tyke_uk said:
i would like to give the Ei dosing system ago and have read the sticky many times even printed it out but i cant really get my head around it thats why ive been sticking with the pps system of dosing.Can i ask what you add to your tap water for your changes think im going give the ro unit a miss and do 15% a week thanks.
Well it always boggles my mind why folks don't get it and I wonder whether they are reading the same thing I am. The articles spells it all out for you so you only have to do a few basic calculations. For a 40 gallon tank all you have to do is multiply the reference tank by 2 so the sample dosing scheme becomes as follows:
Sunday – 50% or more Water Change then dose [1/2 teaspoon KNO3] + [1/8 teaspoon KH2PO4] + [1/4 teaspoon MgSO4]
Monday – 1/8 teaspoon CSM+B
Tuesday - [1/2 teaspoon KNO3] + [1/8 teaspoon KH2PO4] + [1/4 teaspoon MgSO4]
Wednesday - 1/8 teaspoon CSM+B
Thursday - [1/2 teaspoon KNO3] + [1/8 teaspoon KH2PO4] + [1/4 teaspoon MgSO4]
Friday – Rest
Saturday - Rest
This is so simple it's amazing. All I did was to round the numbers up to reasonable values. There is no way you'll run low with this and it should eliminate all of the non CO2 related algae. You can then throw away the test kits because they add no value whatsoever. If you are still getting these forms of algae then you'd have to assume that it's an issue with the flow and distribution in the tank. Personally I don't think that 600LPH is sufficient really but it's not clear to me what the powerhead output is. For that size tank you would really be looking at around 1700LPH combined total rating. If you have at or near that value already then you might want to look at the flow patterns by moving some things around or by repositioning the powerhead or filter output.
As SuperColey1 says, ditch the RO unit and save yourself some trouble. In marine tanks this is very necessary but in planted tanks there is no requirement for RO.
Nick16 said:
im confused by ceg's initial reply. i thought you had to do water changes no matter what, as that fish's waste will cause ammonia levels to build up and eventually it will be very high. maybe im wrong.......... :?:
It's as YzemaN says. In a low tech planted tank the plants will recycle the ammonia and will use the nitrate that results from whatever ammonia they don't use. In low tech the plants clean up the water so you don't have to. Remember we are talking about
planted tanks though and we're talking about non-CO2 enriched, which means non-injected and no liquid carbon products.
Cheers,