[APD] RE: PMDD

["Thomas Barr" <tcbiii at earthlink_net>]

>I've been trying to follow the Sears/Colin paper on how to dose these
fertilizers I've had for a few months.  I bought dry ferts from Greg and
made a mix just as the 
>directions say, but I didn't notice much change, and I never noticed my
iron levels increase at all.  I have a red sea iron test kit (as I've
complained before), the first step >on the test chart is 0.1ppm and is
slightly more grey then light blue (which is difficult for me to see).

>Anyway, I've been dosing just a mix of plantex in water (100ml instead of
300ml mix) and I just did a water change and calculated what amount of the
mix I would 
>need to make the target water 0.1ppm.  I've never seen this test change
colors, am I doing something wrong? 

No, iron testing is difficult and does not realistically tell you what you
need to know. How much iron the plant needs. 
Test kits vary a good deal and the time of the test after you take the
sample and add the dose also matters a great deal as you have likely
figured out.  

 The tank is pretty heavily planted, I put 2tsp per day of 
>this mix, and added 2tsp to the changed water.  I did a test after about
an hour and the iron is undetectable, it would seem just after adding iron
to the tank it should see   >SOMETHING!  I want to make sure I can get a
maintained level of 0.1ppm Iron before I start dosing Potassium Sulfate to
the tank, and then Potassium Nitrate.  I'm  >trying to do this by the book
and I can't seem to even get past the first step.

I'd not attempt to measure anmd maintain a 0.1ppm of Fe residual.
You should deal more with the CO2 and NO3.
Traces are best gauged by adding progreesively more till there is no
improvement in plant health when the CO2,NO3, K+, PO4 GH are in good shape. 
Give each amount of trace that you try, about 3 weeks time. 
Once you determine this amount, stick with it and remember the plant
biomass you had, if it doubles, you'll need to double the dosing for the
Trace mix. Dose at least 2-3x a week.    


>Help :-/

How big is your tank and how much light for starters.

Regards, 
Tom Barr 

>-Dave T.




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