EI testing

[Heagney]

im looking into EI at the moment but have one question.
What tests should I use to determine the amounts of each chemical used by my plants over a period of time??

 

[Greenfinger2]

Hi Heagney, There should not be any Chemical deficiency when dosing EI Test is watching the plants

 

[MrHidley]

im looking into EI at the moment but have one question.
What tests should I use to determine the amounts of each chemical used by my plants over a period of time??

This is kind of the point with EI, that you don't need to do any testing, you're giving more ferts than any plant could use, in theory.

 

[Heagney]

I get that but...in the long guide on here posted by one of the members..he talks about X amount absorbed by the plants per day so you can use the estimate the amount to feed etc etc have I totally misread the tutorial??
Initially I'm going to buy the starter set from aquarium plant food. Would you advise that I don't dose until I have my new higher output lights and co2 sorted?

 

[Greenfinger2]

Hi Heagney, EI Will give your plants everything they need to grow well. The starter kit is great I have brought the same kit. Would never go back to shop bottle ferts
Wait till you have everything ready to go.Start with a lighting period of 5hours and see how the plants go too much light you will get an algae outbreak

 

[aaron.c]

Don't fret about testing. The test kits for the stuff we are dosing are next to useless in terms of accuracy.

One of the main principles of EI is that in 99% of cases we massively overdose what plants could possibly need. Followed by a large weekly water change to reset the water column (the idea being that we don't want ferts to reach crazy levels as unused ferts roll over from week to week).

There are some caveats to this that might require you to make some tweaks. I.e - I live in an extremely soft water area, my water contains next to nothing. So I have to supplement my water with extra calcium, magnesium and iron.