08/10/2021
Hola TORArians!
I noticed that some of my followers are non-Malaysian. First of all i would like to thank all of you for following me.
As a token of appreciation, i have translated my previous post regarding ferts calculation.
(Pardon me for any grammatical error, as i am not that good with English)
WARNING: THIS IS A LONG AND BORING POST.
DISCLAIMER: This is my personal way of calculating/determining values of nutrients for my tanks. It may or may not be right.
For your information, all of TORAquatics tanks are using Malaysian made fertilizers by Scape Republic (SR).
Below are the steps.
1. Calculate your tank volume
To calculate your tank volume the formula is: WxDxH (in cm) / 1000
For example: i have a tank size 60x30x36
The volume for my tank is 64.8L
Tank volume includes everything inside the tank such as soil, hardscape, thermometer, filter outflow and inflow, co2 diffuser and surface skimmer. For my tank, i lazily assumed the volume of water in it is 54L 😅. (Minus 1 bag of 9L soil, some pumice stone underneath the soil and 2 not so large lava rock for my echinodorus base)
2. Determine quantity of ferts (ml/pump) for 1 dose
Dosing guides are usually determine by the ferts manufacturers. The popular dosing is 1ml of fert : 20L of water. As for the brand that I've been using, the dosage is 1ml : 20L or 2 pumps for 54L (maybe now you get it why did i lazily assumed my tank's volume is 54L 😉🤫).
So 1 dose of fert for my tank is 2 pumps.
Value of nutrients supplied per dose are also difference between manufacturers. For SR brand, the value of nutrients supplied per dose are as below:
K: 2 ppm per dose
N: 2 ppm per dose
P: 0.1 ppm per dose
Fe: 0.1 ppm per dose
3. Determine the value of ferts (ppm) to be supplied (the longest most boring and confusing part)
Personally i have a love hate relationship with this step, but this step always make me thrilled and excited with aquascaping. There's a lot of recommended ferts dosing range for aquascaping. but for me, i follow below ranges for my tanks:
N: 5 - 40 ppm
P: 0.1 - 13 ppm
K: 5 - 40 ppm
Fe: 0.015 - 0.6 ppm
By using these ranges, I determine the suitable nutrients value for my tanks.
I started with the minimum values and slowly increase the values depending on the plants needs.
I usually calculate nutrient values per week. From those values of nutrients i intended to supply, I divide it by nutrient values per dosage to determine the quantity of dosages needed per week. From the quantity of dosages per week, i multiply it with the number of pumps per dosage to determine the number of pumps needed per week.
For example:
K: 30 ppm = 15 dose = 30 pump
N: 30 ppm = 15 dose = 30 pump
P: 3.0 ppm = 30 dose = 60 pump
Fe: 0.4 ppm = 4 dose = 8 pump
Lastly, I divide the numbers of pump per week with the days i intend to supply nutrients for my tanks.
For example:
D1: K=5 pump; N=5 pump; P=15 pump
D2: K=4 pump; Micro(Fe)=4 pump; N=5 pump
D3: K=5 pump; N=5 pump; P=15 pump
D4: K=4 pump; Micro(Fe)=4 pump; N=5 pump
D5: K=5 pump; N=5 pump; P=15 pump
D6: K=5 pump; N=5 pump; P=15 pump
D7: K=3 pump
DO NOT DOSE P & Fe AT THE SAME TIME (but i forgot why, sorry)
Just so you know, this is the values of nutrients that i supplied to my tank which is using Chihiros WRGB II (100% for all spectrum) that sits approximately 5cm from water surface and co2 at maximum (uncountable bps) with 8 hours photoperiod.
Please be reminded that this is my personal way of calculating/determining values of nutrients for my tanks. It may or may not be right. So try at your own risk.
Algae will always be in your tank, the only difference is whether they are healthy or not. Healthy algae will always show themselves just to annoys you, while the unhealthy one will stay hidden and always wait for the right time to strike.
That's all for this post.
You may ask questions in the comment section and i will try my very best to answer them.
Hope it helps.
Thanks for reading!
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