E.i

[BigIan]

will i be ok to knock up a stock solution of my e.i ferts into 500ml coke bottles and store them in a dark cupboard or would the bottles become full of alge or "go off" in any way?

 

[Themuleous]

That would be fine, I have mine in 1lt and 750ml bottles, just sat on top of the chest of draws and no probs there. Some say keep the trace mix in the fridge as it can get a fungus on it, but I've never had that and its just sat next to the tank.

Sam

 

[BigIan]

thank you kind sir...

do you mix it with r.o or dechlorinated tap water?

 

[jimbooo]

i've always used RO. not sure if the dechlorinator would absorb any of the good stuff.... for the same reason i never add EI ferts straight after a water change.

 

[BigIan]

hm wonder if the waste from the ro unit would add extra mineral type things into my planted tank

i was wondering about using ro as obviusly it is very prone to alge as there is no chlor in it

 

[jkc]

Same sort of question so I thought I would ask it here quikly. Im off to Australia for 5 weeks at the end of the year and have a neighbour coming in each day to feed the fish & a friend coming in once a week to do water changes. Is it possible to mix all the Seachem ferts into one bottle so that all our neighbour has to do is pour it into the tank??

 

[Themuleous]

Yeh use 100% RO then you know exactly what the resulting mixture will be adding to the tank. I dont declo it as there is no need as the RO filter should remove the chlorine, well thats what I would think anyway.

Sam

 

[BigIan]

i hope so or our marine tank is dead....

ok i`ve used chucks page to roughly work out my doseing routine...

potassium nitrate 150g of kno3 added to 500ml of water should give me roughly 1ppm of nitrate per ml and 0.61 ppm of P

and 130 g of K2SO4 added to 500ml of water will give me 1 ppm per ml

and following the directions for trace elements given by the aquaessentials website i`ll be adding 10ml per 100l after knocking it up per instructions...

so if i`m right i simplu add npk to get N up to 20ppm P up to 20ppm and the k at around 1 ppm??

then the following day add trace?

 

[Themuleous]

potassium nitrate 150g of kno3 added to 500ml of water should give me roughly 1ppm of nitrate per ml and 0.61 ppm of P

Just to get it straight, KNO3 wont add P to the tank, you need to be adding KH2PO4 to increase P in the tank.

BTW I recently learnt from George that he doses 2x the Aquaessentials stated dose rate. I.e 1 tablespoon diluted per 250ml water then 10ml per 100lt.

Sam

 

[JamesC]

so if i`m right i simplu add npk to get N up to 20ppm P up to 20ppm and the k at around 1 ppm??

Looking good but don't dose to reach a certain nutrient level if you are following EI. Your test kits are no way near accurate enough to be able to do this. Just dose what EI tells you and forget about testing NO3 and PO4. As long as you do 50% weekly water changes then you know that your levels will, at the very most, be double your weekly dosage - normally a lot lower.

On my website I've detailed how I make up my solutions and how I add them. Might be of interest to you. Link in signature.

James

 

[BigIan]

thanks james,

i know that testing is pretty useless i was going to test for the first few weeks to make sure i wasn`t overdoing it, then after that just stick to my regimin.
i was working out my ppm`s using chucks planted site and knowing that if i make my solution to1 ml = 1ppm, then adding 20 ml will give me 20pm, and so my target

 

[davys]

potassium nitrate 150g of kno3 added to 500ml of water should give me roughly 1ppm of nitrate per ml and 0.61 ppm of P

BTW I recently learnt from George that he doses 2x the Aquaessentials stated dose rate. I.e 1 tablespoon diluted per 250ml water then 10ml per 100lt.

Sam

Sam - thanks for that. I've just started EI this week, mainly as a result of Geaorge's articles in PFK the last couple of months. I came on the forum this morning intending to post about this - George's article said mix in 250ml of water, whereas the instructions on the trace from Aquaessentials say mix in 500ml.

I actually followed the Aquaessentials advice when making the stock solution - first dose of trace is tonight, so before I do it would it be safe to add another teaspoon of trace to the 500ml mix?

Thanks,
David

 

[BigIan]

or just double the amount you were going to add??? easyer and less faffing