OldMan

Whatever it is that grows in the micro solution can be removed with a coffee filter and the refrigerated solution will then last a very long time. I had the issue with my first ever batch and it was about 3 months before the micros were used up and it was time to make a new batch. Simply filtering the solution only worked for a week or two but refrigerating it afterward made it just last and last. I have never added anything but fish food and fish waste to my El Natural so would not know where to start using the trace mix on that tank. I have assumed that it is not needed and so far that seems to be proving true. Many people would consider my tap water ridiculous for growing plants because it comes from the tap quite hard with a high KH, a 7.8 pH and 325 ppm of TDS. When I am getting ready to do a water change after about 4 months, it has a TDS of about 320 to 340 and I do not bother to measure anything else because I figure the plants are keeping up between water changes. One thing I have noticed is that the vallisneria roots in the substrate on this tank while the runners seem to run far from the substrate in the tanks that don't have the potting soil in them.