[APD] Dosing 2-3x week vs daily dosing

[Clint Brearley <clint_brearley at telstra_com>]

I was wondering if there were any advantages/disadvantages to these dosing techniques. I don't mean practical considerations like remembering to dose and that sort of thing but more the biology and chemistry occurring.

With dosing 2-3x week, nutrient levels would be expected to fluctate more within the desired range than daily dosing. Would this difference have any influence on plant growth/health or would it make little difference as long as all nutrients are within the desired range?

Specifically in regards to iron dosing, how long does the iron remain available for plant uptake once added with such a high oxygen concentration? Is there anyway of knowing? We generally dose way more than could ever be assimilated, right? But isn't most of it oxidised to less available forms, hence an iron test kit really gives little useful information? If the iron is only available for a relatively short time after dosing then one possible benefit of dosing every few days might be that if plants can take up excess iron and store it for later and algae can't, then the plants would do fine until iron is dosed again whereas the algae may suffer. If so, daily dosing would give algae an advantage. Does this make any sense or am I way off here? Comments would be appreciated.

BTW - I'm currently dosing traces daily, but thinking about trying 2x week and seeing if it makes any difference. Algae is not to bad, but it's there. Plants are healthy.

Clint Brearley
Melbourne, Austalia

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