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I am not saying that they compete or that this should be the path. I use EI myself. I am just saying what is the ecological definition. If one uses EI it is impossible to have competition for nutrients as they are, by definition, non-limiting. If we were to use distilled water with no...

By definition, competition exists when two or more species use the same resource (e.g. space, nutrient, light,...) and that resource is limiting. If there is no limitation, there is no competition. The names have changed but the basics are still the same.

Excel kills everything but its effect is dosage-dependent (like any poison). too much and you kill algae, plants and animals.

Actually I disagree. ;) Plants and algae share the same resources for the most part: light, co2, nutrients. They probably require different amounts of each, but they do use the same resources. It's just that algae and plants have two very different ecological strategies. Algae have an...

I've used tap water with my salts and no problems (no boiling no nothing). Been using this for over 2 years... I have a 10L tank so that my batches last for 1 year. I can see a little deposit forming as the batch ages, but who cares. I just use as is. No nutrient deficiency of any kind...

And to me too for putting for discussion a good question, no? o_O Just kidding ;)

thanks for your explanations Clive and Tom. Lowering the light would solve all your problems if that is in fact your problem. Less light, less demand for CO2 and ferts... No limitation!

Thanks for your in depth reply Clive. I thought it was a myth myself but it was worth asking anyways... This question was put by a friend who has copious amounts of light, CO2 and ferts so it is hard to say what was hard to say upfront what the problem might be. Despite the yellow...

+1

It has been suggested that the excess of some nutrientes, namely K, may interefere with the absortion of some others (Ca, Mg) resulting in curled plant leaves. Is this a fact or myth?

I was reading the post and realised that you keep the tank at 29ºC. That is way too high. I do not know if that is the cause but it is known that high temps can lead some plants to melt... You might want to reduce it to 22-24 ºC just to make sure. GM

IME there is no relationship. However, I only have RCS which are known for their robustness. Still, many people here have CRS and EI with no problems. cheers, GM

Re: Potassium Bicarbonate and Potassium Phosphate = overdosi ok just for the record - I've measured pH over a full cycle and it ranged between 6.8 (in the morning) and 6.0 (during the lights on).

Re: Potassium Bicarbonate and Potassium Phosphate = overdosi cheers Ceg. I do have a solenoid so... I suppose that if I take my sample just prior to lights on this corresponds to the time of the day when pH is lowest right?

Re: Potassium Bicarbonate and Potassium Phosphate = overdosi I would but... I have never bought them again after they finished. I have not a single test at home at the moment. I do have a drop checker solution though which is a pH test. Can I use this to test my water? Does the amount of water...

Re: Potassium Bicarbonate and Potassium Phosphate = overdosi My tap is amongst the softest you can find with virtually no gH or kH. When I tested this (a few years back) they were all 1. In addition, I use amazonia which is supposed to lower kH and pH and I inject lots of CO2 which also lowers...

I believe you. I find those schematic diagrams with plant symptoms of nutrient shortages very ambiguous. I just though it were K+ cause I know all the remaining are dosed in excess. Only K could be in shortage as explained in the post above. Very true and I do not know my consumption rates...

My point exactely! According to James' recipe: 33 g of KNO3 7.2 g of KH2PO4 mixed in 250 ml of H2O Suggested dose: 5ml for every 50L My tank (10L): 1ml 3x/week which equates to ~6ppm per dose. So I suppose that the day after dosing my levels of K will be lower than the 5 ppm. Am I missing...

Hi, I agree that your case is a clear low/poor co2 level/diffusion thing, so you must address this. However... On my last scape, as it matured and plant mass grew I started noting some yellowing in staurogyne. All other plants seemed healthy (even crypts). I'm also using Jame's recipe which...

when you do a wc it's like you were reseting the system. So assume that and start dosing as if it were saturday. I got a new layout so I'm doing daily wcs. I dose every single day as if it were the first day. The only exception is that I also add micros along with the macros otherwise they...

I can also say that I have raised my nitrates levels via KNO3 to ~100 ppm in the past to: 1) fight a BGA problem and, 2) to prove myself that excess of nutrients do not necessarily lead to algal blooms. It did not kill BGA (I had to go for a backout) but I didn't cause algae either. Also I do...

Hi, I believe that plants (maybe not all) do secrete substances other than O2. Chemodefence against predators or even agaist other plant competitors is a common thing in natural ecosystems. I know that marine brown algae such as fucoids have lots of secondary metabolites that are used against...

hi, I have ultra soft water as well. What I do is: use KNO3 as recomended and, use a bit of CaCl2.2H20 which readily dilutes in the water. I just throw in half a teaspoon directly into the tank (10l tank) once a week. I do not if it's too much or not . I have not bothered doing the maths but...

KNO3 is supposed to smell a bit like cheese. cheers, GM

Hi, I would fertilize anyways. Tropica Nutrition+ has a lot more than nitrates alone. If you're not fertilising you'll get an unblanced fertilization -> algae. High levels of nitrates could also be because your plants are using less (still adapting to new conditions). Alternatively, you could...

Hi, you'll need a total of 24 ppm of nitrate per week. For some reason, this amount is divided by 3 so you dose 8 ppm 3 times a week. I suppose people like to have their hands wet everyday ;) Same for PO4 cheers, GM