Dry Fert's Calculator

[Batch]

Most of you have already probably come across this (or simply don't need it) but I found the following site very helpful;
 
http://www.csd.net/~cgadd/aqua/art_plant_dosage_calc.htm
 
The calculator on this site helps you get the desired concentration of Nitrate in Potassium Nitrate, Phosphate in KH2PO4, Potassium in Potassium Nitrate, Potassium in Potassium Chloride, Potassium in Potassium Sulphate and Magnesium in Magnesium Sulphate. Simply enter the volume of liquid you intend to use, and the volume of your tank.
 
It certainly helped take some of the confusion out of it for me!
 
 
 
(Sorry if this has been posted before, or if linking to another site breaks some sort of rule!)

[TropicalFishForums]

[CATFISH mick]

AHHHH!! Chuck's aquarium Calculator. I'd forgotten about this, thanks for the reminder Batch.

I'll 'STICKY' this for you Batch :D

Then I and everyone else won't lose it again.

[Batch]

No worries mate, I found it invaluable when the ferts arrived, and very easy to use too

[leegsi]

Link doesnt work

[DEE]

It doesnt work for me either... is the address complete?

[Noodoo]

Dead link

[DEE]

ahh  old thread, addy probably changed

[johnny70]

EI calc. here http://wet.biggiantnerds.com/ei/con_v_time.pl not chuck's but will do the same job, I may have a downloaded copy of Chuck's on my work laptop, will have a look in the morning

[KevB]

This link seems to be active :

https://www.thenutrientcompany.com/aquarium/calculators/ei_calculator/

[Munchy2007]

Here are some easy to follow instructions for mixing your own ferts.

For the macro ferts use 500ml water, and to this add:

6 x teaspoon magnesium sulphate
4 x teaspoon potassium nitrate
1 x teaspoon potassium phosphate

For the micro ferts use 500ml water, and to this add:

1 x teaspoon chelated trace

Mix both bottles well and then leave overnight to allow the salts to dissolve completely. Depending on the size of your tank, each bottle could last quite a while and I've found the best place to keep them is in the fridge, where they can be stored for months without any mould growing in them.

Dose at a rate of 10ml per 50L of tank volume and dose the macro and micro on alternate days (to reduce the risk of them reacting with each other and forming compounds that are unavailable for the plants to use.)

to calculate the dosage for your tank use the following formula:

tank volume ÷ 50 x 10 and then round up to the nearest multiple of 10.

So for a 220L tank the daily dosage would be 50ml.

Based on the above a weekly dosing regime for a 220L tank would look something like this

Mon        50ml Macro
Tues       50ml Micro
Weds      50ml Macro
Thurs      50ml Micro
Fri          50ml Macro
Sat         50ml Micro

Sunday 50% water change

The above is the recognised EI method and if followed along with adequate CO2 injection and water circulation will produce excellent results.

The main thing to remember is that the idea behind this is to make the nutrients a non limiting factor, so within reason you don't need to worry about dosing more than the figures above, but you don't want to dose less.

The causes of algae outbreaks are many and varied, but excess nutrients isn't one of them.