Chuck's Planted Aquarium Pages

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Chuck's Planted Aquarium Pages HOME: Back to the introduction page EMAIL: cgadd@cfxc.com FAVORITE PICS: My favorite pics THE TANKS: 75g Rainbowfish 46g Paludarium 29g community tank FAUNA: Rainbowfish Catfish and Algae Eaters Other fish Everything else! FLORA: My complete plants list ARTICLES: A listing of articles about Plants, Fish, and DIY items. LINKS: Plant Links Fish resources Commercial Sites Jump to my non-fish home page

Calculating dosages of fertilizer elements for a planted tank This calculator is used to help aquarists prepare a "fertilizer solution" that can be used to dose their aquarium. In this process, the aquarist will add the dry fertilizer ingredients to a measured amount of water. The dry ingredients and water are usually combined in some sort of sealable bottle, which is used to store the liquid fertilizer. Once the liquid fertilizers are prepared, the aquarist will add a measured amount (usually measured out in ml) of these liquid fertilizers to their tank daily or weekly. Prepare each needed fertilier seperately, since the amount of each one needed for any particular tank will vary, and will vary in a given tank over time. In my case, I have to add K every week, but as my big fat rainbowfish have matured, I've needed to add less and less Nitrate. Preparing the stock solution: Nitrate in Potassium Nitrate Phosphate in KH2PO4 Potassium in Potassium Nitrate Potassium in Potassium Chloride Potassium in Potassium Sulfate Magnesium in Magnesium Sulfate Amount to add: Grams or Teaspoons or Tablespoons Amount of water to mix with: ml Dosing the stock solution into your tank: Tank Size: gallons liters Each ML of this solution that you add to your tank will add: . Suggested Target Level: Note: This is not the amount you should add per ml, but rather this is the total level you should target for the tank. For nutrients like Potassium and magnesium, I add enough so that each week, I'm adding close to this amount. For Nitrates, you should adjust your dosage based on the results of a nitrate test kit, to achieve the desired PPM I have just added Phosphate (in the form of KH2PO4) to the calculator. Be VERY careful dosing phosphate, as an excess can definitely create problems in your tank. For places with very hard water (high GH), it's likely that the water will already contain elevated levels of magnesium. References Percentage of compound: Compound Element Pct K2SO4 - Potassium Sulfate K - Potassium 44.9% SO4 - Sulfate 55.1% KNO3 - Potassium Nitrate K - Potassium 38.7% NO3 - Nitrate 61.3% KCl - Potassium Chloride K - Potassium 52.4% Cl - Chloride 47.6% MgSO4+7H2O - Magnesium Sulfate Epsom Salt Mg - Magnesium 9.9% SO4 - Sulfate 39.0% Other - water 51.1% KH2PO4 PO4 - Phosphate 69.8% KH2 30.2% Weight to teaspoon conversions: Compound grams per teaspoon Potassium Sulfate 6g (estimated) Potassium Nitrate 5.6g Potassium Chloride 6g Magnesium Sulfate 5.4g KH2PO4 4.8g Article Survey Your feedback on this article would be greatly appreciated. All feedback is anonymous, so please, be honest. Your input can help me create better content. Usefulness of this article: Very    Somewhat    Not very    Not at all Technical Level: Too technical    Just right    Not technical enough Would you like to see more articles like this one? Yes    No Any comments about this article? (for questions that you want answered, use my email link below...) If you have any questions about this article, or if you feel that something is incorrect or missing, please let me know via email at cgadd@cfxc.com