turbomkt

Ahhh. Guess what I think he means there...

If you confuse KNO3 and KH2PO4, you can have problems. Basically you could end up with extremely high PO4 levels and next to no NO3. That would be a recipe for disaster as your tank gets completely unbalanced.

BryceM

Or in other words, it's ok to mix them together, but don't mix them up.

eklikewhoa

so you are not suppose to mix fe with kh2po4 but seachem's suggested dosing chart suggest dosing iron everyday.

wouldnt the seachem products have the same problem with mixing iron and phosphates?

Laith

What you should not do is mix KH2PO4 and any Fe trace mix in a bottle in order to dose them together. The concentrations in the bottle will be such that the Fe and PO4 will combine (FePO4) and precipitate out.

However, adding each separately to a tank shouldn't be a problem as they will very quickly become very diluted. Using autodosing I dose both every day but just to be on the safe side they are dosed a couple of hours apart. I probably wouldn't have any problem dosing them within minutes of each other or even at the same time at different spots in the tank...

Squawkbert

2 notes
- CaCO3 has limited solubility so you may want to pre mix it in a little hot water, then add it in w/ replacement water during a pwc.

K2HPO3 (dibasic potassium phosphate) is more readily soluble than the monobasic variety and it adds twice the K per unit. Drawbacks - may not be as readily available to everyone, pH is higher than for the monobasic. There is a "tribasic" out there, but it's even less common in labs etc., pH would be higher still and it's no more soluble than dibasic (if memory serves).

eklikewhoa

Thanks for clearing that up.

nos

Well let me see if i understand everything

I'm used to liquid solution, litters and grams so i will use this units and i will use Chuck's online calculator

I'm going to try EI in a 30 litter water tank (7.93 gallons) so will pick the 10-20 gallon example (off course i will reduce a little the fertilization, but thats a detail for now)

10- 20 Gallon Aquariums

+/- 1/8 tsp = 0.125 g of KN03 (N) 3x a week
+/- 1/32 tsp = 0.15 g KH2P04 (P) 3x a week
+/- 1/32 tsp (2ml) Trace Elements 3x a week
50% weekly water change

As i say i will make a 250 ml of KNO3 and 250 ml of KH2PO4 and i will fertilize 5ml 3x a week. So by my math:

KNO3
6.2 g for 250 ml = 0.51 ppm => 0.51 ppm * 5 = 2.55 ppm = 1/8 tsp of KNO3

KH2PO4
7.5 g for 250 ml = 0.7 ppm => 0.7 ppm * 5 = 3.5 ppm = 1/32 tsp of KH2PO4

Please let me know if this math is correct!

This is a simple example of what to do to convert dry ferts in solutions ferts

John N.

The goal is to have at least 5 ppms of Nitrate per dosage. So by increasing the KNO3 mixed in the 250 ml solution, we can get 1 ppm per 1 ml dosed.

KNO3
12 g for 250 ml. 5 ml of stock solution dosed is 5 ppm of N, thereby hitting the target goal.

KH2PO4
Calculations above look good. However, instead of using the full 5ml dosage, only 2-3 ml 3x a week is needed.

-John N.

nos

Tanks very much, i will try it

ocdiscus

Ok guys... I have a 160 gallon aquarium that is planted and I want to try EI dosing. I am completely new to the EI dosing scene and want to know what I should buy from Greg Watson's, and what would be a good dose amount and how often?

THx