[Erirku]

So whats the expense I would have to pay to get your products here in HI? USPS?
So I was planning on getting some macro nutrients, since I have Flourish Comprehensive for TE. The 2 I definetly want to get are mono potassium phosphate and potassium nitrate, but don't know what third one to get? I was thinking like whats the 3rd next best thing for plants, considering PO4 and NO3? And how would I go about mixing all three of these macro fertz? You said 3 teaspoons = 1 tablespoon! So if I were to put it in a 250ml bottle how would I go about it? Also by adding equal amounts of the macro, wouldn't that offset my 1ppm/PO4: 10ppm/No3? or it doesn't matter?

 

[gregwatson]

So whats the expense I would have to pay to get your products here in HI? USPS?

Shipping costs are all weight dependent and destination dependent ... you can drop me an email message on my site and I can send you a link to a mirror site that will work for Hawaii (my personal website is setup to ship via ground truck transportation and somehow, the trucks just don't like to try driving through the water to get to Hawaii <grin> ...

So I was planning on getting some macro nutrients, since I have Flourish Comprehensive for TE. The 2 I definetly want to get are mono potassium phosphate and potassium nitrate, but don't know what third one to get? I was thinking like whats the 3rd next best thing for plants, considering PO4 and NO3?

Flourish will do an excellent job of handling your micro nutrients and you can find lots of advice here in the various forums on how to dose Flourish.

Your plants also want "macro" nutrients which are basically Nitrate, Potassium, and Phosphate ... you mentioned Phoshpate and Nitrate ... you might want to consider Potassium as well....

A lot of "current thinking" in the forums and on the list lean towards thinking that you may get all of the potassium that you need from dosing Potassium Nitrate ... I don't personally subscribe to that point of view, but it does seem to be the prevelant "current" point of view <grin> ...

And how would I go about mixing all three of these macro fertz? You said 3 teaspoons = 1 tablespoon! So if I were to put it in a 250ml bottle how would I go about it? Also by adding equal amounts of the macro, wouldn't that offset my 1ppm/PO4: 10ppm/No3? or it doesn't matter?

I personally believe that macro and micro nutrients are best dosed separately (with phosphate dosed occassionally). You will find lots of great dosing recommendations, philosophies and views right here in various forums <grin>!

I personally like an empty plastic Pepsi bottle best to mix my solutions in(they are relatively free and you get to enjoy their contents first). My personal favorite is the 1 litre Pepsi Big Mouth bottle with a nice large neck to add ingredients too! You can add a couple tablespoons of dry fertilizers to the bottle and fill it approximately half full ... makes a great dosing solution ... you can then use Chuck Gadd's online dosing calculator to determine the appropriate dosing amount to meet the unique nutrient uptake rate for your aquarium ...

And if 500 ml of solution is more than you want to create at one time, an easy way of "reducing" the formulae is to divide everything by three (3 teaspoons approximately equal 1 tablespoon) ...

Thanks,
Greg

 

[TWood]

And then there is the Fertilator right here:

http://www.aquaticplantcentral.com/forum/fertilator.php

I use the 'Get concentrations from chemicals added' calculation type to calculate dry doses.

Yeah, that pesky potassium with its 'no test kit' secrecy is annoying. If NO3 doesn't drop during the week, then I'll add K2SO4, but it's still a shot in the dark. :-({|=

TW

Edit: In any case, hasn't the whole PMDD thing been pretty much abandoned anyway? With dry dose calculators, it's really just a matter of keeping levels in an acceptable range.

 

[gregwatson]

And then there is the Fertilator right here:

http://www.aquaticplantcentral.com/forum/fertilator.php

And it's my understanding (at least I hope) that there is an update to the Fertilator due out sometime this winter - which I am excited to see...

Edit: In any case, hasn't the whole PMDD thing been pretty much abandoned anyway? With dry dose calculators, it's really just a matter of keeping levels in an acceptable range.

I still personally follow much of the PMDD Philosophies ... the principle concept being that you need to dose the right ratio of nutrients to meet the unique nutrient uptake requirements of your unique aquariuam ...

So much of the underlying principles still hold true ...

Certainly as more exacting scientific understanding comes out, certain assumptions may have changed ... but many principles still hold true ...

And for many people with smaller aquariums, they don't have the ability to measure accurately small enough quantities to dry dose. I think many people still create liquid solutions to dose their tanks ...

Greg