Simple Macro Mix

[Ghazanfar Ghori]

EDIT: PLEASE SKIP TO THE END FOR THE LATEST RECIPE!
EDIT: PLEASE SKIP TO THE END FOR THE LATEST RECIPE!
EDIT: PLEASE SKIP TO THE END FOR THE LATEST RECIPE!

EDIT: PLEASE SKIP TO THE END FOR THE LATEST RECIPE!
EDIT: PLEASE SKIP TO THE END FOR THE LATEST RECIPE!
EDIT: PLEASE SKIP TO THE END FOR THE LATEST RECIPE!

Since the AGA convention and discussions I had there with Tom Barr, Phile Edwards and others, it would seem that we don't feed our plants as much as they need.
I've been playing with different ratios /concentrations / mixes etc for a few months now. Everyone's setup is different, but I think this mix should be a good general mix for water in out area. I'm getting great growth from a WIDE range of plants - there is nothing I've run into yet that doesn't seem to do well with this mix.

It would be awesome if someone else tried this in their tank and report back the results.

I'll give you a 1 liter mix recipe below. That should last a 50 Gallon setup about 3 months of dosing.

Also, you mix this, please make sure you dissolve the ferts in LESS THAN 1 liter of water (750 ml is good) and then ONCE the dry ferts have dissolved, increase the water in the solution to make a total of 1 liter of solution.

Stock A
1 Liter of water (mix in less and then top up to 1 liter)
160 grams of Ca(NO3)2 (Calcium Nitrate)
98 grams of Mg(NO3)2 (Magnesium Nitrate)
80 grams of KNO3 (Potassium Nitrate)

Stock B
1 Liter of water (mix in less and then top up to 1 liter)
52 grams of KH2PO4 (Potassium Phosphate)


Dosage is VERY easy. For every gallon of water in your tank, dose 1 ml of Stock A and 1 ml Stock B per week.
It's best to break the dosage into 3 to prevent a massive dose all at once.

Example Fert Schedule for 75G tank:
Total weekly dose needed is 75 ml
Divided by 3 for a 3 per week dose = 25ml 3 times per week.

So in a 75G tank, you'd dose 25 ml of Stock A and 25ml of Stock B three times a week.
I do this Monday, Wednesday and Friday with a 50% water change on Sunday.
Tuesday and Thursday gets Flourish/Flourish Iron dosed according to the instructions on the bottle.

I'm using pressurized CO2 - a lot of it and high light.
If you're using less light / less CO2 - try a 50% dose to start with and take it from there.

I'm curious to see what your results look like.

[krisw]

I'm game to try this, but need to order a few more dosing bottles first. Are you really only dosing Flourish/Iron according to the bottle recommendations? Typically in the past, we've seemed to need more than the bottle recommended dosing for micros. And, actually, I thought Seachem's recommended Iron dosing had you dosing daily, or close to that?

[Ghazanfar Ghori]

Yep, I'm dosing as per the instructions on the bottle. My indicator plant is E. compressum. If I see that going pale, I'll up the dose by one additional one a week for a few weeks.

Dosage bottles are awesome. So much easier. I mix my ferts in 1 gallon distilled water bottles and then refill my 1 liter dosage bottles as needed.

Full disclosure - I had been trying a mix with higher Ca/Mg but the rotalas didn't do so well. The ludwigias on the other hand loved it. I also got crazy branching from everything with the higher Ca/Mg. The current mix has a reduced level of Ca/Mg (hence the KNO3 in the mix). Now the rotalas are doing great and the ludwigias are still happy. Healthy branching. Try it - let me know if you see a difference.

Also - don't mix Stock A and B into a single stock solution - you'll end up making gypsum.

I ordered my macros and dosing bottles from GreenLeaf

[krisw]

I actually like the measured pump bottles. Ordered some that dispense 2ml per pump. I have been using others that do 1.5ml for years with luck.

Good to know on the micros and higher Ca/Mg... I tried adding epsom salts a couple years ago, and noticed some of the same -- some plants did better, but the softer water stuff didn't love it, particularly things like Syngonanthus... I'm hoping to rescape my 75G sometime this month, so I'll follow your instructions exactly once that's done...

[sukrol]

Where would Micros fit into this schedule? Are you using CSM+B + Iron Chelate?

Do you have a recipe for Micros as well?

Thanks!

[sukrol]

Nevermind, I should've read all the way to the bottom. But for arguments sake, you prefer Flourish to CSM+B + Iron Chealte or Gluconate?
Also I thought that daily dosing for Micros was good?

Thanks!

[Ghazanfar Ghori]

I've tried CSM+B - but generally see better results with Seachems Flourish + Iron.

I don't dose micros daily - at certain concentrations Phophates and iron will precip just like mixing Stock A and B will form mostly insoluble Calcium Sulfate. I have a chemical engineering degree but too lazy to do the math. However I often see my water getting cloudy if I dose Iron and Phosphates together - that's a precip forming. I've seen it several times now and so I now just dose micros+iron on different days.

It works for me - your mileage might very.

Do try the macro mix - yes again - not scientific - but curious to hear about results.

[sukrol]

I should run out of my current mix at the end of the month, I will mix my new batch using this recipe, should have something to report by the next meeting depending on when it is.

[Ghazanfar Ghori]

Sounds good! Interested in seeing how the results are - good - bad - indifferent - if some plants are affected more than others, color and growth pattern changes etc. Fun stuff!

[krisw]

I've been following this on my 75g for the past 6 weeks or so. Do plants grow? Yes! OK, now that the basics are answered, I've noticed a few differences. The MD Proserpinaca barely grew at all for me in this tank since the summer. After changing the dosing schedule, it's been growing much faster and branching like crazy. Color is just okay though. Bolbitis initially took a step back, but recently has been growing nicely. Lagenandra seem happy. Ludwigia brevipes is growing nice and compact, almost horizontal with slight bronzing. Weeping moss grows. Sword plant not looking great though, but hard to tell if dosing is to blame as I'm severely cramping it's space with wood since I rescaped before starting this.

For me, I've had to up my phosphates a bit from 25ml three times a week as I was getting green spot. I do have nitrates in my tap water, so there's likely a slight difference in source water from Ghazanfar's. All told, I've been happy so far. For me to expand to all tanks, however, I'd rather see if I can mix everything dry and dose that like Ive done with Kno3, k2so4, and kh2po4 for years. That would cut out the mixing stage every few months....