jbrazio

Dear all,

My 80L tank is running with 4x24W T5 lighting, 2x 10.000k and 2x Aqua Medic Plant Grow.
With a grand total of 96W, my tank has a light ratio of 1.2W/L (~4.8W/gal).

I've got pressurized CO2 running on one hour before lights start and ending with the light cycle.

The light cycle was 12h.
I was dosing my tank using separate DIY solutions for N, P, K and Mg.

My fertilzation scheme was setup in a way to always have 20ppm N, 1ppm P and 0.5ppm FE and 1.5 Mg. Testing daily for N, P, FE I concluded that the consumption was:
- 10-15ppm of N (mean)
- 1ppm P (always)
- 0.4ppm FE (mean)

On top of that I was adding 2ml/day Flourish and 10ml/day Flourish Iron and from time to time 5ml Flourish Trace.

Since I'm not a WC fan, we may say that I would only do it if the parameters were getting out of standards (mainly KH, GH).

Perling was everywhere !
It was a PITA to dose all the stuff but when I saw "2 solutions does it all" I did not thought twice.. let's go for it.

After a lot of reading.. I calculated that using the recommended PPS-PRO dosage (gals/10) of 2ml, I was introducing into the tank 1.00ppm N, 0.10ppm P, 1.34ppm K and 0.10ppm Mg.

Looking at my previous fertilization schema and the PPS-PRO, the inlet values of nutrients are completely different. Some may say that plants do consume more than needed, but.. that more, for instance, can be 14ppm of N, 0.9ppm P and 13.5ppm K ?!

Nevertheless, I decided to give it a try and took some actions:
- I changed the lighting scheme from 12h to 6h
- Decreased the CO2 levels from 30ppm to 15ppm

After one week of dosing PPS-PRO the only visible results I can see so far is that plants are perling no more. :-/

But OK, one week may not be sufficient time for plants to adapt.. I'll wait, don't worry. :-)

In conclusion, I've got a few questions:
- I read that for PPS, the dosage should double depending of the light ratio. Should the same happen with PPS-PRO ?
- I find it hard, or impossible, to find CSM or CMM on my location. Right now I'm still using the Flourish line that I had before. But my doubt is how much Flourish should I dose per liter/gallon to get the same results as CSM.
- Can I use Tropica Aquacare Plant Nutrition instead of CSM+B ? If yes, what should be the dose equivalent to the CSM+B recommended for PPS-PRO.


I'm sorry for a long text, but I would like to say thanks to the ones who finished reading it ! ;-)

jbrazio

Hey !
Is anybody out there ?

ray-the-pilot

I’ve used PPS Pro for about a year and I really don’t recommend it for most people.

First off, I always do 10 – 20% weekly change of water and I test regularly for K, P, and N.

My experience is that over time, K builds up and P and N go down. I regularly have to add Ca(NO3)2 or KH2PO4 instead of the regular dosing of Stock Solution #1.

I also believe that 90% of the Fe precipitates to the bottom of my tank where I regularly have to siphon it off.

There are a few things that I like about PPS Pro.

It saves me from those 50% water changes that EI require. The amount of ferts you add are fairly low; so, there is not much of a risk for build up.

If you can test every other week for KPN and adjust what you add, PPS pro is OK

clearleaf

Old thread, but I'm curious how things panned out for the OP. I imagine that the sudden shift from 12h to 6h photoperiod as well as the sudden shift in dosing regimen was probably too drastic. I would have slowly dropped the photoperiod down, 11h for a week, 10h for a week, 9h, etc.

I follow PPS Pro myself, but I have to say that I can't go without WC. I think in theory it should fine without water changes, since we're adding such small amounts, but in practice it just doesn't hold up.