - I'm unsure why one would
want lemon ginger flavouring in an enema.

"Rocco Moretti" wrote in message news:dc5e6g$3n9

Hmm ... I'm only familar with Fleet Enema - I'm unsure why one would
want lemon ginger flavouring in an enema.

ROFLMAO
--
Kind Regards
Cameron

Found a supplier of KH2PO4, KNO3 and K2SO4 in Australia!! It's in 25kg
bags... But it's around $48.00 each bag so a lifetimes supply of each one
for the cost of approx 3 bottles of seachem...

I am going to get it in about a week. Maybe sell some excess to any
aussie's that need it if they are interested...

Thanks all for your help!!!

Justin.

"Rocco Moretti" wrote in message
...
Justin wrote:
Thanks for the responses!

Whereas if I do use Muriate of potash, it's about AU$6.00 for approx
2kg which should last a couple of years, I'm just worried about the
chlorine in it...

As mentioned elsewhere, it's chloriDe not chloriNe - it's about as inert
an ion as one can get - "Mutiate of potash" is Potassium chloride, the
potassium equivalent of table salt.

The only concern is eventual accumulation of chloride salts in the tank,
but you'll be dosing at so low a level that it shouldn't be a concern if
you have any sort of water change regime at all.

Also, sourcing KH2PO4 and KNO3 is proving difficult in australia...

Don't know about the phosphate, but the KNO3 is also sometimes sold as
stump remover. Don't know about the legality of it in Oz - it might
potentially be regulated as bomb making material.

I went to a chemist last night and got excited when the had the Fleet
product, but it was lemon ginger flavour... Don't think the fish would
like that too much... Will keep on looking...

Hmm ... I'm only familar with Fleet Enema - I'm unsure why one would want
lemon ginger flavouring in an enema.

Rocco, Fleet also have mouthwashes as per the posting on the website
http://www.plantedtank.net/forums/ar....php/f-11.html which also
mentioned flavoured ones... Thus the Lemon-ginger flavour...

I think it's only the US and Canada that have laws on importing KNO3 but i
could be wrong... But sending within Australia is fine anyways...

I think I will buy pure K2SO4, just to be on the safe side... Skip the
Muriate of Potash...






"Rocco Moretti" wrote in message
...
Justin wrote:
Thanks for the responses!

Whereas if I do use Muriate of potash, it's about AU$6.00 for approx
2kg which should last a couple of years, I'm just worried about the
chlorine in it...

As mentioned elsewhere, it's chloriDe not chloriNe - it's about as inert
an ion as one can get - "Mutiate of potash" is Potassium chloride, the
potassium equivalent of table salt.

The only concern is eventual accumulation of chloride salts in the tank,
but you'll be dosing at so low a level that it shouldn't be a concern if
you have any sort of water change regime at all.

Also, sourcing KH2PO4 and KNO3 is proving difficult in australia...

Don't know about the phosphate, but the KNO3 is also sometimes sold as
stump remover. Don't know about the legality of it in Oz - it might
potentially be regulated as bomb making material.

I went to a chemist last night and got excited when the had the Fleet
product, but it was lemon ginger flavour... Don't think the fish would
like that too much... Will keep on looking...

Hmm ... I'm only familar with Fleet Enema - I'm unsure why one would want
lemon ginger flavouring in an enema.

Rocco,

Here is where I sourced the Chlorine from...
http://www.nutri-tech.com.au/hints.htm#NO3
The article is as follows....

Dump Muriate of Potash:

Muriate contains 50% microbe-killing chlorine. Sulfate of Potash may be more
expensive, but most Queensland soils are sulfur deficient, and this benefit
should be factored into the cost difference. It is always difficult to
quantify microbe damage, because the organisms are not visible, but there is
ample, visible evidence when we consider earthworms: NTS have collected
several reports of reduced earthworm numbers following prolonged use of
Muriate. Leading American consultants cite cases where this phenomenon is
reversed. Earthworms tend to return following a switch from muriate of
Potash to Sulfate of potash.

Just though I would mention it as chlorine is not that good in aquaria, but
maybe it's different here in Australia...

Thanks justin.


"Rocco Moretti" wrote in message
...
Justin wrote:
Thanks for the responses!

Whereas if I do use Muriate of potash, it's about AU$6.00 for approx
2kg which should last a couple of years, I'm just worried about the
chlorine in it...

As mentioned elsewhere, it's chloriDe not chloriNe - it's about as inert
an ion as one can get - "Mutiate of potash" is Potassium chloride, the
potassium equivalent of table salt.

The only concern is eventual accumulation of chloride salts in the tank,
but you'll be dosing at so low a level that it shouldn't be a concern if
you have any sort of water change regime at all.

Also, sourcing KH2PO4 and KNO3 is proving difficult in australia...

Don't know about the phosphate, but the KNO3 is also sometimes sold as
stump remover. Don't know about the legality of it in Oz - it might
potentially be regulated as bomb making material.

I went to a chemist last night and got excited when the had the Fleet
product, but it was lemon ginger flavour... Don't think the fish would
like that too much... Will keep on looking...

Hmm ... I'm only familar with Fleet Enema - I'm unsure why one would want
lemon ginger flavouring in an enema.