Fertilizer Dosing Schedule

[Philip]

Fellow Aquarists,

What are your thoughts on a dosing schedule for general fertilization in a planted tank? For example if I have a 100 gallon aquarium and the packaging says "dose 1 ml per 10 gallons" " . . . twice a week for medium light tanks", that means each week the tank gets 20 ml. 

Even though the packaging says twice a week (and I know the "correct" answer is to always follow packaging instructions), but would it be better to give it a few ml each day, or 5 ml every other day? 

Is giving it a big shot every once in awhile or dosing it steady the best strategy? 

Thanks

Phil

[Colu]

I dose once a week after i have done my water change  that works best for me 

[Calvin]

I recently watched a video from George Farmer who was talking about this. He made a good point (for me anyway) that dosing daily gives the plants the best chance of getting a bit of what they need every day. When dosing weekly, some plants may need or take more in the first few days of dosing therefore the rest of the plants are starving basically until the next weekly dose because the more demanding plants have used it all. 

At least that's what I got from it, he can explain it alot better than me. I'll see if I can find a link to the video if you would like a better expert explanation 😄

I've decided to go down the daily dosing route and see how it goes, no results yet I only started 3 days ago, I've already got quick growth on a new anubias leaf but I can't be certain this is related. 

Of course everyone's tanks are different and what might work for one won't for another, trial and error I guess 🤷🏻‍♂️

[Philip]

Calvin,

Great info. I will look it up.

Thank you.

[Socqua]

I have no evidence and you should definitely trust George Farmer over me, but logically this is how I see it.

If you dose once a week with more, then all the plants have a chance to get some nutrients; the hungry ones will suck up the nutrients they want, but there's extra so the not-so-hungry ones still can get some. If you dose less daily, then each day the hungry ones can suck up all the nutrients before the not-so-hungry ones get enough. Hopefully that makes sense.

For me it's similar to feeding one flake 3x/day vs three flakes 1x/day to fish. If you feed a whole bunch at once, those hungry guppies at the top will eat a lot, but at least some will still get to those cory's waiting at the bottom. If you feed just a little a few times a day, the guppies will scarf them all down and the cory's will never get any.

Again, probably not actually the case but that's how I perceive it.

[Philip]

Socqua,

What you say makes a lot of sense. I've been thinking about it a lot and decided that what I might do is take two similar tanks and try different approaches on each. See what happens over time. 

Nothing like a good science experiment to get the blood flowing. 

Thank you for your thoughts.

R/

Phil