DIY All in One

[Shadow_Arbor]

Sadly in Israel we can't get Easy Green yet. I've been using the EI dosing method for many years now in low tech and High tech tanks. Recently Cory mentioned that everyone told him it's impossible to make an AiO fert but he went and made one anyway. I've taken courses this year in Organic, Physical, and General Chemistry and decided that I wanted to make my own DIY AiO that dosed the exact same ratio of ferts into my tanks but instead of having 4 individual bottles, all I have now is one.

After doing my research i discovered that there are two main issues:

The main issue is Phosphate binding with Iron. What usually protects Iron is the EDTA chelator. The issue is that at higher pH this chelator breaks down releasing the iron ions and allowing them to bind with phosphate. The solution, reduce the pH in the fertilizer bottle. How? Well vitamin C or Ascorbic Acid is a readily available cheapish supplement. Great I can do all the fun math and find out how much I need to put into my fert bottle to keep the pH bellow 6. Also, vitamin c most likely has positive effects on the aquarium compared to other acids like HCl. It's also an antioxidant.

The second issue? Mold. Solution? Potassium Sorbate (E202) a commonly used food preserver. Also cheap and readily available. 

 

I've only been using this new DIY fertilizer for about 3 weeks but I've seen no negative changes in my aquarium. The ratio of fertilizers is the same, and I can choose to dose daily or weekly easily. This has helped reduce the amount of time per day that I spend adding fertilizers and has freed up time for me to type up this post during finals week. The great part is that I can create a different DIY fertilizer that suits each different style of aquarium.

[Guppysnail]

Way to go. This is fantastic. 

[Beardedbillygoat1975]

Well done @Shadow_Arbor! We’re very lucky to have access to ACO and Easy Green. 

[Seattle_Aquarist]

On 6/16/2022 at 3:21 AM, Shadow_Arbor said:

Sadly in Israel we can't get Easy Green yet. I've been using the EI dosing method for many years now in low tech and High tech tanks. Recently Cory mentioned that everyone told him it's impossible to make an AiO fert but he went and made one anyway. I've taken courses this year in Organic, Physical, and General Chemistry and decided that I wanted to make my own DIY AiO that dosed the exact same ratio of ferts into my tanks but instead of having 4 individual bottles, all I have now is one.

After doing my research i discovered that there are two main issues:

The main issue is Phosphate binding with Iron. What usually protects Iron is the EDTA chelator. The issue is that at higher pH this chelator breaks down releasing the iron ions and allowing them to bind with phosphate. The solution, reduce the pH in the fertilizer bottle. How? Well vitamin C or Ascorbic Acid is a readily available cheapish supplement. Great I can do all the fun math and find out how much I need to put into my fert bottle to keep the pH bellow 6. Also, vitamin c most likely has positive effects on the aquarium compared to other acids like HCl. It's also an antioxidant.

The second issue? Mold. Solution? Potassium Sorbate (E202) a commonly used food preserver. Also cheap and readily available. 

 

I've only been using this new DIY fertilizer for about 3 weeks but I've seen no negative changes in my aquarium. The ratio of fertilizers is the same, and I can choose to dose daily or weekly easily. This has helped reduce the amount of time per day that I spend adding fertilizers and has freed up time for me to type up this post during finals week. The great part is that I can create a different DIY fertilizer that suits each different style of aquarium.

Hi @Shadow_Arbor

I understand how by maintaining the pH below 6.0 the EDTA chelate maintains a strong bond with the iron molecule in the stock solution preventing it from bonding with the phosphate molecule.  However, once the stock solution is added to a tank with say a pH of 7.4 the chelate-iron bond breaks freeing the iron molecule then won't the phosphate molecule bond with the iron molecule at that point forming the precipitate iron phosphate? Did you try doing something like this is a clean glass and see if iron phosphate was precipitated - probably have to add a fairly large dose of stock solution to achieve a visible amount of precipitant? -Roy

[Shadow_Arbor]

On 6/17/2022 at 2:25 AM, Seattle_Aquarist said:

Hi @Shadow_Arbor

I understand how by maintaining the pH below 6.0 the EDTA chelate maintains a strong bond with the iron molecule in the stock solution preventing it from bonding with the phosphate molecule.  However, once the stock solution is added to a tank with say a pH of 7.4 the chelate-iron bond breaks freeing the iron molecule then won't the phosphate molecule bond with the iron molecule at that point forming the precipitate iron phosphate? Did you try doing something like this is a clean glass and see if iron phosphate was precipitated - probably have to add a fairly large dose of stock solution to achieve a visible amount of precipitant? -Roy

From my understanding this isn't as much of an issue as people make it out to be on forums. When you dose the EDTA into a higher pH it doesn't immediately break down, there is a gradual decline in its effectiveness. I BELIEVE that most likely a small percentage might react with the phosphate and precipitate out but most is absorbed and utilized by plants long before. I mean if you think about it, even when you dose one day macro one day micro using the EI method. On Micro day you still have plenty of phosphates in the water. I've been dosing phosphate and Iron on the same day for over a year without noticing or testing any Iron deficiency. We're also talking about relatively very low concentrations in the tank (1-0.5 ppm of phosphate). In order for these molecules to precipitate  out of the solution they need to come into contact with one another. At lower concentrations the probability that an unprotected Iron ion will collide successfully with a phosphate molecule is low.