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Ideal nutrient levels in PPS Pro

3K views 2 replies 3 participants last post by  ray-the-pilot 
#1 ·
This seems like an obvious question, but I can't seem to find a good answer. What are "ideal" levels for nutrients (N,K,P,etc) when using PPS-Pro.

I have been using PPS-Pro for a few months at the standard dosage and have recently been having some problems with holes in plants and somewhat cloudy/green water. So I'm thinking it might be time to tweak the dosing a bit. I am going to test my water, but was wondering what levels to adjust. I am pretty familiar with good N levels of around 20ppm (I think), but not as familiar with the others.

Also, any good sources of a K test kit?

Thanks,
Ben
 
#2 ·
Hello Ben7,

I too have had a difficult time finding answers regarding ideal nutrient levels. It appears to me that there are a lot of different opinions about how to properly grow plants in an aquarium. I also use PPS pro, but have been working for the last six months to tweak the recipe for my particular tank. If you haven't already done so, you might want to check out this thread for info about what I have done to try and improve it for me. In particular, I mentioned in this post how I have been trying to figure out what levels I should be targeting. I have continued to tweak the levels in order to try and get my plants to grow better. They are definitely doing much better than they were using the original recipe, but I am still playing around with it.

As far as a potassium test kit, there are only two that I am aware of, and only one that is recommended. It is the one offered by LaMotte, and can be found on their website under the "Water/Wastewater" heading. You can check it out here. I ordered mine from them and think that I paid about $63 including shipping.

Hope this info helps.

Andy
 
#3 ·
This seems like an obvious question, but I can't seem to find a good answer. What are "ideal" levels for nutrients (N,K,P,etc) when using PPS-Pro.

I have been using PPS-Pro for a few months at the standard dosage and have recently been having some problems with holes in plants and somewhat cloudy/green water. So I'm thinking it might be time to tweak the dosing a bit. I am going to test my water, but was wondering what levels to adjust. I am pretty familiar with good N levels of around 20ppm (I think), but not as familiar with the others.
Also, any good sources of a K test kit?

Thanks,
Ben
After about 2 years doing PPS pro I've settled on K = 10 - 20 ppm, N = 10 - 20 ppm and P = .3 - .6 ppm I can grow anything at these parameters. My feeling about holes in plants is that they are most likely caused by fish. There is no doubt that my plecos and oto's eat holes in my amazon swords. Since I test for K regularly I know for a fact that the holes are never caused by low K.

For cloudy water, I suggest getting a UV filter. I installed one 1/1/2 years ago and haven't seen green water since.

Like Andy said the only K test that I know about is the LaMotte test. I've been using it for over 1 1/2 years and sware by it.
 
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