Hello all, I'm currently trying to ditch my reliance on seachem product and move on to cheaper EI dosing method. here the EI product I found on my local supplier, and they recommend me to purches all 3 of them.

POTASSIUM NITRATE (KNO3) 500G
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MONOPOTASSIUM PHOSPHATE (KH2PO4)
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under their formula they suggest I also get Magnesium Sulphate as well, from my poor chemistry understanding the KNO3 = nitrate + potassium and KH2PO4 is phosphate. problem I cant find any magnesium sulphate from their list, is it possible I just puches and mixed the KNO3 and KH2PO4 together and leave out the magnesium? or I should mixed these powder individually in different bottle?

Epsom salt is MgSO4 readily available everywhere depending from where you are. I would recommend don't skip it. It adds buffering capacity.

Check this thread
http://www.barrreport.com/forum/barr...-for-test-kits

thx, I'll check them out

Without knowing what your water is like, I can't say about the need for magnesium. Hard water often has enough so what water you have will help decide on the need. Hard alkaline water with plenty of calcium and magnesium and it is not needed to add more.
And it should alway be understood that what is right for one tank may not fit another so at times we need to adjust the amount we are added as we also may want to adjust some of the other points of EI dosing.
It is a good place to start and as all things, it can work better if we are able to spot places to adjust things lsightly.

Start with what you have! NPK is basic plant fertilizer (Nitrogen, phosphorous and potassium) which what you have will provide. Obviously adding Magnesium, Sulfur, Iron and micro nutrients will result in better growth

A general purpose GH Booster would also provide this, if you can't get Magnesium Sulphate specifically. Seachem Equilibrium, Ultimate GH Booster, etc. I dose GH Booster after water changes to reach my target GH and then dose NPK and Traces/Iron daily.

I live in toronto canada, my local water got a ph of 7.5 to 8. so its consider hard water and rich in mineral. I just check with my local wal mart, they do carry epsom salt. but after I read ur reply I'm not too sure I'll need this stuff. I'll go ahead and set up a 5 gallon testing tank and see the result before applying anything to my main, thx for helping.

Bump: do u mixed ur macro together like NPK in one bottle?

Bump: I dont think I need gh booster, my local tap is pretty rich in mineral and r consider high in ph at around 7.5 to 8 through out the years. I actually have to soften my water for some of my tank to trigger breeding for some species. by the way do u mix NPK together in 1 bottle or u mixed them individually each with its own bottle? sorry for such newbies question, I've never use EI before. but as u can see, when I got this big tank. continue with seachem seem not a viable option to me, it gets way too expansive.

Everyone does things a little differently. I generally mix N,P,K macro powders together in the right ratios and put it in a plastic container. With EI Dosing every other day I scope out the amount of NPK (now mixed together dry) I want depending on size of aquarium(s) and put it in a 1 Gallon empty water jug and fill with tap water. I then just dump it in the tank(s)

On the other days I dose micro (which you could use Seachem Flourish Comp) if you still have some or buy CSM+B in dry form for your micro ferts.

alright thx

Size of the amount needed can make a difference in what fits you best. I liked just dipping a cup of water and had the dry ferts to stir in each time. I had no idea of which ways things might go so just mixing as I went was fine for me. Whether you want to store bottles or dry may be part of the question but it is much cheaper to get the dry and mix your own rather than pay a premium for water to be shipped to you!