Joined: Aug 19, 2005 Posts: 4895 Location: Mathura, UP
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Posted: Thu Apr 26, 2012 12:39 pm Post subject: How to make Chelated Micronutrient mix
Getting a good quality Micronutrient at reasonable price is still a daunting task.
Currently I am using Flourish Trace along with Ferrous gluconate. Flourish “Trace” does not include iron.
I do not know as to why do they not include iron in the mixture, they sell it separately as Flourish Iron, which is Aqueous solution of Ferrous gluconate.
Maybe it is has commercial aspects or as I read somewhere that iron chelates tend to decompose when other chelated metals are mixed together. ( I am not sure of this).
Now my supply of “Trace” is finishing.
My stock of Ferrous gluconate will last a long time, so I need other traces.
I am thinking of mixing direct chemicals for other trace elements.
They are Manganese Sulphate, Boric Acid, Zinc Sulphate, Copper Sulphate, Sodium Molybdate .
I can chelate them using fulvic acid etc. as already being done by Madan, or I can use them directly.
I am also making 50% water changes every week so some micro are also coming along with water changes.
My question is do I really need to chelate them, I already have iron in chelated form.
Any pointers to process of chelation would be helpful.
Let me know your thoughts.
Last edited by sandeepraghuvanshi on Thu Jun 14, 2012 4:44 pm; edited 1 time in total
Posted: Fri Apr 27, 2012 5:18 pm Post subject: Re: How to make Chelated Micronutrient mix
If they are not chelated, then I think it would be easy to make the micro mix. Only issue is that we need a very accurate measuring scale to weigh the chemicals accurately. And I think that we get the chemicals in minimum 500gm. And while mixing for micros, it would be there for ages..
So these are all available in natural form, Aqueous solution of Iron always in Chelated form as Iron Ions are very reactive. Iron in nature is found in form of The iron itself is usually found in the form of magnetite (Fe3O4), hematite (Fe2O3), goethite (FeO(OH)), limonite (FeO(OH).n(H2O)) or siderite (FeCO3).
Chelated :-"Chemicals that form soluble, complex molecules with certain metal ions, inactivating the ions so that they cannot normally react with other elements or ions to produce precipitates or scale".
What is important is to get the right mix of percentage of these compounds so as to provide an adequate mix of these trace elements required by the plants.
Joined: Jun 29, 2003 Posts: 7087 Location: Bengaluru, India
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Posted: Sat Apr 28, 2012 10:36 am Post subject: Re: How to make Chelated Micronutrient mix
Sandeep, there is need to chelate any thing except Iron.
Shelly, your tap water has all these in such low concentration anyway.
All the brohuha is for guys who sell you RO and blah blah blah and then insist on softwater to grow plants,
then sell you stuff to put in what is removed. Be rich use tap water !
Joined: Aug 19, 2005 Posts: 4895 Location: Mathura, UP
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Posted: Sat Apr 28, 2012 12:05 pm Post subject: Re: How to make Chelated Micronutrient mix
Procedure for Calculating Nutrient Mix
I am detailing the process used to calculate amount of nutrient to be used for pmdd.
I am going to use Potassium (K) as an example, commonly Potassium Sulphate is used for this.
(1) Identify the Nutrient to be used, gather following information
Chemical Name : Potassium
(2) Select the compound to be used, Potassium Sulphate in this case, gather following information
Chemical formula: K2SO4
Molar weight :174.259 ( more on this later)
All this information is available on Wikipedia
(3) Make a list of elements used in this compound
K- Potassium
S- Sulphur
O-Oxygen
(4) Find out the Atomic Weights of these elements
Element Atomic Weight
K : 39.083
S : 32.065
O : 15.994
Joined: Aug 19, 2005 Posts: 4895 Location: Mathura, UP
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Posted: Sat Apr 28, 2012 12:15 pm Post subject: Re: How to make Chelated Micronutrient mix
(5) Find out the % of k in k2so4
To calculate the percentage we will take help of molar weight of K2so4.
Molar weight = (atomic weight of each constituent) X (no of atoms in compound)
(6) There fore the Molar weight of K2so4 is as under
Element ----atoms------Atomic
K-------------2------- 39:083------78.196
Sulphur S 32.065 1 32.065
Oxygen O 15.994 4 63.997
Total 174.258
This total should always match with Molar weight of K2so4 given in (2) above, and it is a check that my calculations are correct.
(7) Now the percentage can be calculated as under
Element Symbol Weight %
Potassium K 78.196 (78.196/174.258)*100=44.87%
Sulphur S 32.065 (32.065/174.258)*100=18.4%
Oxygen O 63.997 (63.997/174.258)*100=36.73%
( Now to calculate dosage (stock Solutions)
Now I know that 1 gm of K2so4 contains 44.87% of K.
Therefore 50 gm(50000mg) of K2so4 will contain 50000*44.87%=22435 mg of K
(9) I dissolve this in 1 lit( 1000000ml) of water and I will get 22435/1000000= 22.44 ppm of K in my stock solution.
(10) If I dose 1 ml of this solution in my tank of 45 g (171 lit) each ml will give me 22.44/171 = .13 ppm of k in my tank.
This is also the result when Chuck gudds nutrient calculator is used.
Last edited by sandeepraghuvanshi on Sat Aug 04, 2012 3:05 am; edited 1 time in total
Joined: Aug 19, 2005 Posts: 4895 Location: Mathura, UP
Status: Offline
Posted: Sat Apr 28, 2012 12:22 pm Post subject: Re: How to make Chelated Micronutrient mix
Using the same methodology I have created spreadsheets of all macros, k2so4, kno3, K2hPO4.
Also I have calculated for Fe, gluconate, Fe EDTA, FE DTPA and other micros.
These calculation will be used to mix the micronutrient mix.
The % of various iron chelates as per my calcuation is
Fe EDTA = 15.06%
Fe DTPA = 8.29%
Fe gluconate= 12.46%
Getting a good quality Micronutrient at reasonable price is still a daunting task.
Sandeep,
What would a reasonable price be? On an earliest thread on micros, it says it would be a super costly affair to mix one.
buy a packet of CSMB share the unused part and you are done for an year or two- issues?
It would be definitely costlier than mircro b, the final costs are still being worked out.
More than the cost it is the reliability of chemicals which is a major factor for me.
If I were go in for branded mixes I would go for Flourish Trace & Flourish Iron.
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Now to calculate dosage (stock Solutions)
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