Why is flexibility in fertilizers good?
As you progress in your planted aquarium journey, you will find that there are times when you want to tweak a fertilizer formula.I like to say that I eat more protein the days I work out in the hopes that I need more protein to build muscle. Likewise, I try to eat less carbs on days that I'm not very active, again, in the likely mistaken hope that I won't add to my already vast fat stores.
Similarly, there are times I want to add some more K or NO3. Other times I want to increase my micros or maybe add more Mg. For example, I like to increase my K and NO3 after a heavy trim of plants. I add more PO4 when planting cuttings.
Is it all in my head? Maybe. But, at least I have built the flexibility into my fertilizer routine so that I can make tweaks.
So, how do you build this fertilizer flexibility?
I purchased a set of trusty 500ml bottles and make up isolated solutions. I use fertilizer calculators and come up with a formula that gives me X ppm per 1 ml. This way I can add 1 ml of the solution to my aquarium and I know it will increase the nutrient by x ppm.
These are the ones I use. They are 500ml reagent media bottles in amber glass. They work out to about $5 per bottle. I'm sure you can find cheaper ones around.
Then I use a 10 ml syringe to draw the amount that I want to add. This is the syringe I use for fertilizer dosing. Those of you that have kids will recognize it. It's about $3.
What formulas should I have?
This is completely up to you. I have NO3, PO4, K and Mg. Each is mixed with potassium sorbate and ascorbic acid to prevent mold. They last me a few months before I have to refresh them to prevent mold. Note, I do keep them in the refrigerator BUT I don't have young kids in the house. Be careful!My reasoning is that these nutrients are the ones I will occasionally tweak. Mg because I know my tap water is mostly Ca so bumping up Mg on occasion is easy.
