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PMDD


quack

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im looking at making some and just wondering what is a good starting point?

im guessing that there is a start point and you adujst the mixtures to suit your tank from then on, is this correct?

after reading eveils post im guessing i should start with that?

PMDD

2 Teaspoons (~14g) K2SO4 (potassium sulfate)

1 Teaspoon (~6g) KNO3 (potassium nitrate)

2.5 Tablespoons (~33g) MgSO4-7H2O (fully hydrated magnesium sulfate, aka epsom salts; omit if present in trace element mix)

1 Tablespoon (~9g) Chelated Trace Element Mix

(7% Fe, 1.3% B, 2% Mn, 0.06% Mo, 0.4% Zn, 0.1% Cu, EDTA, DTPA)

300 ml (1.5 cups) distilled H2O

i think i would rather leave out the KNO3 at first tho, is this just adding nitrate to the tank?

also what is the dosing rate?

what are the signs for each intrediant observed for correction in the mix?

also were is somewere were i can get all the stuff for it? would switched on gardener sell it?

my tank is 250l, 250w MH, co2 and ground ferts.

any help would be appreciated :hail:

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Forget Switched on Gardener, they only have mixed solutions with too much phosphorus. Try Stocker Hort & Hydroponic Supplies in Tirau. 1 kg of Potassium Sulphate ($5.33 +GST) and 1 kg of Potassium Nitrate ($5.78 +GST) cost me $28.10 incl freight to Auckland.

Because I'm using Aquabasis under my substrate I'm not adding the micronutrients at the moment.

So I made up the following solution:

22.3g of Potassium Sulphate in 1 litre of water to be dosed at 1ml per 10 litres of aquarium. This gives 1mg of Potassium per litre of aquarium.

For the Potassium Nitrate it's 25.9g but I'm only using that when the nitrates are less than 5ppm.

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Sorry to Hijack the thread :oops:, i dont really understand any off the chemicals or what they do, But i have 2 140L semi planted tanks and the substrate is gravel with muddy sand under it, the sand has been in another tank for about 6 months so it will probably have a lot of nutrients in it? Any reccomendations for liquid diy fertalizer and ingredients?

Thanks, Joe

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Sup Mr Blue Ram, this whole thread is about an excellent DIY mixture. You can buy stuff from the shop, but this is much better.

PMDD

2 Teaspoons (~14g) K2SO4 (potassium sulfate)

1 Teaspoon (~6g) KNO3 (potassium nitrate)

2.5 Tablespoons (~33g) MgSO4-7H2O (fully hydrated magnesium sulfate, aka epsom salts; omit if present in trace element mix)

1 Tablespoon (~9g) Chelated Trace Element Mix

(7% Fe, 1.3% B, 2% Mn, 0.06% Mo, 0.4% Zn, 0.1% Cu, EDTA, DTPA)

300 ml (1.5 cups) distilled H2O

All of these chemicals should be readily available at a hydroponics shop - [plug]www.sog.co.nz[/plug] - and you'll have to buy quite a bit of it, so people on the forums may be able to supply the ingredients for a fair price (that's where I got mine).

The history behind PMDD is that it's the basic chemical composition of a Dupla plant fertilizer formula. Therefore the name "Poor Man's Dupla Drops" or "Poor Man's Dosing Drops".

Aside from this, you'll need a good light source as well as a source of carbon (CO2 injection or Flourish Excel) and then balance it all out. That's the basic formula for planted tanks.

Lastly, you'll need deep light penetration for glosso. Make sure it gets enough light or it's gone!

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Thanks for more help again BlueandKim,

When i next get the chance i will make my way down to the local switched on gardener and get some chemicals lol. Think i will pass on co2 as it's to expensive as i'm still at school with many years to go unfortunatly : (. And the plants seem to be doing well with no co2 or fertalizers. The tank is about 48cm deep with about 6-7cm of gravel so i think the glosso will be fine.

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CO2 doesn't need to be expensive. There's a DIY way with 2 2.25 coke bottles, some yeast sugar and water and a little $25 elite internal filter for a diffuser. If you don't have enough of either the ferts, carbon or light you'll get some serious algae as that's what uses the leftovers. It's basically an all or nothing situation...

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I emailed the people at http://www.hydroponics.co.nz and asked exactly what was in the Aquatic chelated trace element mix as i thought it could be used as the trace elements and this was the reply

The Aquatic Chelated TE mix has the following elements:

Iron Chelate

Manganese Chelate

Boric Acid

Copper Chelate

Zinc Chelate

Ammonium Molybdate

Seems like a good mix to me. More chemical minded people wanna say what they think?

hehe

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Just went and checked out the www.hydroponics.co.nz and it works out at $28.10 for 1kg of potassium nitrate and 1 kg of potassium sulfate sent to Nelson and another $28.10 on top of that for Aquaticchelated mix, would be cheaper going out and buying a years worth of lfs fertiliser, do i have to have the AquaticChelated-TE-Mix to have good working plant firtiliser?

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Maybe someone should ask them to do a PMDD combo and sell a kit with smaller quantities of all the right dry ingredients. Of course they would charge a small premium for this but I reckon more poeple would make their own if they didn't have to buy 10 years supply all in one go! :-?

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I just emailed the guy to see if he sold the chemicals in 500gm quantities and he said yes :) so that should half the price, I just replyed to see if he sells the aquaticchelated mix in 500gm quantities. The email i got was really organized and helpfull and i would reccomend them for other people wanting to make diy pmdd.

http://www.hydroponics.co.nz

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So tell me more about the fully hydrated Epsom Salts in this mixture. Do you measure the 2.5 Tablespoons and then add just enough water to dissolve that amount completely?

How important would the epsom salts be? I guess they're the only source of magnesium lacking in tap water? Is it unstable like iron?

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Finally my Ingrediants arrived in the mail today,

Only probablem is i dont know what to do with it, should i just measure the ingrediants and put them in a bottle and shake it up? Also what is the dosage rate? :roll:

Thanks

Sorry Jn i dont know anything about Espon salt, i'm probably more stumped than you lol.

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I was reading this http://www.thekrib.com/Plants/Fertilizer/pmdd-tim.html and found it quite useful for that kind of information.

Basically according to them you dose it to the point that your Iron test shows good results, you also check nitrates and if the nitrates are too high then you lower the amount of KNO3 (Potassium Nitrate) you put in the mix.

I'm going to need to do this as well, my planted tank is lacking a the nutrient side of things and it's really showing :(

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  • 4 months later...

Hi all, I know this is an old thread but I have bought some KNO3 which I plant to mix up tonight (using that awesome calculator referenced elsewhere). Will only mix up a small amount at a time like 100mls.

I was just wondering does it need to be stored in any special way? (ie: kept in the dark) or is a glass jar good enough?

Is an increase of 1ppm in a single addition safe for the fish? Maybe weekly or twice a week depending on my NO3 test results?

Thanks in advance!

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HCL? Seriously!!? Wow... I think I'll store it in the fridge then.

HCL would be something else I'd have to get buy in a quantity that's more than I'd ever need to use. I don't imagine the fish would appreciate mould either though!!

So it's not sensitive to light?

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