Confuzedd wrote:
Ok I bought potassium nitrate
Total N: 12%
Soluble Potash (K2O): 44%
...now how do I find out how much to dilute and then how much to pour into my tank?
I also bought a nutrient pack (chelated trace elements and "Oligo-element chelate" --whatever that means...) containing:
Iron 7%
Manganese 2%
Zinc 0.4%
Copper .1%
Boron 1.3%
and Molybedium 0.06%
Not sure if I can use it with AP but I bought it anyways since it cost less than a foot long sandwhich. I might be able to use it during the fishless cycling as my plants are probably starved of nutrients. I just have no clue how to dose.
I don't think I'd use it. See you don't really want to be adding any nitrogen other than the ammonia you use for cycling or the fish feed. The cycling process and bacteria are what supplies your system with nitrate, you don't really want to overdose your system with nitrate before hand.
I would not recommend dosing with anything extra during fishless cycling (other than whatever you use for the ammonia source) unless the plants show a deficiency, show some pictures of the plants and describe what's going on (as well as water test results) and some one can probably recommend an appropriate supplement.
for potassium.
*Seasol or Maxicrop are good choices (they are seaweed extracts, be sure to choose the ones without added nitrogen like fish meal) They provide not only potassium but also many trace elements in amounts that are safe for fish when used reasonably, for a small system measure by the spoonful.)
*If you can't find Maxicrop or seasol, go for murate of potash (potassium chloride) probably best putting a small spoonful under the water inlet to the grow bed and letting it dissolve there rather than in the fish tank.
*If your pH is low, you can use potassium bicarbonate, can be gotten from wine making/brewing shops.
Iron is another common deficiency but it is more closely tied to pH, if the pH is too high, the plants will be deficient in Iron. Chelated Iron is the best choice but I have used Iron Sulfate when I couldn't find the good stuff.
Seasalt can provide many trace elements as well and can be a good choice for use when salting a system to reduce fish stress.
For pH buffering, many of us use crushed oyster shells like they sell for chickens. This can help keep pH from dropping too low but will not help bring pH down. In my experience, if the pH does not come down on it's own naturally, adding acids isn't going to help much, it will only bounce your pH around until what ever is buffering the system too high dissolves. Also, though we generally only pay attention to the nitrates, fish food and fish waste has plenty of phosphates in it so you don't need to supplement that for the plants in a system with fish or in a Pee ponic system either.
Relax a little bit. No need to panic over anything until fish start gasping at the surface, then get the straw and start blowing bubbles.
Backyard Aquaponics
