Easy Green Ingredients Added in ppm

[BF McUmber]

Today, I had to titrate my tap water with RO water to get to recommended harnesses... and then I went down the rabbit hole. Now I'm confused. 

I'm looking at my easy green and am confused how mathematically I convert the bottle contents into an ending ppm when added to a barren aquarium. Assume I am adding 1ml into 10 gallons of water for simple math. 

Using Nitrogen as example, easy green has 2.66% water soluble nitrogen. 

So for the fertilizer itself, converting from percent to ppm we would have 2.66*1000000/100=26600ppm

Then putting 1ml of this into 10 gallons (37854ml).  26600*1/37854=0.7ppm (edit for 10 gallon) 

So even if this all went to nitrates it would only raise it by 0.7 ppm. I feel like when starting my tank (8 gallons-->0.88ppm) two pumps of easy green got me from like 5ppm to 20ppm when I was testing. What am I conceptually missing? 

Thank you, Brad 

Edited April 18, 2021 by bwar

[Isaac M]

Hello @bwar, after doing some calculations and looking more into it, I believe I have figured it out but if @Cory could confirm, that would be even better. 
 

2.66% of Nitrogen = 2.66 * (1,000,000 /100) = 26,600ppm of Nitrogen. 
 

Then putting 1mL into 10 gallons (37,855 mL):

26,600 ppm of Nitrogen * (1 mL/ 37,855 mL) = .7 ppm of Nitrogen.

 

Then convert ppm of Nitrogen to ppm of Nitrate (Multiply by 4.43 aka the ratio of the atomic weights of Nitrate and Nitrogen):

.7 ppm of Nitrogen * 4.43 = 3.11 ppm of Nitrate. 
 

So from my understanding, each pump of Easy Green will give you a little over 3ppm of Nitrate per 10 gallons. 

[BF McUmber]

@Isaac M thanks for the response. Are we able to just compare the atomic weights, or would we have to bring the density in to now get from ml to mg? 

This also assumes that the percentages are volume percentages and not weight percentages because that could throw even more conversions into it. 

[Cory]

I believe Bwar to be right. I'm no chemist, but I believe those numbers match up with what the manufacturer calculates.

[Isaac M]

@bwar The purpose of comparing the weights is because of the test we have available. You are testing for nitrate but we only have the ppm of nitrogen from the easy green bottle and assumed dosage. 
 

Nitrate is NO3 or: Nitrogen 14 g/ mol * (3* Oxygen 16 g/mol) = roughly 62 g/mol. This is what we are testing for. 
 

Nitrogen is just 14 g/mol. 
 

We are just looking for the nitrate equivalent of the nitrogen we have in the Easy Green. To do that, we have to take into account the addition of the 3 oxygen atoms because our test is taking that into account (the entire nitrate molecule NO3). That is the purpose of the ratio:

62 g/mole / 14g/ mol = roughly 4.42 or 4.43. 
 

I hope that makes some sense. That is my understanding at least. So ultimately, .7 ppm of the Easy Green Nitrogen(N) in a single pump per 10 gallons is equivalent to a little over 3 ppm of Nitrates(NO3) tested in your aquarium water.

[Patrick_G]

5 minutes ago, Cory said:

I believe Bwar to be right. I'm no chemist, but I believe those numbers match up with what the manufacturer calculates.

So one pump in 10 gallons = .7 ppm raise in Nitrates? 
 

@bwar’s findings were a little higher but probably within a margin of error for the test. 

[Isaac M]

@Patrick_G I believe @bwar initial finding was based on 8 gallons of water, not 10 gallons which would be approximately .7ppm of Nitrogen. 
 

But from my understanding, 

1 Pump Easy Green in 10 gallons = approximately 3 ppm rise in Nitrates = approximately .7 ppm rise in Nitrogen

[Mmiller2001]

[Isaac M]

@Mmiller2001 there we go, perfect, thank you for providing that sir! I hope you do not mind me saving that for future use haha 

[Mmiller2001]

15 minutes ago, Isaac M said:

@Mmiller2001 there we go, perfect, thank you for providing that sir! I hope you do not mind me saving that for future use haha 

Please do. Spread it everywhere.

I believe that's per pump per 10 gallons.

Edited April 18, 2021 by Mmiller2001

[BF McUmber]

1 hour ago, Patrick_G said:

So one pump in 10 gallons = .7 ppm raise in Nitrates? 
 

@bwar’s findings were a little higher but probably within a margin of error for the test. 

My initial results that I put are for a week old tank with eco-complete substrate, plants, seachem matrix and some decorations. So the numbers I tested are likely not only from the fertilizer. They may have slowly dissipated out of things. I was just trying to keep the question in a oversimplified form to ask about the fertilizer. 

[BF McUmber]

59 minutes ago, Mmiller2001 said:

@Mmiller2001 This information is great. I notice that some of the chemical formulas are different than what's on the bottle. I'm curious as to the question you asked. Is that the chemicals that are in the bottle, or what they become after they react to the water/aquarium? 

In a perfect world where we want to stay at, lets say 21ppm Nitrates for our plants. Is it better to have it all come from fertilizer to not miss out on the other nutrients (7 squirts). As opposed to only getting one squirt assuming your fish are providing 18ppm of nitrates in the week.

Also, assuming you are not seeing an obvious deficiency. Is there ever a world where your fish are creating 21ppm of Nitrates so you change water just to be able to put fertilizer back in and not increase the Nitrates?   

[Mmiller2001]

22 minutes ago, bwar said:

@Mmiller2001 This information is great. I notice that some of the chemical formulas are different than what's on the bottle. I'm curious as to the question you asked. Is that the chemicals that are in the bottle, or what they become after they react to the water/aquarium? 

In a perfect world where we want to stay at, lets say 21ppm Nitrates for our plants. Is it better to have it all come from fertilizer to not miss out on the other nutrients (7 squirts). As opposed to only getting one squirt assuming your fish are providing 18ppm of nitrates in the week.

Also, assuming you are not seeing an obvious deficiency. Is there ever a world where your fish are creating 21ppm of Nitrates so you change water just to be able to put fertilizer back in and not increase the Nitrates?   

I pulled that email off another site who messaged Co-Op, that was their response. I assume that's everything in Easy Green. As for the nitrates, I've tried both ways, and personally, I've seen better growth with just dosing my 30ppm regardless of my fish produced Nitrates. However, I'm still learning and I'm injecting CO2.

In my low tech, I'm also dosing 30ppm all front loaded, regardless of fish produced Nitrates. I have not noticed any problems and oddly, I'm seeing deficiencies. After a 50% water change, I had 40ppm Nitrates.

I'm going to try just dosing K and Micros for a while and see if anything changes.

For a while, I did try only dosing K and Micros in my high tech tanks. A few plants stopped growing, but nothing looked deficient or concerning. Again, I'm still learning. So I can't really say what's best.

From what I read, either or works. I use EI for dosing, and success is acheived via an overdosed method.

Look into PPs-Pro method. It's a lean fertilization philosophy and takes into account fish load.

In case you haven't discovered this yet. Just wish they would add Easy Green.

https://rotalabutterfly.com/nutrient-calculator.php

Edited April 18, 2021 by Mmiller2001