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EI and Lighting

Ejack

Member
Joined
22 Jun 2008
Messages
130
Location
Berkshire, UK
OK, been reading through a lot fo the posts regarding EI dosing, and I'm about to take the plunge in using EI once I've rescaped my tank. I have my salts and scales ready and beleive I have my figures correct on the ammounts (I'm using Nutricalc to aid in my potion creation).
The question I have and I know it's something Ceg bangs on about with regards to new setups, is the lighting during the initial few weeks of the scapes life. Once I have rescaped and planted my tank, is it advisable to use for the first 7 weeks or so minimal lighting only? The halide I have is 3x24w and the tank I have is a 96ltr. So with that in mind, should I only be running 24w of lighting (one of the tubes)and low CO2 for the first 1-2 months whilst dosing the recommend ammounts given to me by Nutricalc? Or should I uses two of the tubes giving me 48w over 96 ltrs along with CO2?

I know its a bit of a noobie question, I just didn't want to get it wrong before I started.

Thanks in advance.

Jack
 
Hi Jack,
You absolutely, positively want to use the combination of high CO2 and low lighting. Low CO2 is not even an option unless you plan to remove CO2 in the near future. This is true regardless of your dosing program. It actually has nothing to do with EI, that's for sure.

A 25 gallon tank doesn't need any more than the single 24W T5 to start. After a few months when you have plenty of plant mass, and as the tank matures, you can start to up the lighting.

It's also a good idea to to 2X-3X water changes per week for that time period.

It's also assumed you have awesome flow if you intend to bombard the tank with Klingon level lighting...

Cheers,
 
Hi Ceg

Thanks for replying and setting me on the straight and narrow.

I'm glad that I kinda understood the EI articles regarding lighting (pats himself on the back) but didn't think to keep the CO2 high, lucky I haven't started yet, I'll add that to my notes along with the 2-3 water changes a week :)

Is 7-8 weeks ample time to allow for the tank to mature before upping the lighting levels? Also regarding dosing am I ok to stick to the dosage required for my tank or should I be 'double dosing' and then reduce it to normal dosing once the 7-8 week period is over?

Lol at the Klingon lighting level comments :D I have a Aquamanta EX300 which outputs 1100 lph along with a Koralia 1. I think that should be enough....I hope
 
Hi Jack,
Yes 7-8 weeks is what it normally takes for the tank to mature. That's because the sediment takes a while to build bacterial populations which help to stabilize the tank and to process ammonia efficiently. This is one of the reasons people get algae early on. Most can't wait to "cycle the tank" so they can get fish in, but this is much more fundamental and profound process by which roots establish communication with sediment and by which symbiosis between plant and sediment critters is formed.

Have a look at this sketch which shows the inputs and outputs of the plant. The sketch shows a terrestrial plant but the same is valid for aquatics. It takes a while for this complex system to get going underwater. Throwing mega-wattage at the plants at this stage just breaks the system. Just have patience and you'll be rewarded with an algae free tank. Everybody thinks that plants just sit there passively looking pretty, but they are a powerful force of nature, and they actively change their environment.
2442486820038170470S600x600Q85.jpg


There's no need to double dose. The baseline dosing should be used. In very large tanks, multi-dosing is necessary sometimes, especially if flow is inadequate and lighting high, but for this size tank, with adequate flow and low lighting, the baseline numbers should be fine. Of course if you see deficiencies then you can make adjustments to the dosing. Multi-dosing just creates more waste, which means more cleaning.

Cheers,
 
Thanks for explaining Ceg

Its a very difficult concept to grasp for noobies. Even though the information is available on the site its explained in numerous posts and at time a little complex to understand. Until recently, I was always under the assumption that the reason I couldn't get carpet plants to grow was that I pressumed I didn't have enough light, even though I was dosing daily and was running Co2 and 3x24w tubes. But looking back, I didn't have enough flow and possibly was under dosing and for certain was only doing a 50% water change a week.
Now I can't wait to try again and see if I have any luck in getting a carpet plant growing :D
 
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