Dry Ferts, Dosing, Plant Growth & Stunned Algae Growth
 

Info:
DIY LED light (Light PAR is good i'd say. 6500k w/ whites, red, and blue. on for four hours twice a day with time between to cool down.)
40 gallon medium planted
dosing 3-5mL/day of macro micro mix i bought. (My dry ferts came pre mixed with KNO3, K2SO4, MgSO4 and CSM+B all proportionally together.)
High tech CO2 (1-1.5 bubbles per second)
Do 35-50% water changes every week and a half or two weeks.

Water Parameters:
pH: 7.2
Nitrates: about 80-100 ppm
Phosphates: between 0-0.25 ppm
KH & GH: Both read about 200 ppm (11 drops with the API test kits)

I'm getting what seems to be lots of pearling so i thought i'd ask,
If i stop dosing ferts, will the pearling stop when the ferts run out or will pearling keep going as long as there is light and co2 with dense o2 saturation?

only reason i ask is i want to starve out algae (or stun it's growth substantially). Some i have seen in my tank before cleaning recently are in links below
This kind on the glass:
http://i68.photobucket.com/albums/i2...potalgae-2.jpg
That wasn't the only kind on glass. There was other kind that just made the glass less transparent. Almost as if it had to do with calcium because it was hard to take off. I still see streaks where it stayed on from scraping the glass with razor. (GH supports this as hard water?)

and this kind on my rock:
http://www.loaches.com/articles/imag.../image_preview
It is pretty short and fussy and not like hair grass. Doesn't look that color green either. has few brown spots.

Basically i want to know if i'm dosing too much ferts? (Sometimes 3mL/day sometimes 5mL/day) Is there any way i can know which type KNO3, K2SO4, or MgSO4 i need more or less of in the tank? Any suggestions would be helpful.

You need to be dosing phosphates too. Plants have to have phosphate in order to grow and use the other nutrients you are dosing. Phosphates don't cause algae in aquariums. And, you can't stunt algae growth by limiting any fertilizing. Algae require minute amounts of nutrients, so there are always plenty of them in the water for the algae.

Green spot algae, GSA, can usually be eliminated by just dosing more phosphates. I dose about twice the recommended amounts for that reason, and GSA isn't a problem for me.

What chemical compound am i looking for exactly? am i looking for the 'Mono Potassium Phosphate' found here?:
http://www.aquariumfertilizer.com/in...ditU=1&Regit=2

And i might as well also ask then; What else is needed for plant growth as far as ferts go?

Dry Ferts, Dosing, Plant Growth & Stunned Algae Growth
 

Yep, that's the stuff!

Dry Ferts, Dosing, Plant Growth & Stunned Algae Growth
 

That's about all. You might need mag sulphate if you hardness is mostly calcium. But most recommend Epsom salts for that from the drug store.

Are you sure that dry mix of yours doesn't have phosphates as well? Seems odd they'd leave it out...

You can't mix phosphates and iron in the same package. They combine to form an insoluble precipitate, making the iron only very slowly available to the plants. That's why that PMDD mix never contains phosphates.

I bought and am using the "Macro Micro Nutrient Mix" from:
http://aquariumfertilizer.com/index....ditU=1&Regit=2

It looks like it already has Magnesium Sulphate.
What does magnesium sulphate do exactly?
I think my tap water i use is hard. How do i make it soft without harming fish and plants? You mentioned epsom salts. Do they make the water harder or softer?

This is good, but as mentioned you will still need phosphates (mono potassium phosphate, or using the IUPAC name, potassium dihydrogen phosphate).

Magnesium sulfate (Epsom salts) will raise the hardness of your water.

If you already have hard water, it would be best to omit the magnesium sulfate, but this is difficult since you are using a mix (this is why buying each chemical individually is usually better than buying a premix).

In order to make you water soft, you will need to use RO/DI water (and perhaps mix with your tap water).

Mono Potassium Phosphate has already been ordered :) waiting for it's arrival next week.


Is it practical to try using water from the drinking water stations as they have undergone a good stage of filtration so i'm sure there is nothing dissolved as much in the water which will make it softer i assume?

I am also wondering if using the drinking water will help tetras or tiger barbs mate and spawn? I know there are other things involved, but this will help? any idea?

I see you are in Sacramento, or in the area. If you are on the city water supply you have soft water, but the county water can be pretty hard, especially in the summer when it is mostly well water.

I'm not sure. I'm in the southern part of Sacramento (Elk Grove). I measured the GH of the tap water and the filtered drinking water and my tank water.
Filtered Drinking water: ~25ppm
Tap water: ~125ppm
My current tank water: ~200ppm

And yes, i am on city water supply.

What does it mean when they say "GH Booster"? Does it make the water harder or softer?

The GH booster is used to boost GH (increase GH, make your water harder); this may or may not be required depending on your water parameters.

The composition of the GH booster is: 2 (K2SO4) : 2 (CaSO4) : 1 (MgSO4)

Thanks for the explanation. Sounds like i dont need it yet. Are there any ways to soften the water instead of harden/boost it? (aside from water changes from tap / RO/DI water).