How should I adjust my dosing schedule?

[Jag1980]

Here's my dosing schedule:
General Dosing Guideline for High Light and well planted aquariums.
20-40 Gallon Aquariums
+/- ¼ tsp KN03 3x a week
+/- 1/16 tsp KH2P04 3x a week
+/- 1/16 tsp K2S04 3x a week
+/- 1/16 tsp (5ml) Trace Elements 3x a week
50% weekly water change


Here's my tank now, torn apart waiting for more plants. I will not have my tanked stocked for about 10 days or so.
How should I adjust my dosing schedule for the lack of plants I have now?

I had green cloudy water so I knew something wasn't good, so I got my water tested.

Here's my test results:
pH - 6.5
kH - 3
GH - 6
Ammonia - 0.5
Nitrate - 20
Nitrite - 0
Phosphorus - 3.0

I did a 55% water change Thursday and next day I started my dosing schedule for 2 days: Friday and Saturday dosing.

These levels are too high.
How should I adjust, just cut the dosing in half?


Here was my tank about 10 days ago. It was starting to get a little bit cloudy then also..

 

[Jag1980]

Anyone?
These are the results I got after 2 days of my dosing, imagine what it would be after 6 days of dosing... It almost killed my Nerite snails, I relocated them...

 

[Mooner]

Dosing looks fine for non limiting. I run tanks this size at the same schedule with success at around 1.8 wpg T5's. Even after trimming I don't adjust the ferts much but the CO2 could need adjusting as plants are cut back and grow back in. As I learned here it is easier to keep a tank trimmed at a desired hight as opposed to adjusting things up and down.

Things can get out of wack after a tear down and reset. Continue with WC's and this fert schedule and pay attention to the CO2 and what your levels are.
Not sure about the GW as I have not had the pleasure yet. The second photo looks much better. Looks like you are getting ahead of it.

Here is one tanks similar to yours at your current doing schedule, less light though, so you may need more ferts, CO2 and flow as things grow in.
Notice the stunted plants on the right, these are coming back slowly after a month+, I let one thing get out of line.

Sorry about the crappy photo, haven't quite figured that out yet.

 

[Jag1980]

That's alot of plant mass in that tank.
How long have those plants been set in that way?


Here's the results I get at the end of my dosing schedule of 1 week.

I tested today before the water change.
I'm not sure why my Nitrates are so low compared to my first testing..
First test was 2 days after first KNO3 dosing and the second test was 2 days after KNO3 dosing on the water change day. I should have a higher level of Nitrate if it's the end of the dosing cycle Right? ..

Or is the high Phos making my plant absorb Nitrates at a much higher level?
or
I have no idea what I'm talking about? lol..



Phosphorus - 8.0 to 9.0

Nitrate - 3.0

Ammonia - 0



Looks like I should stop dosing K2S04?

 

[VaughnH]

That's alot of plant mass in that tank.
How long have those plants been set in that way?


Here's the results I get at the end of my dosing schedule of 1 week.

I tested today before the water change.
I'm not sure why my Nitrates are so low compared to my first testing..
First test was 2 days after first KNO3 dosing and the second test was 2 days after KNO3 dosing on the water change day. I should have a higher level of Nitrate if it's the end of the dosing cycle Right? ..

Or is the high Phos making my plant absorb Nitrates at a much higher level?
or
I have no idea what I'm talking about? lol..


Looks like I should stop dosing K2S04?

What it really looks like is that you need to calibrate your test kits. If you want to use the test results for any serious purpose, like making fertilizing decisions, you absolutely have to calibrate them first. Otherwise, the numbers you get from them are virtually meaningless.

Calibration means making standard solutions containing known, calculated, concentrations of the substance you are testing for. For phosphates, for example, you could make a distilled water and KH2PO4 solution that would be 10 ppm of phosphate. Then you could dilute some of that 50-50 with more disstilled water to get a solution having 5 ppm, and dilute again 50-50 to get a 2.5 ppm solution, to get a 3 point calibration.

There is a very good post here somewhere that gives directions for making these solutions, without you having to do the calculations, but I can't find it right now.