The Calculators of Planted tanks

[neven]

We'll start with the target ranges of EI dosing, for the other fert systems im not to sure the values needed, but the second calculator i list can help with that. (the parameters are copy/pasted from the EI thread)

NO3 range 5-30 ppm
K+ range 10-30 ppm
PO4 range 1.0-2.0 ppm
Fe 0.2-0.5ppm or higher
GH range 3-5 degrees ~ 50ppm or higher
KH range 3-5

The first tool i use is chuck gadd's calculator since i have bulk ferts.

Chuck's Planted Aquarium Calculator for Windows

download it there, it helps you figure out what you are adding to your tank or making solutions to ease dosing
Remember that potassium total will be from kno3 and k2so4 when figuring it out. For making solutions it will tell you just how much each mL will add in terms of PPM to your tank. You will notice that you dose around 2/3s of the target range 3 times a week to keep up with plant uptake, the last calculator helps you figure out exactly what you'll need for your tank.

if you use a commercial fertilizer product (ie flourish), this calculator can help:

Yet Another Nutrient Calculator

Now comes the fun part, figuring out if your numbers work, another calculator for that. The stuff over time! Great for shrimp tanks where you are worried about doing too many water changes.

Concentrations of Stuff vs Time and Plant Uptake using The Estimative Index

plug in your numbers and it will output a chart, if you stick to the EI dose ratios (or use a macro solution) you'll just need to work with the nitrates to figure it out. I personally aim for my nitrates to stay between 10-15 ppm. So if you are dosing as normal and a few weeks down the road you do a nitrate test, you can see just how much ferts your plants uptake and then tweak your dosing and/or water change schedule to save fertilizers and effort. Despite me using the EI ratios for my tank sizes, My plant load plus pressurized set up was leaving me short of even 5 ppm of nitrates at the end of the week, so that showed me just where i fell on the chart, the 90% uptake. By increasing my dose, i can enter the new numbers in and find out where my nitrates will peak to ensure i dont go above certain levels.

Keep in mind that if you EI dose, i dont recommend going above 1 month without a water change due to TDS issues that could happen. If you look carefully it may look like the peaks are all the same but mouse over the numbers you will see a small creep upwards if you dont do 50% changes or smaller changes frequent enough.

[monkE]

awesome job man, thank you for going through the effort to put this up

[Nicklfire]

Excellent reference material, thanks for the addition

[TomC]

Is it possible to do a lazy mans version of EI in a 1 gallon by simply just adding a certain amount of fertilizer each week and doing water changes, without measuring water parameters?

[neven]

it wouldn't be ei techncically but you can use the stuff over time to figure it out the dosage. If the tank is low light or lightly planted, it will have a low uptake of nutrients so the difference from the beginning of the week to the end wouldn't be huge. I would say twice only is more doable. Water change day, then 3 days later.

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[neven]

Excellent reference material, thanks for the addition

No problem, when I find useful information I like to share it since my wife would only tone me out if I tell her

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[cichlid]

No problem, when I find useful information I like to share it since my wife would only tone me out if I tell her

Sounds like when I tell my wife who is an LPN about my job Lafarge aggragates. Mind you Im cluelesscwhen she talks about medications lol

[BelieveInBlue]

Very nice guide; I think this should get stickied or something so that it stays at the top.