Dosing schedule??

[Erk]

Im just curious what you guys do with your liquid ferts? I have all of the seachem flourish products, and I have more or less only been dosing with the flourish, and the flourish excel....excel every other day, and the flourish twice a week, usually once after a water change, and one a few days later. I have only dosed iron once so far. I dont have a test kit for iron yet, so Im a lil wearry to dose it more frequent. I have a rather heavily planted 46 gallon bowfront with good lighting, and no pressurized co2 yet, but the plants look great! I have a cannister filter, and Im looking at getting a UV sterilizer

How do you guys dose your liquid ferts? and also what wattage would I need for the UV?

Thanks!

[fish_r]

if u havnt seen it, this might help
http://www.seachem.com/support/PlantChart.pdf...

[fish_r]

sorry above link doesnt work use this one
http://www.seachem.com/products/planted.html
and look for dosing chart.
HTH.......

[Erk]

Ahhh...thanks so much fish_r! That was exactly what I was after!

[ellwa]

http://www.seachem.com/support/images/PlantDosing.gif

[ellwa]

Although planted aquariums are often considered to be too difficult for the beginning hobbyist, we believe that planted aquaria are actually ideal for the beginner. With the right substrate the beginner can have a successful aquarium with a minimum of maintenance. As the beginner becomes more comfortable in the hobby they will feel inclined to experiment a bit and thus build on the solid foundation they have already established.
It won't always be necessary to dose your aquarium with each of the products in the Flourish line, but as an example, we have developed one possible dosing regimen using all of our plant products. This is by no means the only way to dose your aquarium; it is merely a suggestion. Your dosing regimen will depend greatly on a variety of factors, including lighting, initial water quality, how heavily stocked your aquarium is, substrate selection, and types of plants; so don't be surprised if getting the results you want takes a little experimentation.

[Erk]

Thanks ellwa! Im planning on picking up an iron test kit, and my nitrates are good right now, so I will prolly skip the nitrogen doses, but this chart is very helpful with the other products!

Thanks again!

[fish_r]

just note that iron test kits are rarely accurate, ur better off trying to dose iron as per instructions on the bottle to get the levels where u want it.
i brought an iron kit, but never use it cause it doesnt give u an accurate measure of iron in ur tank...

[Erk]

Thanks fish_r I picked up an iron test kit last night, before I read this post, and I agree, the test is "finicky" so I will just stick to the dosing schedule. I prolly wont ever use this test kit again either! haha

Thanks for your help!!

[fish_r]

yeah i did the same brought it used it once and never since :) i do water changes every 3 days so i just dose iron @ each water change...

[Nathan]

With the right substrate the beginner can have a successful aquarium with a minimum of maintenance.

thats wrong, you need sufficient lighting, if u dnt have good lighting it doesnt matter how good your substrate is.

kinda like your car, doesnt matter how good your engine is if you dont have any fuel for the car.

also i dont reccomend a planted tank for begginners, youl go through a lot of money trying to 'experiment'.

why make things more complicated when your just starting out? you gotta learn to walk before you can run.

also i wouldnt worry about the iron kits, i dose my tank each day an it makes a massive difference for my red plants. i used to use a dosing chart similar to that but i got lazy an just add Fe an P each day an now an then K and N.