Quote:
Originally Posted by mistergreen
I barely dose PO4.. My tank naturely through all the fish & plant processes provide 2ppm of PO4. I'm sure the substrate has something to do with it too.
I bring it up to 3-4ppm with KH2PO4 but honestly I don't think I need to do that. Nitrate uptake is fine.
But you do need to change the water every week for the health of the fish.
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Lighting levels?
CO2?
Substrate type?
Tap water?
All play a large role.
I think the approach I took rather than adding "just enough", adding non limiting PO4 for all tank set ups, works much better.
Folks can slowly dial things down if they really think it helps.
There is no ill effects in non CO2 nor CO2 enriched tanks, high/low light etc due to high PO4, much like K+. The range for NO3 for that matter is huge as well, at least 50-75ppm. Same deal with dosing traces/GH etc.
You can use less by simply slowly reducing the volume you have been dosing till you see a negative effect. You need a stable starting point though.
The non limiting conditions provide that and also show if you have decent CO2 etc in many cases or not.
This way without ever touching a test kit, you can dial in a dosing routine based on the plant's health for any type of aquarium. Do one at a time and write down how much you added. Then do the next and so on.
You have 3-4 things at most to dose. So that can be done pretty quick, given 3-4 weeks for each fert.
That's simple, effective and relevant.
You can also use an O2 meter to measure plant growth to compare fertilization.
Regards,
Tom Barr