surpera1

as usual i'm confused - any input ? oh yeah - i'm a noob - hahahahahhhaha

anhtu402

If you tell us what you're confused about, maybe someone can help. I just started fertilizing my planted aquariums like a week or two ago. All information is here in stickies, so read that first. Good luck!

surpera1

i have been trying to put it together - what i get is
potassium nitrate - kno3 - stump remover - i can source that
potassium sulfate - k2so4 - cant seem to find that local
mag sulfate - epsom salts - got it

sometimes its just too much information for me - should i just get the pmdd mix from
http://www.aquariumfertilizer.com/

?? - or just get the pot sulfate from him ? - i realize that making my own is probably the way to go cost wise in the long term - so.......sometimes i have trouble formulating my question

Seattle_Aquarist

Hi surpera1,

I found it much easier to first chose my dosing method, then order the ferts that were necessary. When I first started with ferts I did the Seachem product line. My plants did well, but as I added more tanks it started to get expensive. When I decided to go with DIY ferts, I found that the two most common dosing methods out there are EI or PPS-Pro. I chose PPS-Pro because it is simple to measure and dose. The basic ferts are: nitrogen, potasssium, phosphorous, and trace elements. In addition I use chelated iron, calcium, and magnesium. The more I read, the more I understood.

ray-the-pilot

I agree with S. A. You need to look at a program first and then decide which one suits you best. Once you do that, stick with it exactly! It really takes a lot of understanding of chemistry and plant science to figure out a program of your own. And fooling around with potent chemicals can easily devastate your tank, not to mention you.

Unless you’ve done this before, the least expensive way is to start small and work your way up. If you do this the over-the-counter programs are the least expensive initially. As you get bigger, you might want to switch to EI or PPS pro. These are less expensive but compared to the capitol investment you need to get into the hobby, chemicals are way down on the list.