TortoiseBoy

Hello, I tried this topic in the main ferts forum, but haven't received a reply in a few days so I thought I would try here. Sorry about the duplication.

For PPS-Pro -
1) Can anyone tell me how much CaSO4 I should add to water that is near 0 in kH and gH? My use of the fertilator seemed to indicate that I needed more than 3 teaspoons to get my 80 gallon tank to 15 ppm. This sounded like a whole lot...

2) After a water change, how much PO4 and NO3 should I be shooting for (in ppm) to maintain as a background level? Or, does PPS-Pro not use any background level and I just add the two mixtures at 1ml/10 gallons?

Thanks!

TB

evergreen

Hi, TortoiseBoy

You don't need to maintain a background level (the best background level NO3=0, PO4=0). Dose as prescribed and enjoy the plant condition. Make shure you have adjusted photoperiod (It's important (!))

TortoiseBoy

Thanks, Evergreen. I appreciate the reply. I have basically been doing what you said for the last week or so and am having some great results so far. What should I be shooting for on the photoperiod? I at about 7-8 hours/day now because I am still having a bit of trouble with GSA. I was thinking my step was to add a little phosphate to my mix, but I will test first to see what I have in there now. Thanks again for the reply!

evergreen

PPS-Pro:
Low Light ( Under 2 wpg) 10-12 hours a day
Medium Light (2.0 – 3.0 wpg) 8-10 hours a day
High Light ( 3.0 – 4.0 wpg) 7-8 hours a day
Very High Light (4+ wpg) 6 (Expert level)

But I do quite differently. My lighting setup as it follows:
3 hours (1,6 wpg), then 4 hours (3,3 wpg), and then again 3 (1,6 wpg). 10 hours summary. Works well for me.

Edward

Hi
Your CaSO4 estimate is correct, you will need three teaspoons. Don’t worry about your minimum NO3 and PO4 levels, just make sure they don’t get too high which would indicate some other problem.

For better understanding of the lighting period here is a generic chart;
2.0 Wpg 12 hours
2.2 Wpg 11 hours
2.4 Wpg 10 hours
2.7 Wpg 9 hours
3.0 Wpg 8 hours
3.4 Wpg 7 hours
4.0 Wpg 6 hours

As we can see this system is based on 24 Wpg per day.
2 Wpg x 12 hours = 24
4 Wpg x 6 hours = 24

So if we split the lighting period to multiple sections like evergreen in post #4 above for example, then we get: 3 hours of 1.6 Wpg, then 4 hours of 3.3 Wpg and then 3 hours of 1.6 Wpg, 10 hours total of 22.8 Wpg per day. This is pretty close to the PPS standard of 24 Wpg per day.

(3 x 1.6) + (4 x 3.3) + (3 x 1.6) = 22.8 Wpg per day



Thank you
Edward