[Bryanmc1988]

ok so i am trying to dose my 40B tank and was told no nitrate no plant growth right? so i tested my water and it reads out 0 nitrate so i dose 6ml and got a nitrate reading of 2.5ppm... the bottle says to dose 5ml for 60 gallons once or twice a week.


BUT i was testing the water and so i added 6ml then test and got a 2.5ppm which is not a 10:1 ratio of nitratehosphate as my PO4 is 2ppm-3ppm so i need 20-30ppm of nitrate right? after 24ml of flourish comp i got a reading of 10ppm of nitrate and with 36ml of comp i got around 15ppm of nitrate...


is this average from what people use, cause it seems to me like its a lot of ferts that i just dumped into the tank... 36ML FOR A READING OF 15PPM !?!?!?

i would do 6ml dosing then wait 30 mins to get a reading test from a API test kit.



this is the tank i am talking about

 

[Raymond S.]

Don't !!!
First, if you are using a Sea Chem product, then go by their directions only.
Second, nitrogen is only one of about ten things in Comprehensive. You have dosed
four times as much of each of those as recommended.
If you want to raise nitrogen, then that is what you need to dose.
Sea Chem has a nitrogen addative also which, if you want to use their products, is
what you would use in this case.
This is part of the reason a high percent of the experienced people use dry ferts.
One teaspoon full of dry KNO3 is the dose for a 40B for a low level of that dosed once a week. So a pound of that(the usual amount sold in dry form) would last more than a year and cost about $5. That "low" amount is from the EI chart and is recommended
to go/w a 50% water change each week also to prevent build up.
Personally I would do a 50% water change to cut what you put in there but I'm no
expert anything so wait till you get more replies before that to see what they say.
Sea Chem Flourish Comprehensive is considered a Micro fert/trace fert.
Nitrogen is found in KNO3 which is a Macro fert.
Sea Chem has all the ferts but in seperate liquids which you would need 6-8 of to be complete and at $5-10 per bottle(or more). And at 36 ml per dose one 500ml bottle
would last less than 12 weeks. But at 5ml it would last much longer of course.

 

[Bryanmc1988]

i just added another 13 ml to the amount that i put in and now it has 48ml total xD lol some one please say something fast if i need to do a water chage or not as i have my shrimps in the tank lol



hey raymond do you have a link to the EI dosing?

 

[Diana]

EI dosing is a sticky at the top of this forum. Here it is.

http://www.plantedtank.net/forums/showthread.php?t=21944

Do not dose more than the label directions.
Comp has a LOW dose of the macro nutrients. If you want more N, as suggested by Raymond you can buy Seachem Flourish Nitrogen.
READ THE LABEL. Not all the N that is in that product can be tested for. When you do a NO3 test you need to double the results to see how much N is there and compare it to regular NO3 levels.

Once you get well started understanding how to dose you can sure switch to dry ferts.

However, one rule no matter what sort of fertilizer you are using:
If you are using a combined product you should only dose the amount that will make the element in greatest supply at the maximum amount you want in the tank.
Do not dose to make the least available material enough. That would over dose everything else.

 

[Bryanmc1988]

what happens if you do over does ?

 

[greaser84]

what happens if you do over does ?

Algae happens. It can stress out or kill your fauna. I don't think anything will happen if you overdose once or twice by accident (unless its a huge overdose) but over time it can cause problems. If you think you overdosed do a water change to reset the nutrient level.

+1 on individual dry ferts, you have more control over what goes in. You can get N,P,K, plantex B, calcium, magnesium, iron for under 30bucks.

 

[Bryanmc1988]

what are N P K?

also where can i find them for cheap... GLA has some that i seen but my total for :

all in 1 LB
Kno3 is $3
K2s04 is $3
CSM+B is $12
Iron is $20
with shipping the total cost came out to be $50.50 shipped...

where is another place that i can go to and buy them for cheaper