[aquarist]

Hello everyone,

I have been experimenting with an easier way to take care of my aquarium because I have gotten a lot busier lately. Attempting to save myself some time, a few months ago I bought a bunch of 40 ML jars and started per-measuring out two weeks worth of fertilizers, this helped out a lot because I did not have to worry about measuring out everything everyday, I would simply just open the jar, add water, shake and pour!

Recently I have tried to make this even simpler by making a liquid fertilizer for each daily dose, using the same 40 ML jars I just added water to the per-measured amount of fertilizer. I am able to get the iron and CSM+B to dissolve easily, but I am having a problem with the mixture of Kn03, KH2P04 and GH Booster, these fertalizers don't seem to want to ever dissolve fully and will remain as clumps, even when I shake the $%^& out of it. I have tried dissolving it in more water, but I still get the same result, so I don't believe it isn't dissolving because the water is fully saturated, I think I am just missing something here.


I am dosing a 75 gallon aquarium with the following amounts:

Will not dissolve in 40ml of water
3/4 tsp Kn03
3/16 tsp Kh2P04
1/4 tsp GH Booster

Will dissolve in 40ml of water
1/4 tsp CSM+B
1/8 tsp Iron

The first picture if of 3 jars, empty on the left, an iron and csm+b mixture in the middle ( mixed 24 hours ago ), and a Kn03, Kh2P04 and GH booster mix ( mixed 24 hours ago )

The second picture is to show that the Iron and CSM+B have fully dissolved within the 24 hours.

The third picture is to show how much of the Kn03 mixture has yet to dissolve after 24 hours.

The final pictures are to show a Kn03 mixture I mixed with water 3 days ago and has yet to full dissolve.

If anyone has any suggestions on this please let me know, I have a TON of good quality dry fertilizers and would like to work out this clumping issue.

 

[aquarist]

You are correct, a single dose in each 40ml jar which actually holds 36ml of water, I measured it after I made the first post. I will try splitting the GH booster from the other fertilizers and see if that helps the GH booster dissolve. But if the GH booster is not dissolving even on its own is there any suggestion on a way to handle this?

 

[aquarist]

So I guess it is the GH booster that is clumping in the mixture. I went with the individual jars so there is no measuring except once every two weeks, also when I go out of town or work double shifts I have someone else feed my fish and add the fertilizer since everything else is on timers, and I believe it would be more fool proof to have it pre measured for them. I do this with my fish food as well when I go out of town, put the amount I want fed into a jar for each day.

If the GH booster doesn't dissolve readily does it dissolve at all once inside the aquarium?

 

[aquarist]

Thanks for the response, when my jars are empty in a couple weeks, or I go to the store and buy more, I will update this post with a few trails. I read somewhere I believe that a few drops of lemon juice can help the fertilizer dissolve, but am unsure of this. I will definitely start dosing the GH booster a single time a week. Should I stick to a single 1/4 tsp weekly, or should I add more?

I used to add the fertilizers directly to the water in power form, but noticed that they would often clump up and didn't seem to get as well dispersed in the tank as they do if you dissolve them beforehand. Also it creeps me out when my fish eat it the chunks lol.