Estimative Index - Seachem's Dosage Guide.

[Fwapp]

OK, I've been reading up on estimative index and learning a lot in general regarding plants in aquariums.

To clarify a point, Seachems plant dosing guide here is really the EI fertilization routine/method, using their products? If you have CO2, you could leave out Excel, and the day 7 stuff, replace with your normal water change routine.

Have I got this right, or am I barking up the wrong java fern?

 

[Themuleous]

Have I got this right, or am I barking up the wrong java fern?

First off, that made me chuckle, never thought of that one

As to the seachem plan, not see that before and I'm not familiar with the seachem range, especially the PO4 and NO3 but it certainly looks like EI to me. One difference is the 5% water change, very much less than the 50% EI does. Also, I would be a little hesitant of doing the regime without a fair bit of testing to back it up, if you're only doing 5% water change then there is the potential for the ferts, etc to build up if you dont test regularly, esp if the tank is full of slow growing plants or is very new, you could be drastically overdosing things. That said it looks like a good system, I guess what they've done is to try and take the 'guess work' out of it by making it a one size fits all system, dose exactly the same whatever the size of tank and plant stock. But as I said that could lead to problems later on if you're not careful.

I would also replace the seachem PO4 and NO3 for dry ones as it'll cost a fortune to use liquid ones and they are all pretty much the same if you get them from a reputable dealer.

Let us know how you get on if you do use this method, I know Aquajardin uses this system in their display tanks and they report good results.

Sam

 

[MoreCoffee]

I pretty much follow that system for my plant holding tank and my 130Ltr planted community tank, however I do larger water changes (usually around 20%). I've not had any problems in either tank that I could attribute to the ferts. I made an excel spreadsheet calculator to work out the correct doses of each product for a given tank size, configurable for different products and tanks sizes (link in sig).
I was using it on a third tank, but that has now been rebuilt and is using ADA ferts.

I'm going to keep on using this in my 'med-tech' tank that only has Fast growing stem plants, 2wpg, DIY CO2 and a sand substrate, but for higher light, higher spec tanks I'll use ADA or EI.

Al