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_Dosing Regimes_

248K views 471 replies 171 participants last post by  lifeofbrian 
#1 · (Edited)
For higher light, Co2 enriched tank's that are moderately
to heavy planted.

Add o2 to your tank daily, by either air stone or surface
agitation.

Dry Dosing... Use measuring spoon's found at
most department store's in the utensils section, scoop
appropriate amount and toss in the tank, simple as that!

I use to keep an old travel mug under the tank, and
keep fertilizers in large spice bottles, scoop appropriate
amount into cup, dip in tank, stir and serve.
Tsp=Teaspoon

*Dry Dosing Plantex CSM+B...
Converting 1 tablespoon to 250ml H20,
20 ml = 1/4 teaspoon of dry fertilizer.
There are 12 - 1/4 teaspoons dissolved
250ml/12=20.83ml.

20~40gal
50% H20 change-weekly
1/4 Tsp-KN03 3x a week
1/16 Tsp-KH2P04 3x aweek
1/2 Tsp-GH booster once a week
5ml or 1/16Tsp-Trace 3x a week
Optional
1-2ml-Fe/Iron 3x a week

"If dosing a 10gal highlight C02 enriched tank,
divide above regime x2"


40~60gal
50% H20 change-weekly
1/2 Tsp-KN03 3x a week
1/8 Tsp-KH2P04 3x a week
3/4 Tsp-GH booster once a week
10ml or 1/8Tsp-Trace 3x a week
Optional
2-4ml-Fe/Iron 3x a week

60~80gal
50% H20 change-weekly
3/4 Tsp-KN03 3x a week
3/16 Tsp-KH2P04 3x a week
1 Tsp-GH booster once a week
15ml 3/16Tsp-Trace 3x a week
Optional
4-8ml-Fe/Iron 3x a week

Mixing Trace Element and Iron, Plantex CSM+B,
Fe/Iron Chelate 10%- mix 1Tbsp per 250ml water-
one cap full=5ml

Adding Sodium Bicarb/baking soda:
One teaspoon baking soda will increase the kH of
50 liters of water approx. 13 gallons by 4 degrees.

Algae Issue's?
Increase C02, even if you have to use Flourish Excel,
and decrease the light, raise it up off the tank,
burn it less hour's etc, then re-evaluate the C02.

Clean & prune, all the plant's, manually remove as much
algae as you can, good condition's will slow it's growth,
even stop growth, you will need to remove the remaining
algae by hand...

Make sure you're C02 is at optimal condition's.

GDA: Cause-Too much light, reduce intensity

BBA: Add more C02/ Reduce light intensity and or duration.

BGA: add N03 and 02/oxygen.

Fish gasping? 02 Issue's?
Increase surface movement/splash, for night time/lights out,
decrease for opposite, if having 02 issue's surface
movement/splash is good.
So a simple lift of the spray bar or lily pipe to break the
surface will remedy that.

Good article on Biochemical Oxygen Demand

BOD http://www.plantedtank.net/forums/278839-post41.html

'Fertilizers for sale'

http://www.pfertz.com/

http://www.aquariumfertilizer.com/

http://www.greenleafaquariums.com/aquarium-fertilizer.html

---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------



This chart is to be used "ASSUMING" proper lighting levels are
being met. Without adequate lighting, this chart can't help you.
Check your bulbs and other threads on lighting to re-assure that
you have a proper light set-up for whatever method of aquatic
gardening you wish to achieve.

The Green represents growth, in group 1 we see that plant growth
is hindered because Micro nutrients aren't being met. Although all
other demands are given in plentiful amounts, growth is stunted by
the lacking nutrient.

Group2 is meant to demonstrate low amounts of nutrient balance =
slow growth. Lighting will drive the plants to soak up nutrients to no
end. They take and take depending on the intensity of light with no
real control. If you limit the amount of nutrients you place inside the
water column and substrate, you limit their growth, no matter how
long you run your lights.

Group 3 represents maximum growth given that all nutrients are in
abundance within a level tolerable to other inhabitants. The EI
method ensures that all nutrients are provided within tolerable
amounts to fauna, as well as a bit excess for flora, all excess is
removed with a water change every week.

Credit to Sarge for graph and text.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

An example of dosing 3x a week on my 46g tank,
This is what I do.

Sunday-----Day1)Prune,Preen,Clean glass inside, 50% or more H20
change, vac/sub, 1/2Tsp-KN03, 1/8-ish/Tsp-KH2P04,1/8Tsp-K2S04,
clean glass on outside.
Monday-----Day2) 10ml Trace, 2ml-Fe
Tuesday----Day3) 1/2Tsp-KN03, 1/8ish/Tsp-KH2P04,1/8Tsp-K2S04.
Wednesday-Day4) See day2
Thursday---Day5) See day3
Friday------Day6) See day2
Saturday---Day7) Nothing or prune, or walk the dog etc.
Sunday-----Day8) See day1

Thank you cbennet for the handout you made available
to the public during your presentation at a local meeting...Kudo's!
This can either be printed directly off the screen, or
you can drag and drop it to your desktop for printing.
 

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#78 ·
sunmiztres said:
I do a water change on the fry tanks 3X a week to get the nitrates down.
My other tanks that don't have fry run around 15 on the nitrate.
I do a 50% daily on my tank of betta fry. And I still got the feeling it wasn't enough, so got a larger container.

I moved the 3 angels into my display tank after 3 weeks just to give them elbow room. The daily or every other day w/c coupled with frequent feedings had inspired growth - and with that came attitude.
 
#80 ·
danepatrick said:
for the 20-40 gallon tanks, you say 5ml of trace 3x week. do you mean 5ml as in 1 Tsp, or what? i'm confused and NOT good with math.
Google has a great function that few people are aware of. You can put in the search field for instance - 5 milliliters in teaspoons - and it will return a conversion. In this case it comes out to 1.01442068 US teaspoons. I think I'd just call it a "teaspoon" and have done with it :D.
 
#82 ·
danepatrick said:
for the 20-40 gallon tanks, you say 5ml of trace 3x week. do you mean 5ml as in 1 Tsp, or what? i'm confused and NOT good with math.
Use an old Flourish bottle if you have one, mix 1 Tablespoon per 250ml water if using Plantex, then when dosing, one capfull=5ml. or if you are using Flourish same rule, one capfull=5ml...:)
 
#83 ·
I have a question about this Regime's. Do you guys test for Nitrate and Phosphate before dosing the 2nd and 3rd time in the week or do you just dose whether you need it or not? Today would have been my 2nd time this week for dosing but I tested my Phosphate and it was 2.0 and the nitrate was 30 this is of course assuming the test kits are accurate. This is why I was wondering if you test before dosing or just dose without testing.
Thanks
 
#84 ·
It's probably a good idea to test when starting a new fertilization regime... probably overkill to do it before each dose. If I'm paranoid about the levels, I'll test before the weekly waterchange to see how much excess I ended up with over the course of the week. I may then adjust the dosing amounts the following week (or omit the first macro dose if the levels are high enough).
 
#85 ·
i would think that if you ended up with too much after the first dose, then you are dosing too much at one time. imo, i would just lower your doses so that you can still dose 3 times a week and still be right on parameters. but then again, if you're dosing one time and coming up with that much, it might be the right idea to just let your plants use it up and test on each scheduled day and see where you are and if you need to add some, then add and if not, then don't. i'm not sure which is the correct way or if it even makes a difference. can anyone confirm this?
 
#86 ·
danepatrick said:
i would think that if you ended up with too much after the first dose, then you are dosing too much at one time. imo, i would just lower your doses so that you can still dose 3 times a week and still be right on parameters. but then again, if you're dosing one time and coming up with that much, it might be the right idea to just let your plants use it up and test on each scheduled day and see where you are and if you need to add some, then add and if not, then don't. i'm not sure which is the correct way or if it even makes a difference. can anyone confirm this?
That's what I was doing all along. Dosing what i need as to what my tests say but I am not sure that my tests are 100% correct. If i do that then it kind of takes this dosing regimen and throws it out the window, wouldn't you say? Dose what you need by testing. My nitrates always run on the higher side. 2 tanks are usually around 30 and 2 tanks are 10. My phosphorus usually is .5 on all 4 tanks. All tanks have 4.25 watts per gallon and I am running 40 ppm on co2 on all tanks using the " graph ". My plants are always pearling and that tells me the co2 is good. I am trying to up it as much as possible since i am now starting to get thread algae. With 4.25 watts per gallon on a heavily planted tank where should my figures be. Like should I aim for 1.0 on phosphorus, 10 on nitrate ( although on 2 of my tanks I can't even get my nitrates to 10ppm and that's without dosing any kno3, they are always reading around 30), always dose pottasium since i can't measure it. I do dose the plantex w/ Boron as my traces. Can anyone let me know what figures I should aim for knowing my watts and that my tanks are all heavily planted? My plants do grow very well, I need to trim them every week so the smaller plants can get some of the light or the tall plants will shade them. I am now starting to get a thread algae, and fuzz algae on my glass so I am trying to get a even kill on everything.
Thanks for any info you can give.

One more " stupid " question. If my nitrates read 30 should I then raise my phosphorus so that they are even. I read you should have 1.0 phosphorus for every 10 of nitrate. Should I then add 3.0 of phosphorus to the 30 nitrates or... I have always wanted to know this. :confused:
 
#87 ·
You are having algae problems because you are trying to skimp on the nutrient's by dosing according to a cheap test kit, bad mistake, it only and always has caused folks issues, with 4wpg-ish, that is alot of light, and the margin for error is very easy to achieve with .5 P04 etc it is probably less than that I would imagine.
I dont even use test kits, I havent touched one in about a year or so.
Just dose according to this thread, keep the C02 going good, if you start having algae issue's after that, then it is a C02 light issue, that is all that is left.
(There are other variables also, like if the tank was built properly, type of substrate ie. using to fine sand etc, type of filter, enough current without to much, some surface movement, all play a part).

With 4wpg, plants can and will do a sudden burst of growth, when nutrients are available, if you pinch, then the nutrients bottom out plants stunt and in comes the algae.

Plants and algae are the best test kit, learn to read the plants, it takes a bit of getting use to, and the accuracy is much much better.

As the tank matures and plants grow, more nutrients are required, this sticky covers all the bases for a very successful tank.. add nutrients, manage C02 efficiently and equally important is light management.


With that amount of light, you need a good supply of nutrients, when you test and get a reading of say 30 or 40 ppm N03, people have an "emotional" movement that usually moves them to act in detriment to the plants,
Plant's have no emotion and could care less if the nutrient level is 30ppm, as long as they have enough. :)

weekly water changes reset and start over, it really works:fish1: and is simple.
 
#88 ·
75 gallon high light

Thought I'd add my two cents in because I've finally locked in my 75 gallon to the point where I think the dosing is stable and plants are thriving. Maybe someone else can use this.

This tank has pressurized CO2 and 324W of T5 lighting, which is kept on for 8.5 hours each day. Filtration is through a Eheim 2126 and a 2213 (which is used for water current and a utility filter, i.e. UV but normally run empty). A Pinpoint controller is used 24/7 for CO2 regulation (calibration checked bi-weekly).

Plant load is heavy with a number of stems, although there is quite a bit of slower-growing plants like blyxa japonica.

Input water is 100% RO, due to the fact that our water both fluctuates and is basically liquid rock. With the controller involved, I like to be very certain of my parameters. With all that said, here's what I do/dose:

  • 50% WC on Sundays, RO water rebuilt with 1 tsp. Barr's GH Booster and 1/2 tsp of baking soda. Nutrient dosing is done following the water change.
  • Su, Tu, Th: 1 tsp KNO3, 1/8 tsp KH2PO4, 10 ml Excel.
  • M, W, F: 10 ml Plantex from a stock solution of 2 tbsp in 500 ml of water.

Certainly nothing groundbreaking, but I hope this helps someone. I also try to actively remove any dead or dying leaves, or anything afflicted with algae.
 
#446 ·
This helps me a lot now I have something to follow only my tank is 70gal but its custom so I might be alright plus I got more light an run a little longer well ill see what happens in a few weeks. Thanks





Thought I'd add my two cents in because I've finally locked in my 75 gallon to the point where I think the dosing is stable and plants are thriving. Maybe someone else can use this.

This tank has pressurized CO2 and 324W of T5 lighting, which is kept on for 8.5 hours each day. Filtration is through a Eheim 2126 and a 2213 (which is used for water current and a utility filter, i.e. UV but normally run empty). A Pinpoint controller is used 24/7 for CO2 regulation (calibration checked bi-weekly).

Plant load is heavy with a number of stems, although there is quite a bit of slower-growing plants like blyxa japonica.

Input water is 100% RO, due to the fact that our water both fluctuates and is basically liquid rock. With the controller involved, I like to be very certain of my parameters. With all that said, here's what I do/dose:

  • 50% WC on Sundays, RO water rebuilt with 1 tsp. Barr's GH Booster and 1/2 tsp of baking soda. Nutrient dosing is done following the water change.
  • Su, Tu, Th: 1 tsp KNO3, 1/8 tsp KH2PO4, 10 ml Excel.
  • M, W, F: 10 ml Plantex from a stock solution of 2 tbsp in 500 ml of water.

Certainly nothing groundbreaking, but I hope this helps someone. I also try to actively remove any dead or dying leaves, or anything afflicted with algae.
 
#90 ·
75 gal Dosing

From Chuck's calculator dosing dry (GW Ferts) for a 75 gal tank with pressurized CO2, 260 watts...

1 tsp KNO3
1/4 tsp phosphate
1 tblspn potassium

Where I get confused is Iron and CSM+B dosing? I dose everything dry with measuring spoons (simple), from reading the sticky it sounds like I should dose 1 1/2 teaspoon iron and 1 tablespoon CSM+B (both 3x week)? Those tsp and tablespoon numbers are off the google conversion that someone posted above....since everything for CSM and Iron is in mL!

Can someone run a sanity check on my numbers?:icon_conf
 
#91 ·
This is what you should dose for a 75g

Tank's (3)
For a 60~80gal
50%H20 change-weekly
+/-3/4Tsp KN03 3x a week
+/-3/16Tsp KH2P04 3x a week
+/-1/4Tsp K2S04 3x a week
+/-15ml Trace 3x a week
+/-4-8ml Fe/Iron 3x a week

If you choose to dose Plantex dry 1 tablespoon to 250ml, 20 ml = 1/4 teaspoon of fert. (there are 12 - 1/4 teaspoons disolved. 250ml/12=20.83ml

So for a 75g you would want to dose 3/16Tsp-CSM 3x weekly.
Iron would be 1/16+/- 3x weekly.

I hope your not dosing 1 Tablespoon K+ 3x a week, thats a bit much..lol

Tsp=Teaspoon.

From Chuck's calculator dosing dry (GW Ferts) for a 75 gal tank with pressurized CO2, 260 watts...

1 tsp KNO3
1/4 tsp phosphate
1 tblspn potassium

Where I get confused is Iron and CSM+B dosing? I dose everything dry with measuring spoons (simple), from reading the sticky it sounds like I should dose 1 1/2 teaspoon iron and 1 tablespoon CSM+B (both 3x week)? Those tsp and tablespoon numbers are off the google conversion that someone posted above....since everything for CSM and Iron is in mL!

Can someone run a sanity check on my numbers?:icon_conf
 
#92 ·
Thanks for the info...if I put my tank size into Chuck's calculator and try to match the 20ppm that it suggests for K in K2SO4 it comes up with 2.25 teaspoons. So why only 1/4 tsp 3x week??? Does it have to do with the amount you want at the end of the week?

Also, if I dose dry I'm looking at the amount of trace (dry) that I would need in order to equal one does (15 mL) of the pre-mixed in water solution? Same for iron? :icon_ques
 
#93 ·
Thanks for the info...if I put my tank size into Chuck's calculator and try to match the 20ppm that it suggests for K in K2SO4 it comes up with 2.25 teaspoons. So why only 1/4 tsp 3x week??? Does it have to do with the amount you want at the end of the week?
I don't use chucky's adding machine for ferts, so either something is off, or you are doing it wrong. 1/4Tsp of K+ 3x weekly is plenty for a 75g, you are also getting some K+ from the addition of KN03 and KH2P04

Also, if I dose dry I'm looking at the amount of trace (dry) that I would need in order to equal one does (15 mL) of the pre-mixed in water solution? Same for iron? :icon_ques
Yes
As posted above for dosing these dry.
For a 75g you would want to dose 3/16Tsp-CSM 3x weekly.
Iron would be 1/16+/- 3x weekly.
 
#98 ·
It depends on your fish load/plant load, amount of light being burned etc.
See the +/- next to each fert? add/subtract based on the above, it does not have to be exact, weekly or bi-weekly water changes will even things out.
You get a feel for it.
Start with Tanks 2 +/- :)
The rest is C02 and light.
 
#100 ·
That is a simple note pad for keeping score of what has been dosed if one needs to keep up with it.
Nine times out of ten you will not need to dose Mg, there are ample amounts in trace mix like Flourish, TMG, and Plantex.

Fertilizer Comparison

Using RO/DI as source water I have yet to see a need to dose Ca and or Mg as a stand alone nutrient at any time.
This does not mean that plants do not have a need for trace amounts of either Ca, Mg.

However I do use all three of these trace mix solutions to dose my tanks, usually Plantex CSM+B exclusively, but at times I do also use TMG and Flourish, because each Trace mix does have different properties.
 
#101 ·
Hey guys,

I just moved about a month ago and had to start over basically but I've been using this method of dosing for about 6 months and it's helped my tank a lot. I have next to no algae growing (Still trying to get rid of the BBA from lack of CO2) and the plants grow pretty well but I still don't get pearling.

I was looking for some suggestions that might push me over the edge here and get my plants pearling (or is this even something to worry about?).

Currently I have a 65G, Eco-complete soil with 192W of lighting with pressurized CO2.

My dosing is:
~40$ H2O change on Sunday
M, W, F - 1/2tsp KNO3, 1/4tsp KH2PO4
T, T, S - 5ml Flourish Excel.

I'm pretty sure I'm just about maxed out CO2 because if I turn it up anymore the fish really start struggling.

Any help or suggestions would be greatly appreciated. I'd really like to get these plants pearling!!!

Thanks in advance.
 
#102 ·
If everything is growing well and the overall health of the tank is good, then I would not worry about it.
But, you can try adding more light briefly and see how that does, but be careful doing that, you will change the aspect of the tank ie, plant growth rate will increase, nutrient uptake will increase including a greater demand for C02, so be mindful of that.
Take note of the tanks stability at present so that if things turn for the worse, you can do a system restore. :)
Add more light.
 
#103 ·
Hello

I am a total newbie. I have a 29gal with about 25 gals of water, total.

I have a 2x65w light with 2- 3L DIY yeast bottles.

Right now I just have root ferts in place. I have some dry ferts on order from Rex. I have been dosing flourish half a capful twice a week.

I run one 65w bulb for from 8am to 8pm. The second bulb turns on for 3 hours in the middle of the day.

When I get my ferts how should I dose? I know nothing, so any suggestions would help. I am getting iron as well.

TIA
Chris
 
#105 ·
So I should just use this one?

Tank's (1)
20~40gal
50%H20 change-weekly
+/-1/4Tsp-KN03 3x a week
+/-1/16+Tsp-KH2P04 3x aweek
+/-1/16+Tsp K2S04 3x a week
+/-5ml Trace 3x a week
+/-1-2ml Fe/Iron 3x a week


I started the second yeast bottle one week after the first. The first one is really going well after the first week. Now with two going I get 1 to 2 bubble a sec. Eventually I will go pressurized.

Thanks
Chris
 
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