# Dosing for Low Tech 10 gallon



## Raymond S. (Dec 29, 2012)

Hygrophila is one of the plants which uses more Potassium than normal.
The rest of what is in there can get enough nutrients from a combo of water changes
and fish food/waste, except that the Hygro can rob them of Potassium if it's not dosed.
Leaf zone contains some but dry would be cheaper in the long run.


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## Blacktetra (Mar 19, 2015)

Raymond means using dry fertilizers is cheaper.
The bottled brand name stuff can run up quite the bill.

A good question for you is: what is your approach?
Obviously you're going low-tech, but you're not using Tom Barr's non Co2 method (as seen here: http://www.barrreport.com/forum/barr-report/articles-aa/487-non-co2-methods )

Raymond is right in saying that water changes and feeding your fish will provide most of the nutrients needed, so long as you are stocked with an appropriate number of fish and feed them an appropriate amount. Water changes provide some calcium, magnesium and potassium IF your water is hard. BUT you are dosing CO2 booster. This can increase plant uptake of minerals/fertilizers. I've found that when I was dosing 1/2 of the dosage recommended on the API CO2 Booster, I occasionally depleted my tank of the above mentioned (Ca, Mg, K) minerals. Even when doing 25% water changes each week to help provide them.

So the answer is, it depends on how hard your water is, and how heavily planted you are. If you are very heavily planted, and have water that isn't particularly hard, using the CO2 booster may give your plants an appetite that can't be met by water changes alone. IF that is the case, you can get SeaChem Equilibrium and dose that in small amounts. I bought a 600g container of the stuff for fairly cheap on Amazon, and I dose 1/8tsp into my 20 gallon tank every week or so, along with my 20% water changes.


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## Maverick2015 (Aug 8, 2015)

Yes, dry dosing is a lot cheaper and very easy. You don't have to mix it either. Just spoon it in. For a 10 gallon it will last a very long time.


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## Brook16 (Aug 21, 2015)

Thanks to all for posting...originally, this tank was not supposed to be a planted one. This is something that my 7 year old son and I were doing together, so I have Nat Geo gravel from when I had the usual decorations in an unplanted tank. We did a fishless cycle and currently have 6 Harlequins, who get fed every day.

As far as my water goes, it is extremely soft. I have crushed coral in a filter bag in my filter and that keeps my kh at 4 and gh at 10. From a plant perspective, I would say its slightly more then moderately planted. And my water gets a 25% change once a week.

If I am reading everything correctly, it seems that using the CO booster could cause a deficit in nutrients, but Seachem Equilibrium could fix that. 

Thanks again for everyone's assistance.

Bump: Also, I have a Finnex Stingray light...


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## Maverick2015 (Aug 8, 2015)

The fact that this transformed into a planted tank is all the more reason to save the money and dry dose. One small order will last you years.


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## Brook16 (Aug 21, 2015)

So equilibrium is all that would be needed?


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## Blacktetra (Mar 19, 2015)

Yes and no. The equilibrium, combined with fish waste would provide MOST needs. However, the link I supplied earlier is to Tom Barr's non-co2 method, he tends to really know his stuff, and he recommends dosing a teensy amount of two other dry ferts every week or two to ensure the plants aren't deprived. Those two ferts are potassium nitrate and potassium phosphate. If you buy 1 or 2lbs of these dry ferts, they will last years. I only use about 1/16 tsp per week in my 20 gallon. I'd recommend those too, but they aren't as needed as the equilibrium and fish waste. You could always go without, and see how well the plants do before dropping the $25 to get those two ferts.


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## Maverick2015 (Aug 8, 2015)

I got mine from nilocg and was very happy.


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## Brook16 (Aug 21, 2015)

So to go with only Equilibrium, what would the dose be for a 10 gallon tank?


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## Hilde (May 19, 2008)

I have 2 main dry ferts I use. 

One is Select aquatic which contains Calcium sulfate, Iron sulfate, Magnesium sulfate, Magnesium sulfate, Molybdenum, and Biotin. 

The other in potassium nitrate, for stem plants are nitrate hogs. I get from Spectricide stump remover which can be bought at home depot. For statistics on it that show it is 100% nitrates. Nitrates levels 10 - 20 ppm. Can be tested at Petsmart. Controls phosphorus-dependant algaes. Level of 10ppm won't hurt any fish. But if your level is zero, and you add enough in one dose to raise it to 10ppm, you will kill fish. Mix 30 ml (3 tsp or 1 Tbs) into 1 cup of water. 1ml = 1.08 ppm of NO3 in 10g of water.


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## Maverick2015 (Aug 8, 2015)

I have never had a problem with nitrates and fish. Only nitrites.


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## Hilde (May 19, 2008)

Maverick2015 said:


> I have never had a problem with nitrates and fish. Only nitrites.


Nitrates only cause problem if you increase it too fast. Info is by Rex Griggs. He closed his site down.


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## Blacktetra (Mar 19, 2015)

Brooke, about an 1/8tsp per 10 gallons every week. Seachem Equilibrium is designed for making soft water harder, so you may not need the crushed coal anymore. However, ensure you skip a week once a month or so, and maintain weekly water changes to ensure that your tank water isn't slowly getting harder and harder. Without test kits for gh and/or kh (general hardness and carbonate hardness respectively) you won't be able to tell how much/fast the Equilibrium is being used by your plants. If you do have a kit, then test before dose, a day after dose then before your next dose and you'll see how much your water has, how much you've added, and how much your plants consumed, respectively.


As long as you have them you can continue using your other bottles, but why not just see how well the plants do without them. If they begin to look poor, then you'll know that fish waste and Equilibrium aren't all you will need.


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## Maverick2015 (Aug 8, 2015)

Hilde said:


> Nitrates only cause problem if you increase it too fast. Info is by Rex Griggs. He closed his site down.


Ok, I wouldn't think 10ppm was too fast but I can't say I have done any experiments. I believe you that at some point the sudden change can make a difference.


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## Brook16 (Aug 21, 2015)

Blacktetra said:


> Brooke, about an 1/8tsp per 10 gallons every week. Seachem Equilibrium is designed for making soft water harder, so you may not need the crushed coal anymore. However, ensure you skip a week once a month or so, and maintain weekly water changes to ensure that your tank water isn't slowly getting harder and harder. Without test kits for gh and/or kh (general hardness and carbonate hardness respectively) you won't be able to tell how much/fast the Equilibrium is being used by your plants. If you do have a kit, then test before dose, a day after dose then before your next dose and you'll see how much your water has, how much you've added, and how much your plants consumed, respectively.
> 
> 
> As long as you have them you can continue using your other bottles, but why not just see how well the plants do without them. If they begin to look poor, then you'll know that fish waste and Equilibrium aren't all you will need.


I had a problem with my ph crashing from a low kh. This caused a mini cycle. My tap water has a 2 kh and a 4 gh. In the tank with the coral I just measured it at 4 kh and 14 gh. Since I will be adding such a small amount of Equilibrium it should not affect the gh too much. I'm just worried that if I take the coral out I will have to worry about crashing my ph, which has been steady around 7.2-7.4


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## Blacktetra (Mar 19, 2015)

Then keep the coral as a fall back, it won't hurt anything I don't think.


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## Brook16 (Aug 21, 2015)

Just a quick update...I started adding about an 1/8 of a tsp of equilibrium once a week to go with the flourish and nitrogen 1ml each twice a week. Nitrates are 10-20, pn is around 7 and gh is around 10. Thanks to all for their assistance. The only thing that I am noticing on a couple of anubias leaves is yellowing then browning of the tips and one edge. Given what is being dosed in the tank, I would think that this could be an iron deficiency which is easy to fix. Thoughts?


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## Blacktetra (Mar 19, 2015)

Not sure myself, no experience with anubias just yet. Hope to change that soon.


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## Brook16 (Aug 21, 2015)

Just thought I'd provide a quick update...by reducing the time the lights were on from 12 hours to 8, it seemed to have stopped the GDA growth. It appears that the only algae on the glass is at least a few days old, so its just a question of waiting for it to die off.


In addition to the GDA, I had some black furry algae on my java fern and rotala indica. Picked off as much as I could and it does not look like its returning. I've got some crypt parva which decided to melt as well.


I'm guessing that the presence of algae and trying to find the balance of light, CO2 and nutrients has caused some issues. Honestly, its gotten a bit confusing. I'd like to get a consensus on what should be going into my tank on a weekly basis as far as nutrients goes.


Right now I'm doing the following:




1ml Flourish 3 times a week
1ml Seachem Nitrogen 3 times a week (my nitrates were zero at one point. Now they are about 20)
6 ml Seachem Phosphorus 3 times a week (Phosphates were zero - now they are around 2.5)
1 ml Seachem Iron 3 times a week
2 ml API CO2 booster every day
1/8 Equilibrium once a week after a water change.
I'm running a Finnex Stingray for 8 hours a day - 4 hours in the morning and 4 in the evening. I've noticed that some leaves have pin holes in them so I'm assuming potassium deficiency.


Am I doing too much? too little? I'm just trying to run a simple low tech tank with no CO2 injection. Any thoughts or comments would be really appreciated.


Thanks.


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## Maryland Guppy (Dec 6, 2014)

Potassium is missing at the present.
Seachem also makes this product.


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## Hilde (May 19, 2008)

Brook16 said:


> Right now I'm doing the following:
> 1ml Flourish 3 times a week
> 
> 1ml Seachem Nitrogen 3 times a week (my nitrates were zero at one point. Now they are about 20)
> ...


Can you post a pic?

After you run out of API co2 booster try excel alternative. It will save you cash in the long run. Another item to save money is to buy dry ferts. Select aquatics sells a good all in 1 dry fert.

Metricide or Cidex. Not cidex odt. Excel has 1.5% Glut. A quart is approx $25 on Ebay. At dealmed.com 1 gallon $18.20. shipping $9.99 Formula is:
glut = (1.5 x container)/ cidex glut% 
glut = (1.5% * 100ml)/2.5%.
500ml bottle = 300ml of 2.5%(Metricide 28) + 200ml water


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## nicuz (Oct 11, 2014)

In my 10G I started dosing according to the EI method (once a week, about 1/4 of the recommended dosage for a high tech tank) and I started getting algae. As soon as I stopped dosing, algae disappeared within a few days. I decided not to dose at all. My water is very hard and it seems the plants are doing great.


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## Hilde (May 19, 2008)

nicuz said:


> In my 10G I started dosing according to the EI method (once a week, about 1/4 of the recommended dosage for a high tech tank) and I started getting algae. As soon as I stopped dosing, algae disappeared within a few days. I decided not to dose at all. My water is very hard and it seems the plants are doing great.


The fact that your water is hard show that the city is adding minerals to your water. A lot of times cities add phosphates to the water to prevent copper pipes from leaching. Many algae thrive off of phosphates. Anubias and moss love it too.

Where is Newmarket? In other country than USA?


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## Brook16 (Aug 21, 2015)

Hilde said:


> The fact that your water is hard show that the city is adding minerals to your water. A lot of times cities add phosphates to the water to prevent copper pipes from leaching. Many algae thrive off of phosphates. Anubias and moss love it too.


My water is hard because of the crushed coral that I have in my filter. I live in New York City and out of the tap the water is very soft.


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## Hilde (May 19, 2008)

Brook16 said:


> My water is hard because of the crushed coral that I have in my filter. I live in New York City and out of the tap the water is very soft.


That is very interesting!! Is your tap water soft with a high ph? If yes then phosphates are in the tap water.

Equilibrium and crushed coral both raise Gh, Kh, and Ph. Amazed that your ph is around 7 using both.


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## Brook16 (Aug 21, 2015)

Hilde said:


> That is very interesting!! Is your tap water soft with a high ph? If yes then phosphates are in the tap water.


the ph of my tap water is 7 all of the time. With no buffers, my gh would be around 4 and kh around 1. Took me a long time to figure out why my ph kept crashing!


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## Brook16 (Aug 21, 2015)

So how does my dosing schedule look? Too much? Not enough?


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## Hilde (May 19, 2008)

Brook16 said:


> So how does my dosing schedule look? Too much? Not enough?


Hard to say without knowing your kh and gh. A pic would help too. For no tank is the same. You have to watch the plants. For example using crushed coral Equilibrium should make your ph very high but is not in your tank. Seems you are on the right track since your ph is stable.

Perhaps this thread will help - badmanstropicalfish


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## Brook16 (Aug 21, 2015)

Hilde said:


> Hard to say without knowing your kh and gh. A pic would help too.


My kh is 4 and my gh is 11-12. I'll post a pic when my light timer clicks on later.


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## Brook16 (Aug 21, 2015)

Hilde said:


> Hard to say without knowing your kh and gh. A pic would help too. For no tank is the same. You have to watch the plants. For example using crushed coral Equilibrium should make your ph very high but is not in your tank. Seems you are on the right track since your ph is stable.
> 
> Perhaps this thread will help - badmanstropicalfish



I've attached 2 pics. One is of a leaf from my hygrophila stricta. The piece of leaf that is missing was from me trying to pull it instead of cutting it. the 2nd is of my tank.

Bump:


Brook16 said:


> I've attached 2 pics. One is of a leaf from my hygrophila stricta. The piece of leaf that is missing was from me trying to pull it instead of cutting it. the 2nd is of my tank.




Here are the pics.


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## Maryland Guppy (Dec 6, 2014)

This looks like a K (potassium) deficiency.
Believe I touched on this topic before.


Here is a site Deficiency Finder maybe some helpful info.


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## Hilde (May 19, 2008)

Brook16 said:


> Evening all,
> I have anubias petite, anubias nana, some java fern, rotala indica and hygrophila stricta.
> 
> Dose:
> ...


How many fish do you have? I think 4 more Rasbora fish that you have would add Co2 to the tank that an additive can not supply.

I think this may work for 4 weeks:
1/3 water change weekly
Calcium sulfate – Equilibrium Tsp 1 weekly It has no Phosphates as the calcium I use has
Nitrogen 2ml 2xs a week 
API Co2 ml 2 daily 
Crushed corals in filter


Then hopefully monthly you can do something like:
No crushed coral in filter
1/3 water change 
Calcium sulfate – Equilibrium Tsp 1 
Nitrogen 2ml 2xs a week 
API Co2 ml 1 daily 

Tank water treated with API or Prime. To save money I treat the water for prefilter and filter floss with Kordon AmQuel Plus. 

I think the Rotalla is the only plant than need Co2 additive.


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## Blacktetra (Mar 19, 2015)

Not to ignore the dosing problem, but what light is on there? Your gda MAY be from having too strong a light. But glad to hear the algae isn't as much of a problem for you as it once was.


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## Brook16 (Aug 21, 2015)

Blacktetra said:


> Not to ignore the dosing problem, but what light is on there? Your gda MAY be from having too strong a light. But glad to hear the algae isn't as much of a problem for you as it once was.


I've got a Finnex Stingray. It was running for about a month before the algae started.


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## Brook16 (Aug 21, 2015)

So the plot thickens...still have the GDA, but now I've got fuzz algae like in the pic I've attached. trying to get the right balance of CO2, light and nutrients is ongoing, but what is the best way to get rid of the fuzz algae? I've read online everything from Hydrogen Peroxide, Excel and a blackout. Any ideas?


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## Blacktetra (Mar 19, 2015)

I can't clearly see your algae well in the photo. But at this point perhaps the thread would best be moved to a journal or a separate post? Your original question is now changed.

As for the lighting, I would suggest to you, that unless you have it suspended quite high over the tank, or have a very tall tank, it may be too much light for the CO2 level being used. Feel free to PM me, but I would suggest starting a new post for this separate problem of balancing your light level.

In addition, if you truly mean "fuzz" algae, which is a very short hair like algae, this often shows when nutrients are imbalanced. Which could, coincidentally be handled by reduced light, as this decreases nutrient demand, and therefore your current dosing regimen may approach a more balanced level.


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## Hilde (May 19, 2008)

Brook16 said:


> I've got a Finnex Stingray. It was running for about a month before the algae started.


Logically you main issue is the light balanced with the Co2.

Forgot to ask your photo period? I have found 3hrs/3hrsoff/3hrson keeps algae under control. I have no harmful algae in 20g long tank with T8 light strip on this light period.


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## Hilde (May 19, 2008)

Brook16 said:


> So the plot thickens...still have the GDA, but now I've got fuzz algae like in the pic I've attached. trying to get the right balance of CO2, light and nutrients is ongoing, but what is the best way to get rid of the fuzz algae? I've read online everything from Hydrogen Peroxide, Excel and a blackout. Any ideas?
> 
> View attachment 533386


In post 20 you said, "by reducing the time the lights were on from 12 hours to 8, it seemed to have stopped the GDA growth. So it has come back. 

When I chronic problems with BBA (Black fuzz) I tried a black out and it killed all of my plants. Thus I will never do it again. Hydrogen Peroxide and Excel I use when I have bad algae outbreaks in high tech tank. Perhaps 10ml of Excel and peroxide daily will helpIn fact read a thread on it called  One-Two Punch Whole Tank Algae Treatment

Just read here that tanks with Otos, Amano shrimp, and Mollies never get fuzz algae. Have you either of these. I think Otos would blend with your Rasboras.


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## Blacktetra (Mar 19, 2015)

Hilde said:


> In post 20 you said, "by reducing the time the lights were on from 12 hours to 8, it seemed to have stopped the GDA growth. So it has come back.
> 
> When I chronic problems with BBA (Black fuzz) I tried a black out and it killed all of my plants. Thus I will never do it again. Hydrogen Peroxide and Excel I use when I have bad algae outbreaks in high tech tank. Perhaps 10ml of Excel and peroxide daily will helpIn fact read a thread on it called  One-Two Punch Whole Tank Algae Treatment
> 
> Just read here that tanks with Otos, Amano shrimp, and Mollies never get fuzz algae. Have you either of these. I think Otos would blend with your Rasboras.


I can vouch from experience, that fauna should never be used to handle a large outbreak. I have 4 ottos, dozens of cherry shrimp, and some guppies (which DO nibble on algae like Mollies do) and while they can help MAINTAIN, or PREVENT, they aren't really a solution. As you already said in your previous post, the CO2 and lighting balance are primary, and using other things are secondary. Once everything is well balanced, algae will be in far lower amounts, and as a result, fauna such as ottos will help to keep it at bay rather than actually REMOVE a large (and likely fast-growing) out-break.

Also keep in mind that fuzz algae, and thread algae are broad terms. Some fuzz may be desirable for ottos, but I've never seen my Ottos actually remove any of the fuzz algae I've had. I've seen them munch where it is growing, but I see no difference before and after, and suspect they were merely munching on things growing on, and between the bits of fuzz.


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