# PPS pro dosing



## Chet (Jan 2, 2016)

I have been dosing for a couple of weeks and noticed the new growth on my swords is light green. Do I need to dose more micros or just only Iron or more macros?


----------



## Edward (Apr 11, 2005)

What traces and how much are you dosing now? Aquarium size?


----------



## Chet (Jan 2, 2016)

Plantex csm b. 55 gal


----------



## Edward (Apr 11, 2005)

Hi Chet
The normal micros dose on 55 gallon aquarium should be 12 drops a day of solution #2. If you still see pale new growth then double the dose to 24 drops a day for a week or two.


----------



## Chet (Jan 2, 2016)

What is the receipt you use for mixing micro solution? I am using green leaf aquarium micro fertilizers.


----------



## Edward (Apr 11, 2005)

Chet said:


> What is the receipt you use for mixing micro solution? I am using green leaf aquarium micro fertilizers.


 I use Plant-Prod Chelated Micronutrient Mix which is almost the same as Plantex CSM+B, and the quantity is here. Difference is in chelating.

Plant-Prod Chelated Micronutrient Mix
EDTA (Ethylene diamine tetraacetate) 42%, (5% Fe, Mn, Zn, Cu) 
DTPA (Diethylene triamine pentaacetate) 14%, (2% Fe)

Plantex CSM
EDTA (chelating agent) 65.4%, (7% Fe, Mn, Zn, Cu)

+B
is added by resellers.

.


----------



## Chet (Jan 2, 2016)

I am confused? Green leaf aquarium had me mix 40grams in 500ml. I dose at a rate of 1ml of solution per 10gallons.


----------



## Edward (Apr 11, 2005)

There were some improvements since then, nothing major. You can read more here if interested.


----------



## Chet (Jan 2, 2016)

What should I do? Major water change? I think this explains my excessive algae and plants not doing great. Should I hold off on dosing micros for a week. My swords have pale new growth. Is this from too many micros.


----------



## Edward (Apr 11, 2005)

No need to do a water change. It is actually good you have dosed micros like that. It proves the yellow growth is not lack of micronutrients. Don’t stop dosing micros, plants need daily supply. 

Something is not right with macros. What do you know about tap parameters?


----------



## Chet (Jan 2, 2016)

What should I test in the tap? Should I start dosing with drops with the high cons ingrate or mix fresh?


----------



## Edward (Apr 11, 2005)

The solution can be used as is, nothing wrong with it. For the tap parameters we need KH, GH and Ca or Mg.


----------



## Chet (Jan 2, 2016)

Gh 75
Kh 180


----------



## Edward (Apr 11, 2005)

Chet said:


> Gh 75
> Kh 180


Assuming values are in ppm as CaCO3 equivalent, then
4 dGH
10 dKH

It is not usual to have so high KH with low GH. If you could find Ca or Mg level. 

What is aquarium pH?



Chet said:


> My tap is 180 ppm. My water change was done with tap water. I stopped dosing on last Thursday and the plants seem to be growing better with no algae on new growth. My tank was 257 ppm tonight.


 Is there whole house water filter? When your tap TDS is 180 ppm as NaCl then aquarium should be maintain at no more then 180 + 50 = 230 ppm as NaCl. 



Chet said:


> I never replace evaporated water with tap


 What do you use?


----------



## Chet (Jan 2, 2016)

i have a water softner with a bypass valve. The only water that is soft is hot water to match tank temp. FYI when I looked at my micro bottle it had white solid settle out of it. My tank ph is 6.4 with ph controller. Drop check is light green. My TDS is 268. Should I do a water change? I am still double dosing excel to control bba. I just connected the ph controller this past Friday.


----------



## Edward (Apr 11, 2005)

Chet said:


> i have a water softner with a bypass valve. The only water that is soft is hot water to match tank temp. FYI when I looked at my micro bottle it had white solid settle out of it. My tank ph is 6.4 with ph controller. Drop check is light green. My TDS is 268. Should I do a water change? I am still double dosing excel to control bba. I just connected the ph controller this past Friday.


 This is getting complicated. 
You use larger portion raw tap mixed with smaller portion filtered via whole house “softener”. The ratio is dependent on temperature, so the water parameters are never the same. Not good. Can’t you fill something with raw tap water and heat it up electrically?

To make this working we need to know more details. 

What do you use to regenerate the whole house “softener”, NaCl or KCl?
What is raw tap GH, KH, TDS ppm as NaCl?
Knowing raw tap Ca or Mg would help a lot.
What is “softened” water GH, KH, TDS?

Your plant problems are caused by mineral imbalance of Ca, Mg, K and Na.

If raw tap water, “softened” water and aquarium water don’t have the same KH then the CO2 controller will make it worse. The controller is regulating CO2 delivery referenced to pH. When KH fluctuate then pH and CO2 does as well. This is bad for plants.

The white precipitation in micro solution is not good, you may need to use RO or distilled water to mix it up and put little Excel in to control fungus.


----------



## Chet (Jan 2, 2016)

Would RO water would solve this problem? I have an old RO unit some one gave me. I am going to order all new filters and a new RO cartridge.


----------



## Chet (Jan 2, 2016)

I should have Filters by Thursday. I am going to remix the micros at the lower rate. I mixed the first batch with distilled water I cant figure out why it settled out 1 1/2 months later.


----------



## Edward (Apr 11, 2005)

Chet said:


> Would RO water would solve this problem? I have an old RO unit some one gave me. I am going to order all new filters and a new RO cartridge.


 I use 100% RO with RO Essential Minerals.


----------



## Chet (Jan 2, 2016)

How do I transition my tank to RO water?


----------



## Edward (Apr 11, 2005)

Chet said:


> How do I transition my tank to RO water?


 How to start PPS-Pro with RO and TDS?

Continuously, the RO water with Essential Minerals will be replacing the previous tap water. At the same time daily fertilizing will continue as recommended. Monitoring TDS or Conductivity will determine water changes.

RO Essential Minerals need to be added at 3 dGH based on the new RO water volume. Water changes are due when TDS readings exceed 125 ppm as NaCl ( 75 RO Essential Minerals + 50 fertilizer limit ) or Conductivity readings of 250 µS ( 150 RO Essential Minerals + 100 fertilizer limit ).


----------



## mistergreen (Dec 9, 2006)

@Edward What's the difference between PPS pro and classic in exact numbers? The pro numbers are easy to get but classic, from your signature, it's NOT so easy to find.

I made an ferts app on apple and I'll add the dosing methods to it.


----------



## Edward (Apr 11, 2005)

mistergreen said:


> @Edward What's the difference between PPS pro and classic in exact numbers? The pro numbers are easy to get but classic, from your signature, it's NOT so easy to find.
> 
> I made an ferts app on apple and I'll add the dosing methods to it.


 What's the difference between PPS-Classic and PPS-Pro? section

PPS-Classic is not suited for hobbyists. It is more of an analytical tool and a system for large scale aquariums. It comes with its own calculator. You can include PPS-Pro, but not PPS-Classic in your application. 

What would be nice is to integrate PPS-Pro with tap, RO, RO Essential Minerals, TDS ppm as NaCl and Conductivity in µS for water change techniques.


----------



## Chet (Jan 2, 2016)

*Thanks*



Edward said:


> How to start PPS-Pro with RO and TDS?
> 
> Continuously, the RO water with Essential Minerals will be replacing the previous tap water. At the same time daily fertilizing will continue as recommended. Monitoring TDS or Conductivity will determine water changes.
> 
> RO Essential Minerals need to be added at 3 dGH based on the new RO water volume. Water changes are due when TDS readings exceed 125 ppm as NaCl ( 75 RO Essential Minerals + 50 fertilizer limit ) or Conductivity readings of 250 µS ( 150 RO Essential Minerals + 100 fertilizer limit ).


Thanks Edward for all your help. I think the RO water approach eliminates a lot of problems. I will let you know how it goes.


----------



## Chet (Jan 2, 2016)

Why won't TDS reading drop significantly after 1 10gal water change with RO water on Friday and a 13 gal water change last night with RO water. My reading before water changes on my 55 gal as 280 now it is only 250. My RO water TDS was 8. I added seachem equalibrium with each change at 4grams per 5 gallons of RO water.


----------



## Edward (Apr 11, 2005)

Chet said:


> Why won't TDS reading drop significantly after 1 10gal water change with RO water on Friday and a 13 gal water change last night with RO water. My reading before water changes on my 55 gal as 280 now it is only 250. My RO water TDS was 8. I added seachem equalibrium with each change at 4grams per 5 gallons of RO water.


 Seachem equilibrium has unnatural mineral levels and ratio. It creates K levels so high that plants cannot function at moderate nutrient levels. 

If you used RO Essential Minerals as I mentioned above you would have TDS of 208 by now. See “Why PPS RO Essential Minerals?” section.


----------



## Zorfox (Jun 24, 2012)

Chet said:


> Why won't TDS reading drop significantly after 1 10gal water change with RO water on Friday and a 13 gal water change last night with RO water. My reading before water changes on my 55 gal as 280 now it is only 250. My RO water TDS was 8. I added seachem equalibrium with each change at 4grams per 5 gallons of RO water.


You're dealing with PPM here so the "stuff" you're adding makes no difference! It could be Seachem equilibrium, sugar, salt or pepper. PPM is nothing more than mg per liter or simply stated how much weight is added to a liter of water. One pound of Rocks weighs the same as one pound of feathers.

If you do the calculations (including the "stuff" you add by dosing) you'll end up with an extra 32 ppm difference or in other words 6,761 mg of stuff in your case. Do you feed your fish? Do you have plants that decay? How about wood, rocks or substrate which can add to TDS as they degrade? As well as many of other things that alter TDS. Don't forget the margin for error in measuring TDS as well. Any solids added to the water are included in TDS whether you physically add them or they come from dissolution of anything in contact with the water. It's not simply a measure of nutrients.


----------



## Chet (Jan 2, 2016)

Edward said:


> Seachem equilibrium has unnatural mineral levels and ratio. It creates K levels so high that plants cannot function at moderate nutrient levels.
> 
> If you used RO Essential Minerals as I mentioned above you would have TDS of 208 by now. See “Why PPS RO Essential Minerals?” section.


I ordered cas04 so I can start RO Essential minerals.


----------



## Chet (Jan 2, 2016)

Edward said:


> Seachem equilibrium has unnatural mineral levels and ratio. It creates K levels so high that plants cannot function at moderate nutrient levels.
> 
> If you used RO Essential Minerals as I mentioned above you would have TDS of 208 by now. See “Why PPS RO Essential Minerals?” section.


I ordered cas04 so I can start RO Essential minerals.


----------



## Chet (Jan 2, 2016)

What should my nitrates in ppm? I have changed 40% with RO water and my nitrates are 20ppm. Should I stop dosing? I did notice some osmacote pellets in the substrate when I did the water change. I put asmacote in the substrate in January. I think this is what is elevating the nitrates.


----------



## Edward (Apr 11, 2005)

When NO3 goes over 10 ppm then PPS-Pro #1 macros NO3 Free solution can be dosed. It is a direct replacement for PPS-Pro #1 macros solution.


----------



## Chet (Jan 2, 2016)

Edward said:


> When NO3 goes over 10 ppm then PPS-Pro #1 macros NO3 Free solution can be dosed. It is a direct replacement for PPS-Pro #1 macros solution.


What should nitrate level be before I switch back to regular macro solution? I think osmacote was a 3 month long release. I have switched to RO water with nutrients you recommended added. I am doing weekly water changes hoping to clean up the water. I am only running purigen and matrixs and filter floss in my canister filter. I regenerated the 1 month ago. Is my filter missing anything? My Kh is 3 and pH is 6.4. Dosing with pH controller.


----------



## Edward (Apr 11, 2005)

Keeping NO3 up to 10 ppm is ok, not zero. Adjust it to match conveniently your NO3 test kit lowest resolution. In the filter, Matrix is the important part, more is always better.

The CO2 controller will cause problems when mixing different KH level waters. When KH fluctuates so does CO2 level. The controller by design is regulating pH, not CO2.


----------



## Baglaj (Nov 27, 2016)

Hello, excuse my English, I from Russia and not know English, I use translator. Not long ago, was to use PPS-Pro and mineralizing water prescription Edward . Tell me what should be the pH ? I have a KH of 0-1. How to apply CO2?


----------

