Water changes are 50% twice a week at the moment. I use 10 litres of rainwater plus 2 litres of tap, giving KH and GH both 4°, which I then supplement with Epsom salts to boost GH to about 7° (to assist shrimp moulting). TDS before a water change is usually about 170, and about 145 after. pH is about 6.5. The dwarf hairgrass is doing very nicely, and I am gradually trimming that shorter and shorter because I want it to be very low in the foreground. I buy salts from allover the place. You can usually buy reasonable amounts (10 or 20kg) of KNO3 from salt curing companies. I do. You can buy several hundred kilograms or even tonnes of all of these fertilisers at very little cost from agricultural suppliers and fertiliser companies, and 60kg or 100kg bag of chelated trace elements will last quite a while. The thing about traces is that they are all slightly different - so you are going to have to think about what constituents you really want. Over the years various ratios have been suggested and that may influence what you choose to mix (e.g. P:Zn, Ca:Mg, Fe:Mn). Some are disputed - little research has ever been done for specific aquarium plants. I’m beginning to point the finger at fertilisation. I’ve been dosing TNC Complete, using the 3x dosage which supposedly approximates EI. But I’ve just done some sums, and I’m not sure it does. TNC Complete includes 0.0002% Copper, which is 20 times more than in Seachem Flourish, whilst Brightwell's ChaetoGro does not include any Copper.

According to Rotala Butterfly, it agrees with what several of you have said, that I should indeed be dosing 2ml or even 3ml a day of TNC Complete. I think it suggests 2.5ml a day. The problem comes because nearly all the iron in the aquarium isn't plant available, so even though there might potentially be a lot of it, in plant terms there isn't any, if that makes sense? Have a look at /www.ukaps.org/forum/threads/why-add-fertilisers-and-additional-plants-to-combat-algae.58866/#post-575638']Why add fertilisers.....[/URL]"> The amount of copper in TNC Completeis still so small that a overdose would be necessary before it would begin to reach an amount of Copper that is toxic toaquamarine life. TNC Complete is an aquatic plant food specially formulated for use in all planted aquariums. For aquariums where the fish load is not meeting the requirements to supply the necessary Nitrate and Phosphate – TNC Complete is ideal for making up this shortfall. I've have used and still use TNC and APT and both are good fertilisers. When I used TNC in a high energy tank however, I found I was using a lot more of it in comparison to APT so it was debatable how much money was actually being saved. For example, like @The grumpy one said, I was dosing several ml on a 5 gallon tank (can't remember the exact figure), but when I switched over to APT, I was dosing less than 1ml for the same results.

Amazing place!

In that scenario, a 500ml bottle of APT would have lasted 18 months, whereas the 500ml bottle of TNC would have been 6 months (at a 3ml/day dose). Where both get expensive is when using it for large tanks, which is why I use dry salts and mix my own for my 350L. If it were me, I would work out how many doses (I do it in days) you'll get from both fertilisers and see what's more value for money that way. This said when using this fertiliser we recommend for safety reasons tomonitor the Copper level in theaquarium water and to usewhen necessary Copper removing supplements. Instruction Guidelines Dose 10 ml per 100 litres of tank per week and increase the dosing when necessary up to three times a week.

fertiliser compatibility - yes it's been talked about ever since Dennis Robert Hoagland started work on a combined fertiliser in the 1930's. You can find a few examples of fertiliser compatibility charts if you search on the internet. The primary reaction people fear in aquariums is that Fe EDTA will react with phosphorous in the presence of light. When an insoluble compound forms (like calcium phosphate or calcium sulphate) it prevents enough mobility to allow this to be taken up by plants. A problem that typically faces land fertigation is the reactions of certain ions with ammonia and sulphate salts. For strongalgae growth it is recommended tomaintain a minimum Nitrate level of 3-5 ppm and phosphate level of 0.01 ppm, as otherwisean optimum macroalgae growth may not be possible. It is not a kit I've used, but if it goes red? It probably uses this method In which case one of the bottles will be an acetate buffer (sodium or ammonium acetate?) and the other hydroxylamine.Anyway, if you determine the compound (N,P,K, Fe, Mg) that's lowest in your water- it may well be potassium, then dose the amount you need to get to a good level of potassium for a few hours each day (it will go as/ if the plants use it) .

Hey all! Looking for advice on how I can best change my dosing over from TNC Complete to DIY Salts for my low light/low tech tank. I know EI was designed with high light/high tech tanks in mind so I want to figure out what I would need to dose to roughly equal what I am dosing now with TNC Complete and maybe what I can safely increase/decrease from there. I’m pretty sure my CO₂ is okay, and I have repositioned my spray bar to give good distribution - the bubbles from the Twinstar M3 can now be seen sliding down the front glass. (Being able to visualise the water flow has been a major plus of having that device, and prompted me to improve my flow).The price match offer is just valid for UK deliveries. We reserve the right to refuse a price match request. The reason I want to switch over to DIY salts is cost, not really for this tank as it's not that expensive using TNC Complete for this tank but I'm about to set up a second tank and another larger third tank will be coming after that one, hence the interest in switching to DIY salts. All three tanks will be low light/low tech so the nutrient requirements should be pretty much the same per litre so I figured I'd get to grips with the dry salt mix now before I start the second tank.