Help With Dry Ferts Dosing Please

[karlp]

Right, I'm ready to try the EI thing.

I've got several sachets of Potassium Nitrate, Potassium Phosphate and Trace Ferts from AquaEssentials and I'm not sure how much to dose when.

Can any of the experienced guys out there please suggest a schedule to start me off.

I have baking tea spoon measurers, no digital scales, so so far have been putting a 1/4 tsp of KNO3 in twice a week and that seems to help growth. I've tried dosing a 1/4 tsp of the Postassium phosphate and that got me more algae. I'm doing a 50% water change once a week.

Anyway my tank stats are:

Size: 52 gallon (but probably more like 45 gallons of water, (think Rio 180 with 3 to 4 inches of substrate)
Lighting: 4 * 30W T8s
KH: 10 degrees
PH: On ph controller, starts at around 7.25 in the morning and is set to 7.0 which it reaches in a couple of hours I guess with pressurised CO2. Water is naturally 7.45 ph I think. I think I'm getting about 30 to 35ppm CO2.
Substrate fertilisers etc...

Last time I took readings from test kits I was getting:

NO3 - 10ppm
Phosphate - 0.25ppm

Help please.

Thanks

 

[love_fish]

DId you read the EI article. It has a schedule for you. I think theres also a link on how to dose.

 

[George Farmer]

Assuming you have loads of growth.

Day 1 1/2 teaspoon KNO3. 1ppm PO4
Day 2 10ml trace
Day 3 same as Day 1
Day 4 10ml trace
Day 5 same as Day 1
Day 6 10ml trace
Day 7 50% water change and Day 1 ferts and 10ml trace.

For KH2PO4 solution mix up 60g of powder in 500ml RO. Every 10ml solution will give you 1ppm PO4.

For trace mix 1 tablespoon in 250ml RO water. Add 10ml at a time.

Keep up CO2 at 30ppm and water changes strictly at 50% once per week and you should be fine.

Adding 1/4 tsp of KH2PO4 at a time would cause problems - that's nearly 5ppm PO4 in one go.

Hope this helps. Welcome to club EI!

 

[Themuleous]

Just out of interest, is this schedule actually a 6 day cycle? I.e. day 7 is day 1? Or do you do day 7, then the following day you do the day 1 stuff?

Sam

 

[George Farmer]

Just out of interest, is this schedule actually a 6 day cycle? I.e. day 7 is day 1? Or do you do day 7, then the following day you do the day 1 stuff?

Sam

You've confused me Sam. You could not bother dosing on day 1 as the day 7 stuff has been dosed. Some people do this.

 

[Themuleous]

Haha sorry George, Im sure it wont be the last time I do, esp when I start my EI tank!

I guess what I'm asking is:

On day 7 you do the 50% water change and add NO3 and PO4 to get them to the right levels. Then on the following day do you add another load of No3 and PO4 or do you add the trace mix?

Any clearer?

Sam

 

[George Farmer]

I get it now mate. In hindsight I'd probably not dose anything on day 1, just the macros and trace on day 7 with 50% water change.

I'll edit it now, thanks for pointing it out. I did write it a bit quick!

 

[Themuleous]

I get it now mate. In hindsight I'd probably not dose anything on day 1, just the macros and trace on day 7 with 50% water change.

I'll edit it now, thanks for pointing it out. I did write it a bit quick!

Glad I made it clear

One small additonal point now thou, I didnt think you could dose macros and trace at the same time because the iron in the trace mix clouds the water?

Cheers George

Sam

EDIT - if you point out thye edit you make I would be greatful so I can see how the schedule looks once changed, Ta

 

[karlp]

Thanks George! I knew you'd know

I'll sift through this tonight and try to figure it out with my teaspoons and milliltire measures.. I feel a headache coming on...

 

[George Farmer]

Here's an updated shedule that should work well for most high-growth tanks with plenty of light, CO2 and bio-mass. I've changed the actual dosings to ppm so they can be used for any size tank.

This also assumes that your tap isn't loaded with NO3 and PO4.

Day 1 50% water change. 10ppm NO3, 1ppm PO4
Day 2 trace
Day 3 10ppm NO3, 1ppm PO4
Day 4 trace
Day 5 10ppm NO3, 1ppm PO4
Day 6 trace
Day 7 10ppm NO3, 1ppm PO4