Optimum Levels

[Safado]

I thought it was daunting starting a thread on other boards. This is even more worrying. I am sure it is posted often, but maybe it would be a good idea to have a sticky thread showing what people consider the optimum levels of different ferts. From Chuck's calculator I see:

NO3: 5ppm
PO4: 1ppm
K: 20 ppm
Mg: 5-10 ppm

How about Micros? Using CSM+B, what would be a good starting point to shoot for?

 

[Tom Barr]

Re: Optimum Levels

I thought it was daunting starting a thread on other boards. This is even more worrying. I am sure it is posted often, but maybe it would be a good idea to have a sticky thread showing what people consider the optimum levels of different ferts. From Chuck's calculator I see:

NO3: 5ppm
PO4: 1ppm
K: 20 ppm
Mg: 5-10 ppm

How about Micros? Using CSM+B, what would be a good starting point to shoot for?

I'd go 10-25ppm on NO3
2ppm of PO4
K+ 20-30ppm
Mg 5ppm and over.

With traces, I go a volume in mls/gal of tank.
So this comes out to about 5mls per 20 gal.
This works for a high light CO2 enriched tank running well.
Measuring Fe is tricky.

So we dose a standard mls/gal of tank 3x a week(you can subdivide into daily if you chose)

Regards,
Tom Barr

 

[Safado]

Re: Optimum Levels

I'd go 10-25ppm on NO3
2ppm of PO4
K+ 20-30ppm
Mg 5ppm and over.

With traces, I go a volume in mls/gal of tank.
So this comes out to about 5mls per 20 gal.
This works for a high light CO2 enriched tank running well.
Measuring Fe is tricky.

So we dose a standard mls/gal of tank 3x a week(you can subdivide into daily if you chose)

Regards,
Tom Barr

Thanks for the quick reply, Tom! I decided I wasn't being very exact by dry dosing, and I think my plants were suffering. I made 500 ML of Micros and Macro. Since your numbers are basically 2X Chuck's, I will just dose twice as much, once I figure out how much NO3 my plants are using.

For the Micros I read somewhere, 2 Tablespoons CSM+B dissolved in 500 ml. Since that would be 12 ml for my 55 g + Sump, and my doser goes to 10 ml, I decided to make it more concentrated. I made it at 3 Tablespoons CSM+B, and .5 Tablespoons Chelated Iron from Greg. It all dissolved, so I don't think there should be a problem with dosing 8 ml of the more concentrated Micro solution.

OK, now for the Ca++. I have a piece of Cuttle Bone in the sump for the shrimp. Will that be enough for the Plants? I got some CaNO3 from Greg. Can I substitute that for some KNO3, or would that be overkill?

Thanks again for your help!