UK sources for EI ingredients

[George Farmer]

I've managed to source all three main ingredients -

Potassium nitrate (KNO3) link
Potassium phosphate (KH2PO4) link
Potassium sulphate (K2SO4) link

 

[houndour]

you read my mind! Was going to ask where you got yours. Excellent that they are all from the same site...saves on delivery. Would you recommend starting off on the smallest quantities for beginners? or is it worth buying the bigger bags?

 

[jimboliana]

Ordered mine from there the other day as you recomended, should be here in the next couple of days

Just got to read a bit more on the dosing of it all

You can never read too much

 

[smithrc]

I've had a brief read (and I mean brief) about EI...

If I were to miss a water change how bad would it be??

I've never been one for weekly changes - more like 2-3 weeks...

 

[zig]

you read my mind! Was going to ask where you got yours. Excellent that they are all from the same site...saves on delivery. Would you recommend starting off on the smallest quantities for beginners? or is it worth buying the bigger bags?

[snapback]853162[/snapback]​

I bought mine in 500g lots, my tank is about 35UK gallons and i think i should have enough for about 6 months minimum, there quite a lot in 500g because you are going to dilute it into a solution (you can dose it dry but i think making up a solution is better) my 500g of nitrate will make me 2 litres of solution (i only made up 500ml for the moment) and each week im useing about 20ml max of nitrate solution, so basically it will last a very long time.

You mightnt need the Potassium sulphate, like i said in the other thread the jury is still out on this one, you will get the K or Potassium from both the Potassium nitrate and the Potassium Phosphate, i only bought this at the time because i thought i needed it, gf doesnt use the potassium sulphate at all.

So i would order 500g of Potassium Nitrate and 500g of Potassium Phosphate (this amount of Potassium Phosphate will probably do you for life, so if you can get smaller amounts than this i would, but go with 500g if you have to)

 

[houndour]

so i need to get myself a bottle to put it in? what kind of bottle are you using?

Do I definitely not need the potassium sulphate? I'd rather get it now than later and have to pay double postage. Do I need something decent to measure by? teaspoons aren't the most accurate. Would one of those plastic measuring sets be better (you know that have 1ml, 2ml etc spoons).

 

[zig]

I've had a brief read (and I mean brief) about EI...

If I were to miss a water change how bad would it be??

I've never been one for weekly changes - more like 2-3 weeks...

[snapback]853281[/snapback]​

This is the beauty of the method also, its flexible, in the beginning it mightnt be a good idea to miss a water change, as you get used to your doseing routine, but as time goes on you may find that you have to dose less, depending on the plants in your tank, as you become more experienced to the needs of the plants ie. they are not showing defficiencys, you will be able to skip water changes, its not written in stone that you have to do water changes each week, although it is recommended to reset the tank, but you will find that over time you will know how much to dose, this is the estimative part of the method and you will also know how much nitrate and phosphate the plants are consumeing, the guy who invented this method doesnt change the water in some of his tanks for 6 months, so it really depends one of the reasons you are doing water changes is to make sure you are not adding to much, you reset the tank, and then you build it up again.

You just make sure that none of the main fertilisers run out, but the ceilings for how much you can dose is quite high so its unlikely you will run out if you prepare correctly, so if you had to go away for a weekend or so it wouldnt matter as long as you knew none of the main ferts were going to run out.

Anyway i hope that makes some sense, if you think about it, if you have a planted tank and you go away for a week and you were only doseing regular liquid fertilisers, the chances are the plants will have defficiencys when you come back, because you probably unknowningly werent doseing enough in the first place, with the EI method you will learn exactly what your plants are consuming on a weekly basis because you will be doseing exactly the required amount, so basically you will have a very good idea of the timescale involved before you need to dose again.

Anyway thats what neighbours are for isnt it

Anyway i hope it makes sense.

 

[zig]

so i need to get myself a bottle to put it in? what kind of bottle are you using?

Do I definitely not need the potassium sulphate? I'd rather get it now than later and have to pay double postage. Do I need something decent to measure by? teaspoons aren't the most accurate. Would one of those plastic measuring sets be better (you know that have 1ml, 2ml etc spoons).

[snapback]853315[/snapback]​

If you wish to buy the potassium sulphate go ahead, i suppose it mightnt be a bad idea, but just keep in mind you mightnt need it, but it should keep for a long time as a dry powder if you store it in a good place.

I just used 500ml ordinary plastic water bottles that you would buy in any newsagents, you know, the Ballygowen or the Evian type bottles.

For measureing the chemicals to make up the solution i used a kitchen scales, i found something that was similar weight to the measure i needed and calibrated the scales this way, i think i used a 100g bar of chocolate, you need some product that will give you a similar weight to the amount you need and then calibrate the scales, crude but it worked ok, an electronic scales would be better or something like that, thats how i did it others might have a better idea.

And then when i had the 500ml solution made up, i went to the chemist and bought a plastic syringe that measured ml, but some of the dispensers you get with some liquid fertilisers would do the trick also, i bought a few plastic syringes, 1 for each different chemical solution, they were really cheap.

Buying RO or distelled water would be a good idea also to make up your solutions, this way the water you are mixing is purer, i wasnt sure how the solution would react to tap water in a few months time so i thought it safer to do this as well, chemists over here sell distelled water (dont know what for) and some lfs will sell RO water, its also cheap.

 

[zig]

Just as i think of it, dont forget guys you will need a phosphate and a nitrate test kit, you may need to order a phosphate test kit as the lfs may not stock them.

 

[nodding_dino]

are these chemicals generally available at the larger garden centres or nurseries?

 

[zig]

are these chemicals generally available at the larger garden centres or nurseries?

[snapback]853808[/snapback]​

I doubt it, you could try but they are generally difficult to find, but worth a go i guess, just dont come away with anything less than the above ingredients, most fertilisers sold in garden centres are not suitable for use in aquariums.

 

[donkey]

do you have any links for some iron ?
Thanks

 

[@ombomb]

Kent Botanical Fe?

 

[donkey]

Thanks for that .but i mean in its dry powder form

 

[paulioo]

This is where i bought my dry power ferts from..

Dry ferts

paul