How much apt3 should I dose?

[Asher E.]

Rotala butterfly says to use 6.4ml weekly for a low light tank. But the 2hr aquarists dosing calculator says 1.4ml weekly.
What dosage should I do?
This is for a low tech 5.5 gallon aquarium. Lots of easy plants in it. No co2.

 

[Naturescapes_Rocco]

6.5mL would be quite high, IMO. I'd start closer to 2mL, look/test for deficiencies at the end of the week, and increase from there if needed.

 

[Asher E.]

6.5mL would be quite high, IMO. I'd start closer to 2mL, look/test for deficiencies at the end of the week, and increase from there if needed.

Thanks. I’ll try 1 ml twice a week.

 

[GreggZ]

Rotala butterfly says to use 6.4ml weekly for a low light tank. But the 2hr aquarists dosing calculator says 1.4ml weekly.
What dosage should I do?
This is for a low tech 5.5 gallon aquarium. Lots of easy plants in it. No co2.

You are misreading the results.

Rotala Butterfly is showing how much to add to reach a target. The target in this case is 10 ppm NO3. So if you add a single dose of 6.4ml you would raise NO3 to 10 ppm . Or you could dose 1.28 ml fives times a week for the same results.

The 2hr aquarist calculator is showing how much a single dose provides. But it recommends multiple doses per week. Carefully read the Frequency Recommendation. For full EI it recommends dosing daily. Daily doses of 1.4 ml which would equal 9.8 ml per week (7 x 1.4 ml). With lower energy tank you might dose 3 times a week, which is 4.2 ml per week.

All that being said don’t focus on how many ml you are adding, but on how many nutrients you are adding. Start thinking in terms of how much NO3, PO4, and K you are adding weekly. That is the language of the planted tank and will help you as you progress in the hobby.

Then later learn about how water changes affect the actual values in the water column.

In basic terms if you dose 10 ppm NO3 weekly with 50% weekly water changes your maximum theoretical NO3 value is 20 ppm . But the same dose with 25% the maximum theoretical value is 40 ppm .

Sounds like you are at the point in your journey where it will pay to understand these concepts, especially if you go higher light with stems.

Much depends on how far down the rabbit hole you want to go. The higher tech you are the more these concepts are worth learning about.

 

[Asher E.]

You are misreading the results.

Rotala Butterfly is showing how much to add to reach a target. The target in this case is 10 ppm NO3. So if you add a single dose of 6.4ml you would raise NO3 to 10 ppm . Or you could dose 1.28 ml fives times a week for the same results.

The 2hr aquarist calculator is showing how much a single dose provides. But it recommends multiple doses per week. Carefully read the Frequency Recommendation. For full EI it recommends dosing daily. Daily doses of 1.4 ml which would equal 9.8 ml per week (7 x 1.4 ml). With lower energy tank you might dose 3 times a week, which is 4.2 ml per week.

All that being said don’t focus on how many ml you are adding, but on how many nutrients you are adding. Start thinking in terms of how much NO3, PO4, and K you are adding weekly. That is the language of the planted tank and will help you as you progress in the hobby.

Then later learn about how water changes affect the actual values in the water column.

In basic terms if you dose 10 ppm NO3 weekly with 50% weekly water changes your maximum theoretical NO3 value is 20 ppm . But the same dose with 25% the maximum theoretical value is 40 ppm .

Sounds like you are at the point in your journey where it will pay to understand these concepts, especially if you go higher light with stems.

Much depends on how far down the rabbit hole you want to go. The higher tech you are the more these concepts are worth learning about.

I think you missed something. On the 2hr aquarists calculator I put in once a week for the dosing frequency. And for rotala butterfly it was “ei low light weekly” for the dosage.

 

[Jeff Miotke]

Maybe the difference is in the approaches you selected. One you did a calculation for apt3 and the other you did ei. Ei is significantly richer. What if in rotala and select the apt3 option instead? I suspect the apt3 calculation is correct.

 

[Asher E.]

Maybe the difference is in the approaches you selected. One you did a calculation for apt3 and the other you did ei. Ei is significantly richer. What if in rotala and select the apt3 option instead? I suspect the apt3 calculation is correct.

I selected apt3 but with ei low light dosing. I’ll just try out 1 ml twice a week and of it isn’t enough I’ll just do more.

 

[Jeff Miotke]

I selected apt3 but with ei low light dosing. I’ll just try out 1 ml twice a week and of it isn’t enough I’ll just do more.

Yea that sounds correct as you would need more apt3 to reach ei levels than you would reaching the recommended apt3 levels. My advice is follow the apt3 calculator as Dennis Wong has done his homework well.