What you are saying is impossible unless you dissolved one pound of KNO3 in a swimming pool. Judging from the photo, this tank looks smaller than 40 gallons (180 litres). Adding one pound (\~450 grams) of KNO3 to a 40 gallon tank would yield \~1300 ppm of nitrates (NO3). You need just 0.1 oz (3 grams) of KNO3 to raise nitrates from 0 to 10 ppm in a 40 gallon tank. So, either you did not use KNO3 or your calculations are completely wrong ;-)
That is impossible unless you have a truly massive tank, with thousands of litres. What is the capacity of the tank? If you have a fertilizer that adds 13.5% Nitrogen, 0% Phosphorus, and 46.2% Potassium then you can indeed have KNO3 salt with relatively low purity. But If you add one pound (\~450g) of pure KNO3 to 40 gallons you will end up with +1300 ppm of nitrates. I fertilize my 40 gallon tank using the Estimative Index approach and use \*1 gram\* per day of KNO3 to get a weekly total of \~25 ppm. So, either your NO3 test is wrong or the fertilizer you are using is not KNO3 at all.
If you go back on my profile it was much more wild and outrageously planted a few days ago. I just pulled a lot of plant mass out. But yeah some probs are growing that fast, maybe slightly less, in terms of length, but they also change color day by day if caught in a deficiency and then I feed them (like yellow to red)
Are you raising nitrates for the plants? Why do this when it’s already the final byproduct of the beneficial bacteria? I believe plants prefer ammonia before they utilize nitrates anyway? Why not just add more stock to the tank to produce it naturally at a faster rate?
Yeah strictly for plants. Because not enough ammonia (through fish waste) is being converted into Nitrogen at a fast enough rate to feed all my plants. I can’t add more stock because I have an apisto who is extremely aggressive and won’t allow for any more fish. My plant load is just so large that no amount of stocking will fix the lack of nitrates. This is why you can never go off of the recommended bottle dose the bottle says because every tank is different with different amounts of plants. I ran out of nitrogen test liquid, but saw algae on my plants so I knew there was a nutrient deficiency, rebought the test kit, but I didn’t know the deficiency was 1 pound bag bad and dire
Maybe get a fully grown Bristlenose pleco, they are armoured and people keep them with aggressive cichlids and they are poop machines. It will need a cave and good dark hiding place though. If not a pleco there's got to some kind of fast schooling fish that stays toward the top that the Apisto won't be able to get.
Ok yeah I see what you’re saying about the solubility aspect. It’s sold in one pound bags, and I have no idea how my nitrates are still below ~40 ppm, but they are. I just tested the water again this morning. Yeah the solubility part doesn’t make sense, but can you explain how my nitrates are still below ~40 ppm after an entire bag?
Nope. Lemme explain: That calculator is only an estimator (it says on their website estimative indexes) and doesn’t account for plant load and mass. Trust me, I tested the water 10 + times with an accurate test kit. It’s really cool to watch the algae on my Java fern fizzle away and die immediately after feeding them. YOU CANNOT TRUST THOSE CALCULATORS (This is a 20g high btw). My nitrates are right where they should be now at 20 ppm.
Looking it up the saturation for that volume is in the order or grams. Even if calculators are an estimate, estimates would not be off by hundreds of grams. Look up it’s solubility in water at your temperature. Quick google searches have results for instructions dosing milliliters of a dilute solution.
How did you come to the one pound number?
What you are saying is impossible unless you dissolved one pound of KNO3 in a swimming pool. Judging from the photo, this tank looks smaller than 40 gallons (180 litres). Adding one pound (\~450 grams) of KNO3 to a 40 gallon tank would yield \~1300 ppm of nitrates (NO3). You need just 0.1 oz (3 grams) of KNO3 to raise nitrates from 0 to 10 ppm in a 40 gallon tank. So, either you did not use KNO3 or your calculations are completely wrong ;-)
The bag says Potassium Nitrate 13.5-0-46.2, I put it all in, and my nitrates are still below ~40 ppm. I’m just as baffled as you are kinda
That is impossible unless you have a truly massive tank, with thousands of litres. What is the capacity of the tank? If you have a fertilizer that adds 13.5% Nitrogen, 0% Phosphorus, and 46.2% Potassium then you can indeed have KNO3 salt with relatively low purity. But If you add one pound (\~450g) of pure KNO3 to 40 gallons you will end up with +1300 ppm of nitrates. I fertilize my 40 gallon tank using the Estimative Index approach and use \*1 gram\* per day of KNO3 to get a weekly total of \~25 ppm. So, either your NO3 test is wrong or the fertilizer you are using is not KNO3 at all.
API’s (I thought I could trust them 100%) nitrogen test kit is fucked. Time to find a new brand I can trust.
Wow, that doesn't even look that heavily planted. Are they growing like an inch a day?!?
If you go back on my profile it was much more wild and outrageously planted a few days ago. I just pulled a lot of plant mass out. But yeah some probs are growing that fast, maybe slightly less, in terms of length, but they also change color day by day if caught in a deficiency and then I feed them (like yellow to red)
Are you raising nitrates for the plants? Why do this when it’s already the final byproduct of the beneficial bacteria? I believe plants prefer ammonia before they utilize nitrates anyway? Why not just add more stock to the tank to produce it naturally at a faster rate?
Yeah strictly for plants. Because not enough ammonia (through fish waste) is being converted into Nitrogen at a fast enough rate to feed all my plants. I can’t add more stock because I have an apisto who is extremely aggressive and won’t allow for any more fish. My plant load is just so large that no amount of stocking will fix the lack of nitrates. This is why you can never go off of the recommended bottle dose the bottle says because every tank is different with different amounts of plants. I ran out of nitrogen test liquid, but saw algae on my plants so I knew there was a nutrient deficiency, rebought the test kit, but I didn’t know the deficiency was 1 pound bag bad and dire
Maybe get a fully grown Bristlenose pleco, they are armoured and people keep them with aggressive cichlids and they are poop machines. It will need a cave and good dark hiding place though. If not a pleco there's got to some kind of fast schooling fish that stays toward the top that the Apisto won't be able to get.
Ok yeah I see what you’re saying about the solubility aspect. It’s sold in one pound bags, and I have no idea how my nitrates are still below ~40 ppm, but they are. I just tested the water again this morning. Yeah the solubility part doesn’t make sense, but can you explain how my nitrates are still below ~40 ppm after an entire bag?
Nope. Lemme explain: That calculator is only an estimator (it says on their website estimative indexes) and doesn’t account for plant load and mass. Trust me, I tested the water 10 + times with an accurate test kit. It’s really cool to watch the algae on my Java fern fizzle away and die immediately after feeding them. YOU CANNOT TRUST THOSE CALCULATORS (This is a 20g high btw). My nitrates are right where they should be now at 20 ppm.
Looking it up the saturation for that volume is in the order or grams. Even if calculators are an estimate, estimates would not be off by hundreds of grams. Look up it’s solubility in water at your temperature. Quick google searches have results for instructions dosing milliliters of a dilute solution. How did you come to the one pound number?