This is how I've been running my tanks for about 6 months!
I'm going to try DIY daily tank dosing. I've already made my mix. I'm going to do macros in one and micros separate.
I think of macros in terms of NPK relative to
NO3. For example, I like my macros to deliver, for every 1ppm NO3, approx 0.3ppm
PO4 and ~0.75ppm
K.
I base my dosing around this NO3 rate.
For example, if I want to dose 1ppm NO3 per day, I know that I'm
also dosing 0.3ppm PO4 per day, too. Some might think that I'm not providing enough K, but that's because I dose the other
ppm K with the remineralizers (Ca/Mg as
GH).
I've had good success with this method; I aim for anywhere from 30-40ppm K in the water, anywhere from 20-30ppm NO3 in the water, and anywhere from 4-9ppm PO4 in the water. Super easy to do with a Macros solution that provides 1-0.3-0.7 per "x" amount.
I'm just curious..... if you were going to do DIY Daily ferts, how would you mix and/or what target levels would you shoot for per dose?
Let's say you want to have a 1L media bottle as the primary fert bottle. I'd start with 800mL RO water, add your salts, then top up to exactly 900mL. Use a 1L graduated cylinder, don't trust the markings on media bottles.
Use
Rotala Butterfly for your tank's size, and decide on how much mL per day you want to equal to 1ppm NO3. For example, dosing 0.5mL/day is too small of a dose to dose accurately, either by hand or with an auto doser.
If using auto dosers, like I do, I aim for 2 or 3ml of solution to provide 1ppm NO3 of my macros solution:
For example, in my 34 gal (actual volume) tank, I'll add 94.4g KNO3 to my 900mL water to start my 1-0.3-0.75 solution. I create a scenario where 2mL of this macros solution raises my 34 gallons by 1ppm NO3, 0.3ppm PO4, and 0.75ppm K.
Ok, first let's make sure we're clear about daily dosing. At the start of the week, you should still be adding a "front load" dose of some levels.
Daily dosing should provide near, or preferably slightly above, daily consumption levels.
Water changes are still important to help re-balance your water column over time, and front-loading ensures a defined "level" of nutrients that you should hover around. You can
visualize this easily with my nutrient accumulation calculator:
Two examples with a tank that consumes 2.0ppm NO3 per day (common in high energy tanks):
Just daily dosing your macros with a rate of 2.5ppm NO3 per day prevents it from "bottoming out", but keeps levels at/around 5ppm NO3, which is often not enough in the water column unless using rich, fresh aquasoil. Even with aquasoil, most high energy tanks need much more than 5ppm NO3 in the water column to prevent algae on plants.
Adding a front-loading dose of 12ppm after water change, and maintaining 2.5ppm macros per day, results in something like this:
In inert sand tanks like mine, I almost NEED to keep my NO3 (and connected macros) at/near these levels to prevent algae growth.
The point is, the best way to use daily dosing is to use it to match/slightly overdose your daily consumption levels.
Additionally, if dosing daily, and want to test your levels. When is the best time? After dosing to make sure you have enough?
This is a great question! There are a few ways to do this, but I'd always recommend initially testing your levels at the same time each day, across the week. For example, if you do your water change + initial dose on Day 1, I'd test at 9am on Day 2 and 9am on Day 6, while dosing the same time each day, and compare the levels.
- If they're similar or slightly higher, you've set your daily dosing rate to a good rate!
- If they're slightly lower or majorly lower, you need to increase your daily dosing rate.
- If they're way above normal (45ppm NO3, etc) then you've set your daily dosing rate too high.
How I've been doing it with once-weekly testing right before WC:
I change 70% of the water with each water change, and always dose 20ppm NO3 after each water change.
Mathematically, if I were to perform 70% WC each week with zero plant consumption, while dosing 20ppm NO3 after WC, my NO3 levels should level out around 28ppm:
This gives me an understanding of what a 20ppm initial dose looks like with 70% water changes over time
Here's what my
actual dosing looks like right now:
Initial dose of 20ppm, with ~2.8ppm daily NO3 dosing.
With plant consumption taken into account, and daily dosing at 2.8ppm NO3/day after the initial 20ppm NO3 dose, my levels should hover around 26-27ppm NO3.
If I test my NO3 levels at the end of the week (right before water change), and they are at/below 20ppm NO3, I know I need to dose more per day.
If levels are at 30ppm NO3, I'm probably good to leave it there, or maybe slightly reduce. Remember, better to be higher than lower.
If levels are at 40ppm NO3, I'll reduce the daily rate.
If levels are at 20ppm NO3, I'll increase the daily rate.
No matter what, I'm
always going to add my initial 20ppm NO3 macros dose. That's easy to do, just tell the dosers to manually add 40mL of this macros solution after water change and I'm done.
This keeps macros levels SUPER stable, and is easy to work with testing. This system is the reason I
tested the Hanna Nitrate Colorimeter, so I'd have actual ppm numbers to go off of for my macros, using NO3 as the main marker. You can also use the phosphate high-range colorimeter from Hanna, too, and the Salifert Potassium kit is pretty reliable as well.
Once you get the hang of it, you won't need to do any testing anymore. In fact, the only reason I test isn't to know levels, it's simply to monitor macros levels consumption. If your tank is a hardscape-heavy nature style, it might not consume 1.5ppm NO3/day. If your tank is a densely planted garden/dutch tank like mine, it's likely to eventually consume 2-4ppm NO3 per day.
For
micros I'm still experimenting, but I have success with 0.05ppm Fe per day, dosed via auto doser. My experiences with front-loading micros is that they cause algae/stunting if dosed too high in one go, hence why I stick with 0.05ppm Fe by proxy per day at the moment.
LMK what questions you have!
, so that is why I have a ;PO4 above. Ugh
