Mike

Hello everybody. My name is Mike and although I have been haunting your forum for the past two months, this is my first post..

I have been keeping fish and relatively low maintence plant tanks for years, but as of three or four months ago have finally splurged on Power Compact lights, CO2 tank and regulator and flourite substrates.. And I must say, thanks to all the info on this forum, I have had pretty good results
(thx everybody..)

Now I am moving into a new dimension with the ferts aspect..and I am a bit overwhelmed.. (EI, PPS, PMDD, etc.)

I bought some dry chemicals from Greg Watson's site about two weeks ago.. but I am not sure how to dose this stuff so I was wondering if you guys could take a look at my parameters and give some advice..

Tank: 90 gallon
Lights: 4 x 65w power compact
Substrate: Flourite

PH: 6.4
co2: 35 ppm
KH: 4.0
GH: 260 (very high, huh?)
Phosphates: 4.0 - 5.0 (also very high..)
Nitrite: 0
Ammonia: 0
Nitrate: 25-30 ppm

Note: All in all this tank looks pretty good..(i'll post a photo later..) but I am getting a bit of algae on rubin sword and some dwarf sag...crypts, vals, rotala rotundiflora are unbelievable..

A couple weeks a go, dwary sag leaves got sorta transparent so I added micros (CSM+B from Watson's) and now they look fine..

Mostly I am concerned with high Phosphates and Gh.. And I have no clue as to how to mix/dose the dry chemicals (KNO3 - KH2PO4 and K2SO4 )

Thanks in advance,

Mike

titan97

Hi Mike, and welcome. We were all beginers at one time or another. I've only been into growing plants for a year or so.

The first step is to find out what fert routine you like. EI, PPS, PMDD, etc. I prefer PPS just because I hate water changes. I'm also a chemist, so doing water testing is right up my alley, and I don't mind doing that so much. You can find the PPS sticky in the Fert subforum, which will tell you how to mix up the macros, and how to dose them. I'm sure you can find the EI info either here or on Tom Barr's website. There is a recipe for PMDD on Greg Watson's site, if I recall correctly.

Once you've decided on a way to go, try it out for a month and let us know if you have any problems or other questions. We're all here to help and learn from each other.

-Dustin

imatrout

Mike,

Go to the top of this page and click on Fertilator. There, it suggests the nutrients required and allows you to calculate how much you need to add based on tank size and will tell you how much to add depending upon the ingredient. When using dry ferts from Greg, select the chemical and the doasages in teaspoons. When you calculate it will tell you how much you are adding compared to the recommended levels and allow you to dial it in. I use this tool all the time. It is one of the great attributes of APC!!!

Mike

AAAH thanks...Looks like a good place to start..

Mike