All In One Solution
| What is it?
After Tropica released their Plant Nutrition Plus, which is an 'All In One' dosing solution, I became interested in
doing the same to make life easier for myself. Normally it is
advised to keep potassium phosphate and iron traces in separate
solutions to prevent any reaction occurring that results in an
insoluble precipitate of iron phosphate. The chelated traces
that are used contain iron that is complexed and as long as the
iron remains complexed it should be safe from any reaction with
the phosphate. The problem is that once the traces are in
solution the chelator tends to deteriorate and so releasing the
the iron. I discovered that the chelators used are a lot more
stable in a solution with a pH of 6 or less. After a bit of
experimenting I ended up using E300 Ascorbic Acid (Vitamin C)
which not only keeps the solution acidic but is also an
anti-oxidant. Enough is used so as to maintain a pH of 6.
Another problem with keeping traces in solution is that they
often tend to develop mould. To combat this I use E202 Potassium
Sorbate which is a yeast and mould inhibitor. Luckily the
Potassium Sorbate works most effectively at a pH around 6 which
is what the solution is kept at. How do I make it? It depends on how you dose to what quantities of each chemical you add. The important thing to remember is that you must get the right amounts of the macro's and trace's mixed up especially if you currently dose different amounts of the solutions. Also it might be an idea not to make the solution too concentrated. What I do to make life easy is to adjust the levels so that one full fill (25ml) of my old Tropica bottle is enough to dose the whole of my 200 litre tank in one go. As an example here is a formulation is based on my PMDD+PO4 formula: 10g Potassium Nitrate If you wish to change the amounts of ingredients then as long as the levels aren't changed too much you can leave the amounts of Ascorbic Acid and Potassium Sorbate the same. Dosing is 5ml per 40 litres DIY Tropica Plant Nutrition Plus Tropica have very kindly provided an analysis of their product so with my calculator at the ready I have calculated a close match. Please remember that Tropica's TPN+ uses an ammonium compound for some of the Nitrogen content whereas I use all potassium nitrate. 48g Potassium Nitrate
Tropica recommend to dose 5ml per 50 litres
of tank water per week. Tropica's recommended levels I always find
are a bit on the conservative side. They may be fine in a low
light setup but with high light plus CO2 setups, higher levels
of dosing are required. It is also better to dose through the
week rather than one big dose each week. As a start I would
recommend double dosing Tropica's recommended amount spreading
the additions out over the week. I like to do a daily dose, but
every other day should also be fine. Final thoughts I have posted all of this mainly for information for others. I am by no means 100% certain if what I'm doing is correct or safe for fish and plants but so far all seems well. The additives I used are used commonly in the food and drinks industry so I'm presuming that they are safe. So far the solution has remained clear and bright and has had no settling out for up to six months. Plants still grow and pearl as before. In the UK you can buy the Ascorbic Acid and Potassium Sorbate quite cheaply from The Home Brew Shop and also sometimes on eBay. |
This page was last updated 24th September 2008
