# Planted Tanks > Fertilisation and Algae >  LushGro Aqua & Micros

## jhseah

Hi 

Anyone got any experience with the dosage of Dr Mallick's LushGro Aqua &amp; Micro??
The recommended dosage for Aqua is 10ml per 100litres water while Micro is one drop per 100litres water.

Any comment?

Thanks and regards

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## geoffrey

I used both but I do not follow the prescribed dosage. I dose Aqua to give me 20~30ppm of K weekly and supplement it with Micro for Fe to 0.1~0.2ppm weekly (taking into account water change).

I assume all the N from Aqua comes from KNO3 and calculated the dosage of NO3 to be around 10~20ppm if Aqua is dosed for a level of 20~30ppm K. Note that Fe available for plants is only 13% of the specified EDTA FE mass.

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## geoffrey

I have a simple Excel nutrients calculator for Aqua and Micro. I could email you if you need it.

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## juggler

Dr Mallick will be impressed and proud of you.
Now that we have DMDD - Dr Mallick's Dupla Drops.  :Smile:

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## jhseah

> ----------------
> On 4/8/2003 11:13:24 AM 
> 
> I have a simple Excel nutrients calculator for Aqua and Micro. I could email you if you need it.
> ----------------


Do you experience any algae bloom when u dose with the LushGro Aqua &amp;amp; Micro?
U got PM.
 :Smile:

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## Nick

Geoffery,

Can I have the excel program also. Thanks a million :Wink:

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## Simon

geoffrey, share the calculator with us.. email me so I can add it

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## juggler

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> On 4/8/2003 12:16:14 PM 
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> On 4/8/2003 11:13:24 AM 
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Since we know the nutrient amounts Lushgro, we can work out a fertilising regime and try not to overdose and get algae bloom. Like all fertilisers, too much or too little can also cause algae problems.

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## theodore

> ----------------
> On 4/8/2003 11:06:28 AM 
> 
> I used both but I do not follow the prescribed dosage. I dose Aqua to give me 20~30ppm of K weekly and supplement it with Micro for Fe to 0.1~0.2ppm weekly (taking into account water change).
> 
> I assume all the N from Aqua comes from KNO3 and calculated the dosage of NO3 to be around 10~20ppm if Aqua is dosed for a level of 20~30ppm K. Note that Fe available for plants is only 13% of the specified EDTA FE mass.
> ----------------


Geoffrey,

Since u used ur own dosing regime and not the recommended amt, can u comment on the cost effectiveness of dosing Aqua and Micro (e.g. vs Seachem Flourish + Flourish Trace)?

U mentioned that adding 20-30ppm of K will also add 10-20ppm of NO3 (assuming K is from KNO3). Wont it cause any problems in tanks that have high NO3 in the 1st place (e.g. 10-20ppm before fertilization)?

Anyway, can i have ur calculator too? (PMing u immediately after this). Thanks!

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## juggler

> ----------------
> On 4/8/2003 2:35:33 PM 
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> On 4/8/2003 11:06:28 AM 
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In tanks with high NO3, can consider using the Lushgro-MICROS. K can separately be supplemented from K2SO4. If P is still needed, can get from KH2PO4.

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## geoffrey

Yup, Juggler and I call it DMDD : )

jhseah:
To say that I don't have algae is lying. I started out with loads of it, BBA! That's history now, I hope. IMHO, with Aqua and Micro, you can also do well. I strongly think that Aqua by itself will not suffice because of it's low T/E and must be supplemented by Micro (Fe is very low in Aqua).

All my BBA problems are attributed to under-fertilising (mostly from Macro deficiency). Right now, I am fiddling to see if too much ferts relative to light and CO2 will cause algae and what type of algae.

theo2001:
Flourish is ~$14 right? Aqua is $8 for 500ml. If you want 1000ml, you can get ~$15. Dennerle don't say lah and don't know what's in V30, E15, A1 etc and how much of it to make necessary adjustments. The only difference, IMHO, is they use high quality stuffs for their N, K, Fe etc, etc. DMDD uses common salts, KNO3, K2SO4 blah, blah. So you decide which gives you more value. Both Juggler and I like DMDD, it's cheap and it works and don't worry, DMDD is not snake-oil.

I am assuming the N comes from KNO3 not K. Some of us have high NO3 and yet no algae. I have 2ppm of PO4 and I don't have algae now. With that level of PO4, high light and CO2, more reasons for me to add more N with NO3 right? I would think too much of something with too little of another will cause algae. The lack of one element can prevent the uptake of the rest of the 15 other elements hence giving algae an advantage. That's how I see it.

+++

Yes, I am also armed with KNO3, K2SO4 and MgSO4. I recently bought Seachem Phosphorus too. Something, I think many would abstain. I used Seachem because the standard packing of 1kg KH2PO4 will last me a lifetime. Like Juggler said, they can be handy to supplement elements that are uptake more rapidly.

All:
Juggler and Simon has offered to host the Excel program. Let wait for them to do it for future use. In the meantime, I will email to those who have requested it.

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## wynx

Geoffrey,

Dun forget to mail me too... I PMed u my email liao...[ :Grin: ]

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## geoffrey

Oops, forget to mention. Aqua does not have Ca.

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## juggler

Click here for the DMDD Excel sheet or Right-Click and then save it to your disk.

Note that there were some assumptions/ approximations:
1) N in LushgroAqua comes from KNO3 (maybe we can check with Dr M later)
2) Fe is 13% of Fe EDTA (found from his website)
3) Geoffrey found that there are 20 drops in 1 ml of liquid using a medical dropper.

Below lists the content of the fertilisers as we know from Dr Mallick:



```
&#91;b&#93;LUSHGro-Aqua content&#91;/b&#93;

in g/litre

N          7.179
K          51.711
S          16.667
Mg         2.942
Fe EDTA    1.683
Mn         0.612
Boron      0.314
Zn         0.092
Cu         0.025
Molybdenum 0.016
other minerals &amp;amp; vitamins &#58; traces

&#91;b&#93;LUSHGro MICROS content&#91;/b&#93;

Iron                    170.04   g/litre
Manganese                30.61   g/litre
Boron                     2940  mg/litre
Zinc                      3780  mg/litre
Copper                    1660  mg/litre
Molybdenum                2840  mg/litre
Cobalt                  traces
Vitamins                traces
```

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## FC

To me, LGM is the more affordable version of TMG.

The trace element's compositions is very very close to TMG, I am sure that's where Dr M. aimed, not an coincident. I started to use it today together with macro suppliments. I'll see how well it works.

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## juggler

The LGM formula came with the fertiliser bottle when I first bought it. That was the old packaging. I doubt the formula has changed. Maybe you can write down what you got?

BTW - I checked with Dr Mallick and he said he used KNO3 only for the Nitrogen content in LushGro-Aqua.

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## Clement79

Is it advisable to use LMG and Lush Gro Aqua with Seachem Phosphorus and Iron?

Just a question to ponder.

Cheerz :Smile:

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## Nick

When calculating how much Micro drops to put into tank to supplement Fe, assuming we are targeting 0.15 ppm weekly, do we need to take into account Fe EDTA = 15% Fe? Or we just input the desired values and dose accordingly to the calculator?

Thanks for posting the link to the calculator. Very useful.

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## juggler

> ----------------
> On 4/9/2003 11:17:34 AM 
> 
> When calculating how much Micro drops to put into tank to supplement Fe, assuming we are targeting 0.15 ppm weekly, do we need to take into account Fe EDTA = 15% Fe? Or we just input the desired values and dose accordingly to the calculator?
> 
> Thanks for posting the link to the calculator. Very useful.
> ----------------


We took that 13% into account (if you look the the formulas in the Fe EDTA cell of the spreadsheet). But it is good to test your water for Fe content after dosing.

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## FC

I just got the data fresh from Dr M. For LGM, it should be:

B 483 
Cu 267 
Fe 21,253 
Mn 5,684 
Mo 471 
Zn 617

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## Plantbrain

Is the N total N?Make sure therte's no NH4 in there or urea.

NO3 is cool.
NH4 ain't.

Overdosing NH4 is ugly and easy to do.

NH4 is best added via a decent regularly fed fish population that is well balnace to the plant biomass.

Too much and you more NH4 than the plants can use.
Too little is fine, it really will not harm the plant as long as there's a good _ consistent_ supply of of NO3.But a nice fish/critter bioload is the best fdor the long run.

Regards, 
Tom Barr

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## bclee

It is NO3. Dr. Mallick formulated this for aquarium use.

BC

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## geoffrey

Guys,

The calculator will not give you the right dosage if the content is indeed changed as per FC. Note if your LGM is recent or not.

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## Nick

I just got the data fresh from Dr M. For LGM, it should be:

B 483 
Cu 267 
Fe 21,253 
Mn 5,684 
Mo 471 
Zn 617

Based on the readings given by FC, what is the units?
The formula in the spreadsheet is in g/L.

Can I assume that 483 = 4.83g/L? And so on?

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## geoffrey

That is one assumption you cannot make! 400mg and 4.00g is alot of difference! Notice the new formulation deviates from the earlier one by a lot. It could also be mass for 500ml, 100ml instead of 1L. Check first.

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## Nick

Just checked the formula from the website, and what FC said is right. The formula is different now. The measurements are in mg/L.

So converting, we have 

Fe (chelated) : 21,253 mg/L = 21.253 g/L
Mn : 5,684 = 5.684 g/L
B : 483 = 0.483 g/L
Zn : 617 = 0.617 g/L
Cu : 267 = 0.267 g/L
Mo : 471 = 0.471 g/L

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## nivlekx

BTW, whats the website URL?

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## zackdelatoonz

So can we just replace the old figure of the formula with the lastest formula thats given by Nick?

Will I get the actual calculation if i do change the composition formula, Geoffrey?

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## Nick

That's what I did. Change the figures. Just check the formulae, shouldn't be a problem. Regards.

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## FC

Sorry for the &amp;quot;quick and dirty job&amp;quot; (cut and paste). The units are in mg/litre. I have the dosage calculator that also compares LGM with TMG. If TMG user can tell me how much you dose per 100 litres of tank water, I can provide the calculator to emulate TMG using LGM. And tell me how to post the calculator too.

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## Nick

for TMG, it's 10ml per 100 litres of water

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## juggler

Folks, FC is right. The Lushgro-Micros composition document (MS Word) states so.

Looks like the Fe content will be lower for Lushgro-Micros. I will try to check and confirm before we amend the numbers in the Excel spreadsheet.

BTW - some background: Dr Mallick used to call his Lushgro-Micros simply &amp;quot;Trace Elements&amp;quot;. It was using the old formula I put up earlier. Sometime in Sep 2002, he formulated Lushgro-Micros with the new formula. Only some months back that he updated his website http://www.singaporehydroponics.com and the content was listed there. I thought it was the same so I did not check. Anyway, I still have the old stock and so the Excel sheet still worked for me.  :Smile: 

Cheers!

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## Plantbrain

There is a very critical piece missing from the Lush Gro grow in the macro's: PO4.

KNO3, K2SO4 and KH2PO4 can make a ton of this and folks can tailor their ratios to get whatever range they are after including the PO4.
Adding everything and driving the PO4 to zero is not good for the plant. This slows N metabolism way down and hence NH4 uptake from fish waste etc. 

NH4= algae blooms. Plants need enough P to suck out the NH4 and NO3.

Regulation of N assimilation is P dependent.
A great deal of N metabloism has been understood in the last five years and they will figure out most of it in the next few years from the way things are going in the metabolic plant biology field.

You can double or triple(or more) the uptake depending on how serve the N limitation is.

Fumbling around trying to analyze small amounts of pesky trace metals such as iron for optimal levels is going to be extremely difficult to #1, test for, 2# assess what is optimal for a tank, come to some sort of consensus about a tested level.

Even if you do dry weight tissue samples, this still will not tell you what is an optimal level or if the plant was limited. You could do some bioassys but it's going to be tough.

The best method that a hobbyist has available to them is keep the other nutrients at excess levels or within a good range and then manipulate the traces up(add more and more) till you no longer get a positive response from the plants.

For traces, since they are traces and not needed in large amounts, this will take longer than something like P, N etc. 3-4 weeks per dosing routine is a reasonable time frame when testing this to see if your dosing routine is optimal.

So you measure the volume of traces, say 5 mls per 80 liters of tank 3x a week for max possible uptake. I've add 10 mls 3x a week of TMG but it did not help nor hurt.

Max uptake will occur when: there are good nutrient levels maintained, high CO2, and very high light.

If a certain frequency and dosage fulfills this type of tank, then adding more is not needed unless you go beyong that light level.

So if you have 1/2 or 2/3 that lighting level, and you add this amount, you know that you are getting enough traces and probably extra.

So if something appears funny in your tank, look at CO2 then the macro and lastly at micros. 

You'll find this method to work and be much easier.
Folks hate testing anyway.........folks will do it for awhile, but when things are going good, they tend not too.


&amp;quot;LUSHGro-Aqua content 

in g/litre 

N 7.179 
K 51.711 
S 16.667 
Mg 2.942 
Fe EDTA 1.683 
Mn 0.612 
Boron 0.314 
Zn 0.092 
Cu 0.025 
Molybdenum 0.016 
other minerals &amp;amp; vitamins : traces 

LUSHGro MICROS content 

Iron 170.04 g/litre 
Manganese 30.61 g/litre 
Boron 2940 mg/litre 
Zinc 3780 mg/litre 
Copper 1660 mg/litre 
Molybdenum 2840 mg/litre 
Cobalt traces 
Vitamins traces &amp;quot;


Regards, 
Tom Barr

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## squall99e

Hi i just brought the Lushgro aqua.
The nitrogen content give is 7.179g/l.
If my present no3 is 0mg/l, how much of lushgro agua is to be add to my tank say 250l of water to a level of 10mg/l no3?
Can someone show me the calculation so that i can gauge the other nurtrients as well.

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## PeterGwee

Use potassium as the major nutrient for dosage if using this aqua product. 30ppm of K should hit 4.3ppm of N for a 250l tank. Hope I got the calculations right though... :Razz:  

K: 51.711g/l = 51711mg/l
150ml of Aqua: 51711/1000 * 150 = 7756.65mg of K dosed
Amount of K in 250l tank: 7756.65/250 = 31.0266mg/l of K

N: 7.179g/l = 7179mg/l
150ml of Aqua: 7179/1000 * 150 = 1076.85mg of N dosed
Amount of N in 250l tank: 1076.85/250 = 4.3074mg/l of N

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## squall99e

wow! I don,t think I will depend fully on lushgro-aqua for N and K. 
150ml of the 1L is too costy, have to get KNO3 and K2SO4 to do the job.

Peter, 
you using aqua as well if not what is your fert regime?

squall[ :Grin: ]

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## PeterGwee

I use KNO3, K2SO4, KH2PO4 and Seachem flourish..[ :Grin: ] I prefer something with more flexibility to dose.

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## Sir Plants-a-lot

Is anybody else using Rexolin APN powder? The Rexolin powder is a lot cheaper, but I notice that you all seem to be using the LushGro Micros liquid instead, and was wondering if there is a reason for it. 

Regards,
Kevin

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## PeterGwee

Copper seems kinda high isn't it? Not very safe for aquatic plants and its inhibitants.

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## PeterGwee

Oops...correction..saw the wrong thing. Copper concentration should be acceptable. But does it contain all the necessary traces???

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## ccs

Like to check with u guys what is the daily ppm and the weekly ppm in the spreadsheet.Don't quite understand perhaps can explain ?

Thanks

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## ecocityhydroponics

Hi

You can find out more information on Lushgro Aqua and Micros from the two links below

http://www.ecocityhydroponics.com/lu...ua-liquid.html

http://www.ecocityhydroponics.com/lu...os-liquid.html

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