dry fertilizer recipe

[smellyfish]

hi everyone, a very large favor to ask, just got back from "plant grow" on edmonton trail with some dry fertilizer, KNO3, solupotasse, & a small bag of micro nutrient mix, now the hard part i^ve looked up several different sites but cann^t get the same answer, i want to know a good recipe for the fertilizer, & how much water do i use at a time & how much fertilizer do i use & how long will it last mixed, before it looses its usefullness, have a 55 gallon thick planted, 125 watts of lights, 15-20 small to medium sized fish as well. water change weekly, also using the flourish system, iron, comprehensive & trace, but its getting pretty expensive,

also how often should i fertilize with the dry stuff & should i add it right after a water change or wait a couple of days.

any way thanks for reading & replying to my post

kirk

[fleshgear]

i am using the pps pro method, so far i think it is pretty good, the part i like about it is that i dont need to change the water every week if i dont want too. a few of my tanks will go a month or more without a water change. i only top them up every couple of weeks. the water stays very clean the fish are all healthy. they are a medium to heavy planted tank with probably more fish than recommended.

with the pps pro, there is two soulutions to make up. i make 250ml at a time of each.

the first soulution needs

15 grams of k2s04

16 grams of kn03

1 gram of kh2p04

10 grams of mgs04 (Epsom salt)

the second solution is

20 grams of trace element mix

there is a pps pro solution calculator for mixing different amounts of water but i couldn't find it. if you pm me your email i could send it too you. or it is probably somewhere on the net.

i got all these dry ferts from that store. everything grows on Edmonton trail, except the Epsom salt. i got that from walmart and all of them combined cost $45 i think

i dont have a scale to measure out the grams, so i checked out a conversion chart for grams to ml, for the most part the are pretty much the same so i add 15ml of k2s04, and so on

i am not sure what method that you can do with the ferts that you have.

[werner]

Here's a Newbie Guide to PPS Pro. It will give you a bit of background and mixing instructions.

The "solupotasse" is K₂SO₄ (potassium sulfate.) Not sure why, but Quick Grow uses odd names and abbreviations for stuff. If you're ordering from their website, you have to (ironically?) search for the term "pot" to get the ferts to show up.

You will also need to buy KH₂PO₄ (aka "mono pot" or mono-potassium phosphate.)

The regular solution will last indefinitely, so just mix up a liter whenever you need it. The trace solution tends to go a bit moldy after a while, so you may want to make smaller batches of it. Using distilled or R/O water and refrigerating it helps too.

You may not even need to bother with the MgSO₄ (epsom salt) since our tap water has plenty of magnesium already.

[fleshgear]

i use about 35-40 ml per solution a day, if i remember to do it and i tried mixing 500 ml of the trace and i had to throw half of it out because it went moldy.

i tried making 250 ml but this time i used distilled water. i only had to throw out maybe 30 ml.

this time i made 250ml with distilled water and i am keeping it in the fridge to see how that works.

it also says in the guide to add the ferts an hour before the lights come on. i dont do this. i put it in when ever i remember. sometimes just before i turn the lights off at night or sometimes when i get home from work. i have not seen any problems with this yet.

Edited November 11, 2009 by fleshgear

[jvision]

The guide for the Estimative Index is posted HERE

[Medic_how]

hi smellyfish , i am also looking to get dry ferts and was wondering how much you paid for all that and how long it will last you.

thanks

[fleshgear]

hi smellyfish , i am also looking to get dry ferts and was wondering how much you paid for all that and how long it will last you.

thanks

about $45 if you use the pps pro method. and i have 10 planted tanks and all the ferts would last for probably 2 years except the trace which cost the most. it was $20 for a sandwich bag. and it would last 4-6 months if you had only 1 tank about 50 gallons it would probably last for a few years