# Once a week dosing



## Sameer (Sep 30, 2007)

Hey guys, just purchased dry ferts from the H.Hydrophonic store. I got K2SO4, KNO3, KH2PO4 and trace elements. My main question is, what kind of a mixture should I make for a once a week dosing? I cant do EI because I can only do water changes and dosing on weekends, weekdays I have no time. So Im thinking, previously Ive had a good success rate with DIY CO2, Fourite and weekend dosing of Flourish macro and micro ferts. One week I dosed macro, the next week micro.

Since Im new to dry ferts, I wanted to know in how much water should I add what quantity of ferts. I have 2 x 2L empty coke bottles (one for macro and one for micro). atm I have a co2 tank (I need to get that filled) and I have a 45 gallon tank which will be heavily planted. 

Also, looking for DW and good looking rocks to start my redo/re-haul of my tank.


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## Darkblade48 (Jan 28, 2008)

What kind of lighting do you have over your 45 gallon aquarium?

If you have a high light aquarium, then you will *have* to dose on weekdays as well; there is no way around it. Trying to have a high light aquarium with once a week dosings will not work.

Dosing should not take you more than 5-10 seconds per day anyway.

As before, however, you can mix all the macros together in one bottle, and the micros in another bottle. I would not make 2L all at once, as the trace mix in particular, is often prone to mold formation.


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## Sameer (Sep 30, 2007)

I have T8s, 3 watts per gallon. I wish there was an auto dose system I could find, Im guessing they are around but are very expensive. Im not at home till evening most of the weekdays. The only time Im around in the morning is Wednesday. Besides that I get home either late afternoon or evening. Now Im guessing Ill have to dose in the evening. I can try Sunday morning after water change, Tuesday evening and Thursday evening. Ill really need to stick a reminder somewhere to not forget, getting bogged down in school work will really make it hard for me.

I do have the flourish bottles, I think they are 500 ml, I could use those for storage. They are opaque so no worry about molding.


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## Darkblade48 (Jan 28, 2008)

3 WPG of T8 lighting is quite a bit of light.

I think you should be dosing everyday, in addition to supplementing with CO2, unless you want eventual algae problems.

It is fine if you cannot dose until the evenings. The time you dose does not really matter, as long as you *remember* to dose.


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## Sameer (Sep 30, 2007)

Darkblade48 said:


> ....*remember* to dose.


Yea thats one of the main problems. I think Id prefer to dose every other day, still dont want to do the EI method. Is anyone dosing every other day with dry ferts? Id like to know the amount of each you use to make your solution and how much/when you dose it. I need to get an idea before I can eye ball the correct amount to dose. Not too much nutrients and not too less.

Thanks for the help Darkblade, hope more reply here.


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## Zebrapl3co (Mar 29, 2006)

You can still dose every other day with the EI method. Just make sure you keep the trace elements in a separate bottle as the macro neutrients.
But every other day is about as close as you can cut it with the EI methods. All other dosing regiments are daily because they have to be just the right amount and does not work in having excess amount of neutrients in the tank. EI is still your best bet.
Also, did I get this right? You have 3 wpg but no CO2? I don't think that would work. You'll probably end up with too much light and not enough CO2 to supply for the chlorophile process in the plant.
If you are going for the EI method. Here's the link: 
http://gtaaquaria.com/forum/showthread.php?t=12269

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## Sameer (Sep 30, 2007)

atm I have purchased the ferts and the tank is in the process of being torn down. Im asking for all this info so when I start the new build, I wont or shouldnt have last minute questions. So atm again, I have a empty CO2 tank, I will get that filled as soon as the new tank is ready. So, I have 3 watts per gallon, presurized co2, I thinking about 1 or 2 bubbles per second, Flourite (Ill be in Detroit this weekend so I hope I can find Flourite or Eco Complete for cheap (my bro was telling me about a guy who bought Eco for $8 because they had a sale and apparently, it was 50% off)). 

Everything is perfect, I think the T8s are the weakest part in the tank, I will also replace the 4 T8s that have been in use for a whole year. 

I have taken a look at the EI method, wanted to ask if people used other methods of dosing...


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## Darkblade48 (Jan 28, 2008)

As Zebrapl3co mentioned, there are other types of dosing available, such as PPS and PPS-Pro (both of which I have used). However, they are just as, if not more strict, compared to EI, as they definitely require daily dosing.


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## Sameer (Sep 30, 2007)

hmm yea, I was hoping there was an easier way out. Ill see into the EI dosing, I guess change the amounts to my liking.


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## coldmantis (Apr 5, 2010)

I have a 45 high tank, and I do daily dosing before I go to sleep 4.5ml of macro and seachem trace twice a week, with pps-pro you don't have to do 50% weekly water changes, I change my water around 30-40% every 3 weeks. and I have 4x36" 21w T5, as dark mentioned it's take like 5-10sec a day so not really that much work.


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## waj8 (Jun 30, 2010)

You can dose the change water. I have done that before. It is clearly not as good as dosing more frequently but it works OK. You use a dosing calculator to figure out how much fertilizer to add to the change water to achieve a certain level of nutrients. The nutrient level in the tank will always tend to be the same as the change water but as evapouration and plant uptake occur and fish produce waste, the nutrient levels will start to go off pretty badly. I used this method for many years but on a lower light tank. The more water changes you do the better it works.

I find that an all in one solution is the easiest for me which is what I use. I also like it better because my water change schedule is somewhat random. To make an all in one solution you have to add Potassium Sorbate and Ascorbic acid to the mix. Google James' Planted tank to find the recipe. I am really not too sure if the P.S. and A.A. are really required, I have skipped them and I still don't see problems with the solution. Maybe my micronutrients are so strongly chelated it doesn't matter. By mistake I added citric acid instead of Ascorbic Acid to my mix. It smells very nice now. I haven't seen any precipitate in the bottle so perhaps Citric acid will do the same thing as the A.A.

I find a calendar indispensable for dosing and changing CO2 bottles. I mix up a one months supply of fertilizer at a time in a liter of water. I then add 33 ml every day. Or 66 ml every other day or 99 ml every third day. I do water changes once or twice a week for the sake of my Discus. To figure out a one month supply just add up the E.I. weekly ingredients and multiply by 4.3.

Cutting down your lighting will help a great deal. You don't need so much light and your tank won't require so much attention if you cut it back. Lots of light and DIY CO2 is rather tricky. If you don't have a lot of time maybe pressurized would be best for you. It's more consistent anyway and will decrease the likelihood of algae. Without good CO2 you really can't do EI levels of dosing. CO2 can save you money on lighting too. Plants don't need as much light if the CO2 levels are good.


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## AquaNekoMobile (Feb 26, 2010)

Sameer said:


> I have T8s, 3 watts per gallon. I wish there was an auto dose system I could find, Im guessing they are around but are very expensive. Im not at home till evening most of the weekdays. The only time Im around in the morning is Wednesday. Besides that I get home either late afternoon or evening. Now Im guessing Ill have to dose in the evening. I can try Sunday morning after water change, Tuesday evening and Thursday evening. Ill really need to stick a reminder somewhere to not forget, getting bogged down in school work will really make it hard for me.
> 
> I do have the flourish bottles, I think they are 500 ml, I could use those for storage. They are opaque so no worry about molding.


Here is an idea I've tested and your milage may vary on your customization. I have a bunch of 2/4L bottles here and I drilled 2 holes into the cap of my 4L jug.

I put one airline tube into the jug reaching all the way to the bottom of the jug and the other hole I stick another airline in tube in but I keep that airline tube 1-2inches in the cap. I put a inline (~$1) air line regulator to adjust the pressure I need or bleed some air off.

I hook the airline tube that is 1-2in from the top of the cap to an airpump (I used a 4way gang for my testing) then filled the bottle with H20. It was a test for an auto dripper thing I was making for hydroponics.

You can use the same idea above with a spare air pump on a timer and fill your bottle with ferts (tho test with water first for drip timing). I have drip irrigation caps which can be found at Home Depot (look like dradles sort of, check the irrigration isle) which one end can plug into the hard irrigation dripline or conviently works with airline tubing as well. Or if you don't want that drip cap you can tie knots in your airline tubing to ge tthe flow you want.

Now that the hardware is get up using mostly spare items around you comes the timing part. This you'll have to test with. If you got a digital timer then you can adjust the timer down to 1min. If you've got a 'clicker' older timer check what the intervals are. The lowest on/off interval I've seen is 15mins tho some shops only have 30mins.

What you do is time and adjust your knots to see much liquid comes out after the bottle has been pressurized. After your testing is done add your ferts then just note when your ferts are running low and fill it up then. The timer, airpump, and air pressure then becmes your auto-doser.

I'll try to draft up a image of this later when I'm not working.


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## AquaNekoMobile (Feb 26, 2010)

Ok this should look better then the explaination in text.

Hope that helps. 
http://www.flickr.com/photos/[email protected]/


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## fishclubgirl (Mar 4, 2010)

A couple of ideas to help you have a successful tank. You might want to look at what kind of spectrum and how old your bulbs are and also what kind of substrate you're using to. There's more to planted tanks than just CO2 and ferts...


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## Sameer (Sep 30, 2007)

Hey thanks for the replies, I have been really busy and was out the country for a little while. So I still have to read and absorb what everyones said.


Once again, I have Flourite and CaribSea Flora Max as substrate, 3 watts per gallon T8 lighting (I cant remember but 6400k), pressurized CO2 and these ferts that I have opened for.


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