My Ei Dosing (proposed)

[alanchown]

I have a 100L tank, CO2 via pressurised 30ppm, KH ~180 ppm. PH 7.0
I have 'measured' my tap water and Phosphates 'are' about 4ppm and Nitrates ~40ppm, but my water authority tells me that for my local zone the stats are

"Nitrate (expressed as ppm NO3) minimum 12, mean 20 maximum 29 the latest result was 20. The drinking water limit for nitrate is 50.

Phosphate (expressed as ppm P) minimum 1.40 mean 1.53 maximum 1.90 the latest result was 1.50. There is no drinking water limit for phosphate"

Now I'm guessing that their stats are probably more accurate than my tests, and I figured that it would be best to assume that their levels are more correct than mine. So apart from spotting a trend, I'm not too sure of the value of these kits anyway.

But given that (from www.barrreport.com) Nitrates are absorbed at 1-4ppm per day, and Phosphates at 0.2-0.6 ppm per day, I'm figuring that I'm only really trying to replace the used nutrients as opposed to building them up. (I've taken no account of the remaining 50% tank water )

So as a starter I was going for

3 ppm Nitrate 3 x per week
1 ppm Phospate 3 x per week
Trace 5ML 3 x per week (alternate days)
Excel alternate days 5 ml

K- no idea, I know I should be going for 10-30ppm, but no idea how much there is to start with! Any suggestions? 10ppm 3 x per week maybe?

I figured that this was a conservative start, don't know if it's too conservative ( or even OTT) and as mentioned above using my local water authorities levels as a starting point (no idea if this is wise!).

I currently have a problem (not big) with some, what looks like staghorn algae, and some green stringy stuff. I was hoping that with a move to EI and pressurised CO2 (as of 2 days ago!) that things would begin to settle down.

Opinions and advice more than welcomed!

Alan

 

[ChrisP]

With that much PO4 and NO3 already in your suply I would not bother dosing them you should have plenty I would have thought.

Excel I would not bother dosing if you are using pressurzed CO2.

In short just dose trace for now on alternate days and see how it goes.

 

[alanchown]

With that much PO4 and NO3 already in your suply I would not bother dosing them you should have plenty I would have thought.

Excel I would not bother dosing if you are using pressurzed CO2.

In short just dose trace for now on alternate days and see how it goes.

But if we assumed that my tap water is 20ppm Nitrate, and my heavily planted tank used 2ppm per day, over the week I'd be down to a Nitrate level of 6ppm.

I realise that this is an inexact science, and I've made a load of assumptions!

Alan

 

[Themuleous]

Hi Alan,

TBH whilst I followed your workings I cant really tell you if that doseing schedule will be ok or not. In many ways I think you're trying to be too precise about things. Every thank if different and nurtient uptake will vary depending on the plants you have, so trying to have a schedule that is too fixed I dont think will work (EI stands for ESTIMATIVE Index after all ). If you read my nano journal you'll know I hacked off lots of the HM, this has resulted is a huge reducion in the uptake of nurtients in the tank, to the point where I have yet to dose any PO4 or NO3 to the tank this week as the fish waste is keeping them at about the right levels.

IMHO you'd be better off running the tank for a few months testing as necessary and work out a schedule based on that. You'll probably find it is more accurate than trying to work it out based on esitmates of uptake, etc. Also with high tap water PO4 and NO3 this'll affect how much you need to add, so its really a case of trial and error.

Also, you'll probably find you dont need to add K as the KNO3 and KH2PO4 normally provide enough K. Your plants will tell you if they need more K as they will get pin holes in their leaves

Lastly, once things get going in the tank Im sure the algae will go, but it may take a few months to get properly settled though, im still fighting the algae 3 months on!

Sam

 

[ChrisP]

Well what I would do is plant it up and keep monitoring the NO3 daily and see how much you use daily and by the end of the week then you will see if you need to dose any. If you do I think you will find you need to dose very little.

As you probably know 10ppm is a good figure to shoot for but keep it at 20ppm to be safe. Assuming your NO3 is infact 20ppm then your probably right in your assumptions.

Remember fish waste will also increase NO3 so if you have a modertate to heavy fish load then again you may not need to dose NO3.

With that much PO4 and NO3 already in your suply I would not bother dosing them you should have plenty I would have thought.

Excel I would not bother dosing if you are using pressurzed CO2.

In short just dose trace for now on alternate days and see how it goes.

But if we assumed that my tap water is 20ppm Nitrate, and my heavily planted tank used 2ppm per day, over the week I'd be down to a Nitrate level of 6ppm.

I realise that this is an inexact science, and I've made a load of assumptions!

Alan

 

[alanchown]

Hi Alan,

TBH whilst I followed your workings I cant really tell you if that doseing schedule will be ok or not. In many ways I think you're trying to be too precise about things. Every thank if different and nurtient uptake will vary depending on the plants you have, so trying to have a schedule that is too fixed I dont think will work (EI stands for ESTIMATIVE Index after all ).
Sam

I realise this-so I was thinking about it as a starting point. Really it seems to boil down to, given the reasonably high levels in my tap water-Do I do nothing apart from trace, or do a bit nutrient dosing and see what happens.
I suspect that neither answer is right, whatever works is the right one! I'm quite sure that the domestic test kits especilally for nitrates are a bit hit and miss.

What I'm not too sure off is how to assess the results, e.g Riccia, glossps and most stem stuff grow great-Amazon sword doesn't seem to fare too well, leaves just go thin, brown and die off! Too much or too little of what?

At the moment it's a relatively new tank, well stocked with a mixed collection of plants from greenline. Just learning as I go really, intend to aquascape it nicely at some point, but at the moment just happy to see most stuff growing!

Alan