PPS fertilizing

[olyve91]

Hello,

first of all, i'm french, from France, so...excuse my english!!:!

i'm trying to start fertilizing with the "Perpetual Preservation System" (PPS)

there is only one thing i don't get: what does mean "CSM+B", and what are the ingredients to make this solution??

hope you understand my english and my question as well!!

 

[Philosophos]

You'll probably want to go with PPS Pro rather than PPS; it adds some much needed phosphate into the fertilizers.

CSM is a product put out by Plantex. It lacks boron so people add it back with some boric acid, hence CSM+B. You can use other micronutrients if CSM+B is not available to you. Tropica Plant Nutrition or Flourish Comprehensive can be used as well.

-Philosophos

 

[Biollante]

Welcome!

Hi,

Your English is just fine.

Most of us purchase the Plantex CSM+B already made. I think there are a couple of your countrymen that may be able to advise you on where to purchase.

If you wish to 'roll' your own Practical PMDD Information has the recipe.

I wish you well.

Biollante

 

[olyve91]

You can use other micronutrients if CSM+B is not available to you. Tropica Plant Nutrition or Flourish Comprehensive can be used as well.

-Philosophos

in the same proportions?

 

[Tom Barr]

Depends really.

Some pay attention to Fe and think it's some really critical thing, others, like myself, know better.

My Fe levels are around .5-1.0 ppm on average.
About 5-10x more than PPS suggest, my PO4 is also about 5-10X more also, and the NO3 is similar, maybe 3-5X more.

See a pattern?

I think my point is that you can make any relative mixture of fertilizer for yourself and your own aquarium and it'll do pretty well There's a great deal of talk about nutrients/fertilizers etc, however..........CO2 and light are FAR more important factors.

Generally I focus much more on those.
They will yield much better management over time no matter how you add fertilizers. If some obsession with the water column ppm's is your thing in planted aquariums, might I suggest a much simpler solution?

Use sediment fetrtilization by using soil based sediments with N and P included, like ADA or your own DIY soil, see other things such as worm castings etc.

Then there's much less need by plants from the water column, this allows you to use "less" in the water column and less issues if you forget to dose the water fertilizer since there is always a back up in the sediment.

Using lower light, say about 0.4 W/liter of aquarium of T5 lighting also will reduce demand from CO2 and for nutrients, making both easier.

Rather than focusing on managing nutrients carefully, adding these specific amounts, these basic methods make management of aquarium much easier and better over time.

There's a simple EI method using daily liquid dosing also:
http://www.barrreport.com/estimativ...accuracy-want-daily-pmdd-style-ei-dosing.html

Has more P and a general GH booster instead.

My own tanks, I add about 3:1 KNO3:KH2PO4, just what works nicely for myself.
So the point here is that you can modify and likely should to suit your own taste and routine. Personal habits play a larger role than whether one method "works better", so it's much more a human issue than anything.

Here's one of my own tanks:

Regards,
Tom Barr

 

[Tom Barr]

Hello,

first of all, i'm french, from France, so...excuse my english!!:!

i'm trying to start fertilizing with the "Perpetual Preservation System" (PPS)

there is only one thing i don't get: what does mean "CSM+B", and what are the ingredients to make this solution??

hope you understand my english and my question as well!!

You might find something close in France under Hydroponic gardening, or you can order it from Aquaessentials.com in the UK.

I would likely modify CMS+B, I add DTPA Fe, at about 1/4 DTPA to 3/4 CMS+B by volume. This yeilds a semi Tropica master grow like forumula.

Here is a % break down of the various commonly used products including CMS:
Fertilizer Comparison Chart, by Giancarlo Podio

You can use this to see how close you can find a similar dry powder product in France. Tropica is rather costly.

Regards,
Tom Barr

 

[olyve91]

thank's a lot.
By the way, here is my aquarium

 

[Tom Barr]

I do like white gravel, but the idea behind most folks that chose pps is one based on keeping the nutrients leaner than say EI.

To do that best, adding sediment enrichment like soils or ADA As etc would do better to reach that goal. Using lower light also. This still supplies plants with plenty of nutrients without adding much to the water column. Or you can do a little water column dosing + rich sediments. That + low light is exactly what ADA does.

My point an done I've made for well over a decade is that leaner is not better and offers no significant management benefit/no increased risk.

If you want less, use less light since all downstream demand for CO2 and nutrients are reduced. If you do not really care about any of that, then use EI and use water changes.

Much simpler.


Regards,
Tom Barr