# may have screwed up big



## coryp (May 28, 2008)

hi ok well i didnt use to does npk olny a trace mix every 3 days and i ran in to algee probles now and the works my tank was pissing me off tested n and p and were at like 0 or just above. so the fish store sold me a bottle of flourish and i dosed 20 ml of it in a 40 gallon so a bit more then double dose to get my npk up after feeding this morning i measured my n and p at 20 ppm and 1-2 ppm . but after reading on the net i thing the floursh suplament is a trace miss more then anything . so using a fert calculator this is what i have put in my water 

0.1014 ppm of Total Nitrogen 0.0144 ppm of Available Phosphate 0.5362 ppm of Soluble Potash 0.2028 ppm of Calcium 0.1594 ppm of Magnesium 0.4018 ppm of Sulphur 0.013 ppm of Boron 1.6666 ppm of Chlorine 0.0005 ppm of Cobalt 0.0001 ppm of Copper 0.4637 ppm of Iron 0.0171 ppm of Manganese0.0013 ppm of Molybdenum 0.1884 ppm of Sodium 0.001 ppm of Zinc 

co2 is dark green on a 4dkh drop checker and lights are 3.4 w per gallon 

this whole fert thing is now really confusing me and i dont understan ei dosing by tom barr he put tomuch explanation in to it lol 

is my tank screwed lol  

i was ok befor with a few plants and low light no co2 i guess ill be a beginner agin


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## Sunstar (Jul 29, 2008)

NPK you need to go more or less with dry ferts for that.


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## coryp (May 28, 2008)

Sunstar said:


> NPK you need to go more or less with dry ferts for that.


... ok so ... is floursh cmprehencive trace or is it npk cause if its trace based and i dosed enough to bring my np up to 15 and 1 to 1.5 did i not just way overdose trace mix


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## Darkblade48 (Jan 28, 2008)

Flourish is just a trace mix. Flourish comprehensive is also a trace mix fertilizer, as far as I know. For NPK, you will need Flourish nitrogen, Flourish phosphorus and Flourish potassium, respectively.

You really shouldn't be dosing double in order to bring your levels back up to optimal levels, since this might cause a shock for your fish. If anything, the thing I would worry the most about right now is the high copper level that you've calculated you've added. 

As you know, with 3.4 WPG and CO2 (whether it be pressurized or DIY), you will definitely need to dose your macros and micronutrients. Since flourish comprehensive is mainly for micronutrients, you have essentially overdosed your tank. I'd suggest you start doing water changes if you start seeing any negative effects on your fish. The high copper level may or may not affect plants as well (depending on what plants you have).

EI dosing is quite simple. The principle is that you supply more than enough nutrients for the plants to use, and then carry out weekly water changes in order to prevent the nutrient levels from building up too high. I'm pretty sure Tom Barr has a more simplified explanation of EI dosing in his forums (i.e. given a certain tank volume, you need to add x grams (or alternatively, less accurately, x teaspoons) of some chemical compound (i.e. potassium nitrate) every other day in order to maintain adequate nutrients for the plants).

Next time, a simple Google search or even reading the label of the product you're adding to the water will prevent this problem from occurring!


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## coryp (May 28, 2008)

lol i did read it the first three things on their chart were npk i just didnt look at the %'s and thought it was a npk with added trace (like the lfs said) lol turns out it was the other way around trace with alittle npk in it


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## Darkblade48 (Jan 28, 2008)

Indeed; be sure to do a little more reading/research next time!


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## Chris S (Dec 19, 2007)

Too much light! With that wattage, you need to be fertilizing properly or you will have algae problems guaranteed.

If this is new to you, I would suggest working your way up to a high-light, high-fert setup.


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