Maxicrop Plus Iron dosing rate?

[badflash]

If you are looking for a cheap source of lots of nutrients, including iron, try bloodmeal. I add 1 tbls per 100 gallons as needed.

[urbanfarmer]

Thanks urbanfarmer, for the advice. I was basically just using the Maxicrop for it's iron content due to my high ph. Looks like the $5 per gallon price for chelated iron is WAY cheaper than the $10 per liter I paid at the hydro shop for the Maxicrop. I'm all about letting my fish provide the essentials for my plants, and I'm trying to avoid adding anything other than food for the fish to my system, but my high ph concerned me about the iron uptake thing. I am trying to gradually bring the ph down by using rainwater for the majority of my make up water rather than the high ph canal water. I don't wish to add any chemicals to lower the ph. I'm planting a variety of plants with the assumption some will do well and some won't given the particular water chemistry of my systems. When it becomes evident which plants do beat, I will concentrate on growing them. I don't wish to spend a lot of time, effort and $$ trying to fight the equilibrium of my water just to suit certain plants.

You're lucky. It's $25 at my hydro shop!

BTW, I think your pH is FINE. I probably wouldn't bother with it... How old is your system, exactly?

[bsfman]

BTW, I think your pH is FINE. I probably wouldn't bother with it... How old is your system, exactly?

The small system was set up June 9th and populated with three dozen 3" to 6" tilapia June 14th - so 2 1/2 months. It had fully cycled by July 19th. The big system was set up Aug 22nd and populated with 150 tilapia fry August 24th - so it's just a week old. Both systems are fully cycled because I populated the fiter on the new one with old media. Zero ammonia on both systems (bith systems were initially filled with 4ppm ammonia well water), zero nitrites both systems, 10ppm nitrate on the new system, and (hard to judge the color) maybe 200 ppm nitrate on the old system.

The big system has a low bio load with only 150 1" tilapia fingerlings in 725 gallons of system water. The tilapia in the small system have grown to maybe a 7 1/2 inch average length. Perhaps 10 pounds give or take of fish. Obviously, it has a much larger bio load than the big system.

[davidstcldfl]

[quote="urbanfarmer"] You're lucky. It's $25 at my hydro shop!

quote]

UF...Aren't you buying gallons like I am ? I pay 25 in Orlando.
BSF said he was getting a liter for 10 bucks or so, (maybe he meant a quart...?)

[bsfman]

BSF said he was getting a liter for 10 bucks or so, (maybe he meant a quart...?)

Nope. It's marked one liter - 35 ounces. Ten bucks. (actually $9.95)

[davidstcldfl]

BSF said he was getting a liter for 10 bucks or so, (maybe he meant a quart...?)

Nope. It's marked one liter - 35 ounces. Ten bucks. (actually $9.95)

Must be new packaging. (?)
I went to my hydro store's web site, they still have them listed as qts and gallons.
Looks like your getting a better buy BFS, with the liter versus the qt....

[urbanfarmer]

UF...Aren't you buying gallons like I am ? I pay 25 in Orlando.

OH, right... LOL... yea just checked... $10 per quart and $25 for the gallon...

BTW, I think your pH is FINE. I probably wouldn't bother with it... How old is your system, exactly?

The small system was set up June 9th and populated with three dozen 3" to 6" tilapia June 14th - so 2 1/2 months. It had fully cycled by July 19th. The big system was set up Aug 22nd and populated with 150 tilapia fry August 24th - so it's just a week old. Both systems are fully cycled because I populated the fiter on the new one with old media. Zero ammonia on both systems (bith systems were initially filled with 4ppm ammonia well water), zero nitrites both systems, 10ppm nitrate on the new system, and (hard to judge the color) maybe 200 ppm nitrate on the old system.

The big system has a low bio load with only 150 1" tilapia fingerlings in 725 gallons of system water. The tilapia in the small system have grown to maybe a 7 1/2 inch average length. Perhaps 10 pounds give or take of fish. Obviously, it has a much larger bio load than the big system.

That's plenty young. Leave it be. The filter is far from the only place there are bacteria that need to populate the system. Give it plenty of time. Remember, there is more biomass in the microbes than the fish and plants put together, but you can't SEE the microbes!

[bsfman]

BSF said he was getting a liter for 10 bucks or so, (maybe he meant a quart...?)

I ain't confused! I swear!

[urbanfarmer]

I believe you. I was the one confused! That's a different brand than David and I have used seeing as he shops at the same hydro store as me (the one with all the pot growers, oh wait that's all of them).

[davidstcldfl]

Uf, I went to the web site, of the hydro store that I go to. I checked out their picture of the 'quart' of maxi-crop w/ iron. (they have it marked as a quart)
When I enlarged their picture....it's the same as BSF's picture.