When to Fertilize?

jcali10 · Post by **jcali10** » Wed Jan 30, 2008 1:39 pm

Just set up my 50 this week.
Substrate: SMS Pro......keeping an eye the pH.....using baking soda to keep the pH between 6 & 7
Light: 3.12 watts T5...on at 9am, off at 12pm, on at 3pm, off at 9pm. 9 HRS
Pressurized CO2: on at 9am, off at 9pm.
Fish: 10 lemon tetras, 10 zebra danios, 6 neons, 3 corys, 1 ancistrus
Plants so far: 2 blyxa japonicas, 12 rotala stems, and 6 cabomba stems
Haven't noticed any growth yet. Yesterday was the first day with CO2.
I'm planning on mixing ferts, (NPK) in distilled water for dosing.
Have Plantex CSM+B for traces; should I dose additional Fe or any other traces?
Any thoughts, ideas?

Post by **krisw** » Wed Jan 30, 2008 1:48 pm

With SMS Pro, you should start dosing immediately. It doesn't contain any fertilizers in and of itself.

Aaron · Post by **Aaron** » Wed Jan 30, 2008 1:50 pm

Why do you have the lights off in the middle of the day? I think you'd be best just to have a straight 9 hour photoperiod from 9:00 am to 6:00 pm or something along those lines.

One big problem I see is that you don't have nearly enough plants to start with. With that much light you really want to densely plant the tank from the beginning so the plants can take up the nutrients instead of algae.

Dosing Solutions:

Macro Ferts (NPK)

In 500 ml of water mix 21 grams (3.75 tsps) of KNO3 and 8 grams (1.5 tsps) KH2PO4.
Dose 6-7 mls of this solution daily.

Trace Ferts (CSM+B)

In 500 ml of water mix 2 tablespoons of CSM+B.
Dose 5 mls of this solution daily.

This fert schedule is assuming you add more plants. If you dont' want to add more plants you should really consider lowering your lighting levels a bit.

Hope this helps!

jcali10 · Post by **jcali10** » Wed Jan 30, 2008 2:08 pm

Yes, I need more plants. I didn't win as many I would have liked on Saturday. I'm a big loser. I still want a moss, 2 anubias, some lobelia cardinalis short cultivar, some stems, maybe bacopa carolinia, and valisneria biwaensis.
I will mix up the ferts tonight. Thanks guys.

jcali10 · Post by **jcali10** » Wed Jan 30, 2008 5:14 pm

About the interrupted photoperiod.

I was running my lights for 12 hours on my 20 and was having algae problems until I cut the lights down to 10 hours, with a 2 hour siesta.

It also allows me to see the tank with the lights on before I leave for work and after I get home.

Jeff120 · Post by **Jeff120** » Wed Jan 30, 2008 5:49 pm

Run your lights 8-9 hrs you will be fine, and like said above more plants and dose a little. I would run the lights for 8hrs until you get some more plants or else you more then likely will be growing lots of algae

jcali10 · Post by **jcali10** » Wed Jan 30, 2008 11:12 pm

ok, using the Fertilator, my target for N is 5 ppm.

tank volume = ~45 Gal., cause a 50 breeder doesn't hold 50 gallons.
Nutrient = KNO3
Amt of dry compound added is 21 grams
Volume of final solution is 500 ml
Desired ppm is 5
ml of stock solution to add calculates to 33.07

Dividing 33.07 by 7 gives me the daily dosage, correct.

Aaron · Post by **Aaron** » Thu Jan 31, 2008 10:59 am

So long as you are providing the plants with the nutrients they need daily in the proper ratios the target ppm isn't as big of a concern.

The ratio of dosing I suggested above is about 3:1 nitrate to phosphate. In a planted tank you want the levels to be about a 10:1 ratio of nitrate to phosphate, however, in order to achieve that 10:1 ratio you'll want to dose closer to the 3:1 ratio as the phosphate gets used at a faster rate than the nitrate does.

Does that make sense or did I just make it more confusing?

jcali10 · Post by **jcali10** » Thu Jan 31, 2008 7:41 pm

Aaron, I wanted to respond earlier, but work reared it's ugly head.
I think I understand what you're saying, to achieve a 10:1 ratio, you need to dose about 3:1, because plants consume phosphates more quickly, and the ratios are more relevant than target amounts.
I usually don't test my water. If the plants are thriving and algae is minimal, I'm happy.
So if NPK should be 10:1:10, why no references to dosing potassium?

Aaron · Post by **Aaron** » Thu Jan 31, 2008 9:47 pm

jcali10 wrote:Aaron, I wanted to respond earlier, but work reared it's ugly head.
I think I understand what you're saying, to achieve a 10:1 ratio, you need to dose about 3:1, because plants consume phosphates more quickly, and the ratios are more relevant than target amounts.
I usually don't test my water. If the plants are thriving and algae is minimal, I'm happy.
So if NPK should be 10:1:10, why no references to dosing potassium?

Yup, that's exactly what I'm saying. I used to be on well water at my old apartment. I never really had potassium defficiencies. Aside from some being in the water source the little bit in the potassium nitrate and mono potassium phosphate is usally enough.

When to Fertilize?

When to Fertilize?

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