# macro nutrients???



## malkore (Nov 3, 2003)

most common is Potassium Nitrate, Mono-potassium Phosphate, and either Potassium Chloride, or Potassium Sulfate.
I've never heard of an LFS that stocks these dry ferts. You can typically only buy them in 50 lb bags, and since less than 1% of aquarium owners have a setup that needs these macros, they won't stock them.
Greg Watson buys it adn resells in 1lb quantities, ideal for our needs.

you'd need a nitrate and a phosphate test kit. there's no inexpensive test kit for potassium, so we tend to just dose it for 20ppm and call it good til the next water change. I like to dose 10ppm twice a week to keep a better 'flow' of nutrients.


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## amanda huggenkiss (Mar 3, 2004)

I would recommend getting the test kits first. If you have many fish, you may not need to add nitrates or phosphates. 

Also, Seachem has a line of ferts, including Nitrogen, Phosphorus and Potassium. I'm sure it's 20x the cost of buying them bulk, but you might be able to find them at the lfs if that's an issue for you.


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## tiny (Apr 20, 2004)

thanks, i'm just thinking of setting my empty 20g high, i have the lighting but just confuse with all the fertilizer dosing, i read the forum for quite a while now, i don't know but it seems complicated, maybe just at first.


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## eds (Feb 12, 2003)

I think what can be especially confusing at first is the difficulty prioritizing. When folk talk about various nutrients, a newbie can think that they are all equally important. And it can be so overwhelming as to freeze a neophyte into inaction.

I mean, sure, a tank needs micros as well as NO3, but one can come best from a storebought bottle mix, and the other best from bulk powder. You don't need to test for every single chemical, and buy every chemical separately in bulk. Moreover, some additives are absolutely necessary to get started, while others might be considered tweaking to optimize your plants. 

It really nice to have people tell you straight what you need to do, and in what order. This forum, and local aquagardening clubs, are great for that.

Personally, I do DIY CO2, and add NO3 and PO4 in granule form, and TMG and Flourish liquid. And I have no complaints about plant growth, health, or color.

IMO, you will not get all the necessary benefits of whatever dosing you do unless you have some CO2. A single bottle of DIY should be fine for your 20g. I would recommend making that your first priority.


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## tiny (Apr 20, 2004)

thanks, i will be using the natural plant system CO2, also i've been reading about the tropica master grow, i understand that's more like a micro nutrients, and will be using the flourish products for macro nutrients, am i on the right track here? also where can i buy the tropica master grow?


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## corigan (Feb 22, 2004)

tiny said:


> thanks, i will be using the natural plant system CO2, also i've been reading about the tropica master grow, i understand that's more like a micro nutrients, and will be using the flourish products for macro nutrients, am i on the right track here? also where can i buy the tropica master grow?


You can buy TMG all over the place like bigalsonline. The difference with TMG is that it is low in Iron and Calcium. If you have soft water you will probably need to add Ca/Mg with an extra addition of iron to balance out the TMG dosing. 

Matt


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## tiny (Apr 20, 2004)

my water is very hard ph 7.8, so, TMG and N, P and K are good combination?


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## amanda huggenkiss (Mar 3, 2004)

Get your nitrate & phosphate test kits before you dose the macros. I never have to dose phosphate and RARELY have to dose nitrates. (yeah, I overfeed my fish somewhat :? )

I would also add some root tabs to that list to supply root feeders like swords. And then just pay attention to your plants to see if there's anything else they need. Check out Chuck's nutrient deficiency chart. Your plants will tell you if anything's missing.


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## tiny (Apr 20, 2004)

i threw away my phospate test kit from my saltwater tank, anyway, sorry to sound redundant but i'm a newbie, what you're saying the combination i asked is ok then, right? what about CO2 test kit, do i need that? thanks


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## amanda huggenkiss (Mar 3, 2004)

Don't worry about asking a lot of questions. As Eds pointed out upthread, it's all pretty overwhelming when it's all new. As you get experience, it'll start to make sense. I'm still wading my way through a lot of this...

As for CO2, there really is no test kit. But if you go to Chuck's CO2 Calculator (Chuck is a wealth of information!), you can key in your PH and KH values to get a reading for your CO2. 

So you'll need PH, KH, Nitrate and Phosphate test kits. You should also have Nitrite and Ammonia kits, although with a healthy planted tank, those two should never be an issue (unless you're cycling a new tank). And don't worry about the fact that you threw away your old Phosphate kit. I don't think you can use a saltwater kit for measuring freshwater values.

Is this a new tank you're setting up?


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## eds (Feb 12, 2003)

Talking about headaches - just wait till you look into test kits and try to decide which brands to buy! 
Hint, don't even TRY to do it via legwork at your LFS and big boxes.
That way TRULY lies madness!


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## tiny (Apr 20, 2004)

thanks a lot guys, this use to be a reef tank that's why i already have the lighting, i have most test kits because i keep large aquariums for my oscars, this is actually what i want to have, but just to start in a smaller scale.


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## amanda huggenkiss (Mar 3, 2004)

If this is going to be a newly set up planted tank, you should probably hold off on dosing ferts until after the cycle has been established. If you add ferts right away, you're going to have some very happy algae :wink:


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## tiny (Apr 20, 2004)

how long after the plant been added, also how many fish i can have in that size of tank, and what do you recommend for filtration, i have 125 penguin with bio-wheel, is that enough?


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