wkndracer trying to start with PPS classic - Page 3 - PPS Analysis and Feedback

wkndracer · 07-20-2009, 06:49 AM

Another week and readings are remaining more or less stable with trace dosing only.
TDS readings are slowly creeping up. Plants are still pearling (not crazy) but bubbling steadily during the photo period and with no air added to the tank supporting the livestock. The last WC on the tanks was 6/24 so with the readings not dropping I did a WC yesterday.

75g right tank was a 15g change as NO3 was reading 20ppm which I don't feel is crazy high although I'd like to try 10ppm one of these days LOL Once the change was made I adjusted KH value only with baking soda so I was able to preform a full testing set on the tank 30 minutes later.
before;TDS 552ppm, NO3 20ppm (dark), PO4 1ppm, 9.5dGH, 8dKH, Ca2 50ppm, Mg2 10.9ppm
after; TDS 459ppm, NO3 20ppm (lite), PO4 1ppm (lite), 8dGH, 9dKH (added 15.3g BS), Ca2 40ppm, Mg2 10.5ppm

75g left tank received a 35g WC (58% of the actual water column) with its 40ppm NO3 reading. This much R O caused enough drop in GH to require a grumpy's boost so testing will be done today after 24hrs. has allowed all the minerals to dissolve. KH value was reset to 9dKH with 27g of BS.

I have on hand CaSO3, CaSO4 and CaCl2 but am not entirely happy thus far with my dosing results so with other issues going on they remain in the cabinet. Rex's Grumpy's GH booster has dissolved better for me then Seachems products so I've continued its use.

The right tank is still producing BBA on leaf edges even with a pale green drop checker and increased flow/circulation from last weeks heavy trim. The KH/pH relationship should have 38.1 to 42.2ppm based on my controller set points.

All this being posted the tanks are not ugly, fish and plants are living, the algae issues are not world ending and I'm not doing 115g in R O water changes a week as I would be if all my tanks were EI dosed.

wkndracer · 07-26-2009, 10:41 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by hooha

a couple things to consider:

- do you feed heavily? Maybe a high bioload is contributing to the higher nitrate and phosphate levels

- have you tried to see how accurate your test kits are? You can do a dilution (1:20, 1:100 etc) of one of your stock solutions to have a 'standard' nitrate and phosphate level that would fall into your test kit ranges, then see how accurate they are....

Emptied reagent bottles of NO3, GH, and PO4 chemicals this weekend. Using ref. standards made with distilled water. NO3 reagents are spot on at 5, 10, 20ppm and dark red 40+ppm. PO4 is problematic with color matching only at .25 and 1pmm. 2ppm is shade/tone matching but depth of color is totally off. .5ppm is just plain off. All kits used are API and I have another set of PO4 solutions Lot coded 63A0409, 64A0409 so I'm stuck with these for awhile or just pitching out the new kits. I feel like with good results at .25 and 1ppm they do have reference value knowing that the other colors are off I can still test a 1ppm ballpark.

wkndracer · 08-04-2009, 04:58 PM

Algae is not eating my lunch but its present in both tanks.
BBA is gone. As posted I got tired of looking at it and nuked the tank with syringes of excel in direct application. GSA is diminished also. GDA on the glass is whats here now in both tanks. Still dosing only trace mix daily. NO3 and PO4 are remaining constant in the levels tested. NO3 20ppm and PO4 1ppm.

Adjusted CO2 levels this last week pushing the drop checkers to a very pale yellow green. Based on Edwards Excel spread sheet formulas using KH and pH CO2 is 38-41ppm in both tanks.
Plants responded well pearling now looks like bubble streams in champagne 3 hrs. into full burn on the T5's (216w) My foreground crypts in the 75R have all the leaves standing straight up up like Viagra is in the tank. LOL
Chain swords are coming back after the excel burn with leaves sprouted to about 1" long.

Right now it looks like one WC per month with minor algae dosing trace only.

Anyone out there have the dosing recommendations for the Discus Solution listed in the spread sheets?

K2SO4 is the one element I don't/can't test for.

wkndracer · 07-26-2009, 10:28 AM

Readings are still remaining more or less stable with trace dosing only. Made some changes though.
As stated in the last post WC was preformed on both tanks last week. Along with that I grew tired of the BBA issue fringing leaves in the 75R and double dosed tank volume with excel via syringe directly to the java fern leaves. Java is fine.

The chain swords are history.

Been here done this before so it was no surprise.) Any BBA on other plants was manually removed as possible.
Tested today the tank showed PO4 @ 2ppm and I'm thinking the organic decay may be contributing.
The Excel was added 7/19/09 and the UV unit shut down. The UV unit was relit today. Both tanks are showing a tested decrease in KH values which was addressed with NaHCO3.

Continuing into week #4 dosing trace mix only.

wkndracer · 08-22-2009, 12:51 PM

8/22/09 still dosing trace only. Wondering why I bought all the ferts.

Freshwater · 11-06-2009, 10:35 PM

Hi wkndracer,

Any updates on your system? Are you still using PPS-Classic? I am just starting the conversion from Pro, to classic now. What did you end up going with?

Todd

wkndracer · 11-07-2009, 08:32 AM

Hey Todd,
Still dosing 5ml trace only daily. NO3 levels will zero/disappear from time to time in the tank having Amazon Swords which I'll dose to raise then stop adding solution. Other than that everything remains as reported prior in the string. Plants and livestock seem to balance with only minor algae issues. K2SO4 is still one element I don't/can't test for and that may be my limiting factor. Water changes are based on rising GH levels and still average once a month.

Freshwater · 11-07-2009, 12:22 PM

Thanks wkndracer,

I am stumbling with the switch over to PPS-Classic. Primarily do to the fact that all the documentation Edward had posted on GeoCities is now gone. Do you have, or know where I can find this information?

I am switching my 4.5 WPG / Co2 inj. tank over due to the fact that many of my parameters are too high with PPS-Pro. I need to fine tune my nutrients in the water column.

On a side not, are you using any root tabs currently?

Thanks for the info. Any current pictures of your tanks?

Todd

wkndracer · 11-07-2009, 04:00 PM

Hey Todd,
This is where I found everything I've got on PPS. Here on APC.
http://www.aquaticplantcentral.com/f...tic-plant.html (currently dead link)

I emailed Edward and also PM'd a couple of times w/o response regarding Discus Solution; Mixing 37.12g K2SO4 / 500ml water (listed in the Excel dosing sheet).

Sadly I do not have all of it in electronic files anymore just hard copy.
NPK relationship, Water Hardness (GH,Ca,Mg) pdf, FAQ doc, four excel files including spreadsheets and calculators for formulas and dosing that's it, the rest are hard copy only.

Photo's of the two 75's are sadly overdue but with three grow out spawns of angel fish in the other tanks we're staying busy.

Roughly again about the same when I reviewed the pics posted as I trim every couple of weeks to maintain open water and clean GDA off the glass the tanks haven't changed much. I'll update here hopefully next week.

The use of root tabs has been on and off over the last year adding them maybe twice at the base of the swords in these tanks without seeing much of a difference.

I'll send you the files I have and hope they help.

wkndracer · 11-09-2009, 05:35 PM

The files I have downloaded on my hard drive from Edwards posted PPS are as free as sending a receiving email address to any whom ask.
Again, I have the following files;
NPK relationship pdf,
Water Hardness (GH,Ca,Mg) pdf,
FAQ doc,
The four excel files including the tracking spreadsheets with CO2 and Mg calculator formulas plugged in,
Excel calculators for solution formulas and dosing amounts.

Hopefully the original files will again be made available.