Not Happy With My Current Nutrient Dosing

[trojannemo]

If you increase the nitrogen, phosphorus and potassium to daily doses then you should test (bad word I know ) the levels in the tank before and after dosing. It could be the plants are using all of these up on the first day. Then they have nothing to use the following day. On the other hand you might find there is still some of these items in the water a day after you dosed, in which case you could get away with dosing every second day.
Without testing the water I would use half your current dose rate but add it daily. ie: 1ml of nitrogen, 2ml phosphorus & 2.5ml of potassium each day.
However, plants use nitrogen more than the other two elements and I would be adding more nitrogen and less phosphorus & potassium. Perhaps 2ml nitrogen, 1ml phosphorus, 0.5ml potassium each day.
You could add more but you should check the water before increasing the levels. Unfortunately without testing the water it is a bit of hit and miss and you could easily overdose and affect the fish. Rainbowfish develop black patches on their face & body when they have been poisoned.

I am unsure of what type of nitrogen is in the Flourish nitrogen you are adding. If it’s in a form the filter bacteria can use there is a possibility the bacteria are using some of it too, (unlikely but possible). Thus reducing the amount that is available to the plants, at least in that form. If the nitrogen is in the form of nitrate (more probable) then it won't be used by the filter bacteria.

One of the Seachem Flourish products is carbon and you could look into adding that as well as using the yeast CO2 unit for the plants. This would help increase the carbon without the need for adding a pressurised CO2 unit and associated hardware. It is in a bottle and you could add some each day.

As to which person you should listen to, I would suggest trying all the different ideas and see which ones, or which combination works best on your tank.

check out my EDIT above. I believe the carbon from SeaChem you're talking about is Excel. i've been dosing that 6 times a week until now.
"Flourish Excel is a source of bioavailable organic carbon....one can derive substantial benefit with the use of Flourish Excel either alone or in conjunction with CO2 injection...has iron reducing properties [to] promote the ferrous state of iron (FE+2)" - contains: polycyclogutaracetal

Flourish Nitrogen has K20 2%, N 1% and it's derived from potassium nitrate and urea (iminium salt). with this in mind, check out the EDIT on my last post please!

 

[SuperColey1]

Excess nutrients do not CAUSE algae!!!Full stop has been proven for a decade.

Some algaes (BBA for example) are attributed to poor CO2. Nearly all algaes are triggered by ammonia and then they FEED on the exces nutrient.

1W = 1W - yes. 1W T8 = 1W T5 yes. - It is the same output. NO you are wrong. And you can get HO in T8 too!!!

Your understanding of the planted aquarium is as up to date as your version of Office!!!

AC

 

[SuperColey1]

trojan : This is an article written by Tom on UKaps which goes through all the theories you are reading above which have been proved wrong. It also details about lights and non CO2 methods so is of much more use to you than COlin and I disagreeing on here:

http/ukaps.org/forum/viewtopic.php?f=11&t=13

 

[trojannemo]

trojan : This is an article written by Tom on UKaps which goes through all the theories you are reading above which have been proved wrong. It also details about lights and non CO2 methods so is of much more use to you than COlin and I disagreeing on here:

<a href="http/ukaps.org/forum/viewtopic.php?f=11&t=13" target="_blank">http/ukaps.org/forum/viewtopic.php?f=11&t=13</a>

thank you, i'll read that through today.

i will ask that you please stop attacking Colin_T in every post. whether his information is correct or not, he is giving it in a much more polite way than you are!
so please let me not be the stake that drives you two apart


EDIT:
read through the article. it is a more detailed version (perhaps the original?) of the EI article found on here which I had already read. unless there is something i'm missing, this article seems to confirm my last assumption regarding dosing NPK and Flourish on alternating days.
what I found most interesting was this:

No nutrient routine will perform well without good stable CO2 or Excel(Seachem).

i know my DIY CO2 kit is by no means stable, but i have been dosing Seachem Excel 6x a week until now in conjunction with the DIY CO2...is that sentence supposed to mean a "good" amount of Excel will do the same as a steady CO2 injection? in which case, a 2 or 3 bottle DIY system with a steady Excel dose would be just as good? sounds questionable to me but then why does the article mention it in that way?

 

[aaronnorth]

this article seems to confirm my last assumption regarding dosing NPK and Flourish on alternating days.

I said that on my 1st post! lol.

when it says 'good' CO2, it means 30ppm (or there abouts), so having more bottles will help to get you 'good' CO2, i would have minimum of 3 bottles, along with regular excel dosing.

 

[trojannemo]

got it!

i'll try to get that done ASAP. i already have two bottles set up, just need the third, some more tubing and the gang valve...

i guess my questions have been answered

i'm open to any more comments though, so if you have them send them my way

 

[Dave Spencer]

Trojannemo, you seem to be in conflict regarding who to listen to. All I can say is, who predicted what would happen with high light and inadequate CO2. He is the guy you should be listening to!

ColinT, please explain to me how a high tech planted tank works. I suspect you have precious little idea. You may have areas of above average knowledge in this hobby, but planted tanks are not it! I know yo say you try to simplify things, but lets not go down the "plants use for potassium is to flower" road.

I love it when people come on here and start quoting work done in Florida waterways etc. and think it relates to the aquarium. Tom Barr has rubbished most of the "excess phosphates cause algae" argument by showing that the testing was carried out in waterways where algae was already in bloom. I bet the same could be the case with the BGA testing.

ColinT, prove to yourself that excess nutrients cause algae! I can trigger algae using CO2 and nutrient deficiencies, but I bet you can`t back up your statement.

Name me a reliable test for iron in the hobby. I test for iron using a couple of grands worth of Photospectrometer and a few hundred quids worth of chemicals, yet it is still difficult to achieve accurate results.

If you think I am having a go at you, then just post some pictures of your planted tanks and I will show you some of mine that run on excess nutrients and algae free. Let`s see who knows what they are doing.

Trojannemo, I would change over to EI dosing and save like mad for pressurised CO2. Visit The Barr Report and UKAPS, and don`t let people drag you back in to the dark ages.

Dave.

 

[trojannemo]

Trojannemo, I would change over to EI dosing and save like mad for pressurised CO2. Visit The Barr Report and UKAPS, and don`t let people drag you back in to the dark ages.

already done that and i know i know, at the latest by mid-january i'll have it all set up.

thanks all for the help!