Part Time Ei?

[Fwapp]

Hi,

I've been hoping to go EI for a while. In fact I did start, but had problems due to algea growth (unstable CO2).

I have a total of 45W light (1x25w plus 1x20W) over a 28gallon tank (1.6WPG?), so CO2 is a nearly a must, and next weekend, the Co2 (currently yeast based) will become a pressurised system.

I have the ferts ready, the dosing sorted BUT...

I have a new job, starting in January. I'm really chuffed with the new job, however I'll be away every other, maybe every third week, for 3-4 days. This means being unable to dose.

My wife will not do the dosing, as it's been enough of a battle to even get a fish tank into the house, and my two boys are to young to be doing the dosing.

So, can I dose EI when I'm here, and not when I'm not, perhaps reducing the lighting period at the same time?

I'd appreciate some advice, just to be on the safe side!

 

[Underwurlde]

As I understand it, it is not the frequency of dosing, but the level of dosing at any one time that is important.

 

[Fwapp]

Thanks, for the reply.

So are you saying you could dose perhaps double the amount of a particular fert, just to get you through?


Also, I forgot to mention that the lighting is being upgraded with the addition of a 39W T5 tube, just as soon as I source some T5 lamp leads!

 

[MoreCoffee]

What method are you using do dose - dry or mixed into a solution ?

If you dosed as a solution, you could put the mix into a plunger type bottle and check how many 'squirts' are required for the required dosage in ml. That way it might be easier to convince somebody do dose the tank for you !

ADA ferts use bottles with plungers on and my daughter (who knows nothing about fish and is not remotely interested) managed to successfully dose 2 tanks for a week.
The only instructions she needed was
"3 squirts per day of that one and 2 squirts of the other one". No need to measure out 5ml of this or 2 ml of the other.

....... It's certainly the method I'll be using on my EI tanks when I go away again !

Of course the whole thinking behind EI is to dose nutrients to excess and then do a water change to reset.
Perhaps not doing a water change just prior to you being away and no (or limited) dosing during the week would mean the plants would use the excess nutrients in the tank during that week.

I recently asked a question on the Barr Report about modified EI dosing (to go for 25% wate changes rather than 50%), I got a reply from Tom Barr. Basically it can be done, but there is far less room for error !

Based on that reply, I'd have to say I think part time dosing could easily lead to problems !

 

[Fwapp]

What method are you using do dose - dry or mixed into a solution ?

If you dosed as a solution, you could put the mix into a plunger type bottle and check how many 'squirts' are required for the required dosage in ml. That way it might be easier to convince somebody do dose the tank for you !

ADA ferts use bottles with plungers on and my daughter (who knows nothing about fish and is not remotely interested) managed to successfully dose 2 tanks for a week.
The only instructions she needed was
"3 squirts per day of that one and 2 squirts of the other one". No need to measure out 5ml of this or 2 ml of the other.

....... It's certainly the method I'll be using on my EI tanks when I go away again !

Of course the whole thinking behind EI is to dose nutrients to excess and then do a water change to reset.
Perhaps not doing a water change just prior to you being away and no (or limited) dosing during the week would mean the plants would use the excess nutrients in the tank during that week.

I recently asked a question on the Barr Report about modified EI dosing (to go for 25% wate changes rather than 50%), I got a reply from Tom Barr. Basically it can be done, but there is far less room for error !

Based on that reply, I'd have to say I think part time dosing could easily lead to problems !

Good idea regarding the squirty bottles. The ferts are mixed in a solution, so that makes handling the situation easier, including for myself!

See what you mean about reducing the water changes. the 'estimative' part would not be quite so if you did reduce. Fortuantly, I'll be at home at the weekends (hurrah!), so the big changes wont be a problem.