Stability of Dirk's Drops and Liquid CO2?

Hi Prof, I have seen nothing but good things about your products on this site and I have a couple of questions as to suitability.

I have a 1.2m tank that I hope to be planting up from 13 Feb 2010. Ingredients so far are;

1) 70kg of Florite substrate
2) Two sizable pieces of bog wood
3) 2x 54w Osram Skywhite + 2 x 54w Sylvania Grolux. All four lights mounted in one of those fancy aluminium light fittings sold by Aquarium depot with the moonlight LED centre strip.
4) Jager 300w heater
5) 2500lt / hr Aquamedic sump pump
6)1200lt / hr Regent power head

The main tank volume is +/- 390lt excluding substrate and wood and the sump is +/- 110lt. This was my marine tank that I am now converting to a planted fw tank. My conscience was starting to bother me that most corals are stripped off various reefs around the world and that propegated corals are not yet readily available to any great extent.

There is top up resevoir that caters for evapouration loss. What I was thinking of doing was to add your ferts and liquid co2 into this top-up system ( holds 30lt water and lasts for +/- 6 days) and in that way my plants would receive small doses all through the day / week and not one big lot and then starve for a day / week. I do not know if I must dose your ferts and co2 daily or weekly yet. Can I mix the two products together in the resevoir without there being a negative or synergistic chemical reaction?

Where can I buy your products and hopefully litrature on how to use your product range. I particularly like the fact that your ferts are developed and based on our water conditions. I also prefer to support local endeavours.

Many thanks for all your effort so far, I find it very interesting and helpful in my trying to figure out what is best for my plants and livestock.

 

Hi Steve CT,

Thanks for your compliments about my products.

From your description, your aquarium sounds like it is quite correctly set up for your planned planted aquarium. Perhaps your Osram Skywhite could be exchanged with Sylvania lux line plus, for even without this your plants should grow if given good fertilization.

Your idea for the dosage system is quite good, but you should not consider adding all the plant nutrients via this system. Let me explain.

As you may have seen from this website, for example, the thread in the Planted Tanks forum on the 400L planted tank started April 2009 - http://www.tropicalaquarium.co.za/showthread.php?t=1678&page=10 , other aquarists have been having huge success in getting their plants to grow with my ferts.

The approach followed here was to use my basic mixes consisting of three solutions, GH+ (which increases general hardness), K+ (which increases potassium levels) and plant feeding mix (which supplies trace elements including iron) which must be added when doing water changes and NOT as an additive via a dosing system. The important thing here is that my ferts are aimed at establishing a constant environment of basic nutrients, which is essential for consistent plant growth. You cannot dose these components on an ongoing basis as this would cause huge fluctuations in the aquarium which would not allow optimal plant growth. Bottom line is therefore that these components must be used initially and after water changes, which for the medium or high tech aquarium should be done once a week preferably on a Sunday when one has time.

However, for the medium or high tech aquarium, I have developed a new additive range consisting of two solutions that can be used alternatively, NK-P and NPK which should be added on a Monday, a Wednesday and a Friday between water changes. These components could be dosed via your dosage system. However, additional iron fertilizer also is recommended on a Tuesday, Thursday and Saturday and this cannot be combined with the NPK and NK-P ferts in your dosage system as they would react there and the iron would be precipitated, so this will not work.

Previously, I have sold my basic fertilizers directly by mail order to the public. Presently, I am in the process to developing labels for the bottling of the new range, which may then go commercial, how is not decided as this is premature at this stage. I can now supply the full range in fully functional state, but perhaps rather preliminary labels directly to you. I also have a full description of how to use the fertilizers, which I can send you to your direct email address if you could send me that by PM.

I am sure my products will not dissappoint you, and I am also a big believer of "local is lekker"!

Kind regards,

Dirk

 

Thanks for the quick response Prof. My e-mail is pixel@tiscali.co.za.

If you need help with the labels, I own a digital label printing business. The labels are totally waterproof, self adhesive and can be pre-cut to any size or shape that you require. We specialise in short runs for the small "home based" type of businesses that do not require thousands of labels at a time. 90% of our business is from small to medium sized operations. You make a good product...........we can make you a totally professional looking label to compliment your product on the LFS shelves.

There are quite a few products on the supermarket shelves that are supplied by small home based operations that get their labels from me.

The film and advertising industry use us quite extensively for their promo shoots and film set product labeling.

It would be an absolute pleasure to help you with this project. If you need my help, please do not hesitate to call on me.

Sorry Icannot send you PM as I have not made enough posts yet.

 

Hi Steve,

Thanks very much for your kind offer of assistance with the labels. I will be in touch by private email.

I will also reply to your request for food details on you private email address.

Many thanks and kind regards,

Dirk