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Hi all You will probably find the larger tank easier to keep everything more stable in the bigger volume of water. When small tanks go wrong, they go wrong very quickly. Good luck with your new project.

Hi all Or the kitchen drawer :lol:

Hi all This is incorrect. There is no valid reason to underdose a tank...........ever. We are trying to grow aquatic plants here and aquatic plants need nutrients, and always will. It's when you underdose you get all your associated algae problems. rehman73 You will never have algae issues...

Hi rehman73 I always dose mine from day 1. I just can't see the point in risking any shortages when you want to get your plants off to the best possible start, although with your expensive substrate you would be able to reduce dosing if you wanted to. I've never had any problems dosing full...

Hi all If you keep the solution acidic the iron will not precipitate. Perhaps you should study this. James' All in One How do you think companies like Tropica keep iron in solution in their own brand of 'all in one'. Excel Yes............'All in One' Never

Hi all Off the electrics for a minute :roll: So you already have most of the ingredients to make your own "all in one", if that's what you want to do. Where did that come from? :shock: You will have to go some to kill any aquatic plant by overdosing, that's for sure :D That figures. If...

Hi Jason. Yes it is one or the other, not both :thumbup:

Re: Dosing a low tech 70L (more like 50L with hardscape) hel Hi Emyr An excess of ferts will never lead to an algae bloom on it's own (that's the Matrix talking). There needs to be a trigger of some sort, like too much light, ammonia spike, dirty tank or filters etc. I have first hand...

Re: Dosing a low tech 70L (more like 50L with hardscape) hel Hi all You will find too much is never a problem if you're not keeping sensitive fish. What indicated I wasn't dosing enough was an outbreak of BGA :( . I think you'll find this is incorrect, check here, (first two sentences below...

Hi all With all the different EI dosing schemes I have tried (and I tried a few :roll: ), this is the only one that didn't work too well, but the effects are not immediate. Took my plants about 4 or 5 weeks before they started looking a bit rough. So I resumed the generally accepted EI...

Re: Dosing a low tech 70L (more like 50L with hardscape) hel Hi Emyr If you're going to keep the light low and not adding CO2, I would dose your Tropica stuff once a week. This will be ample for a planting scheme like you suggest in your journal. Tropica's recommended dose is 5ml per 50l per...

Hi Jaap There will be plenty of ferts left in the 50% of the water you left behind, unless you run supersonic levels of lighting. We normally dose Macros (NPK) on Day 1. Plants need way more of this than they do Micros (Trace) :D .

Hi all Darrel, you never cease to amaze me with your calculations :D I found that 5ml per 50l a week was way too low for my heavily planted low tech. Had a tank full of BGA in no time. After dealing with that, I upped the dosing and it never came back. Not sure what a hi tech tank would...

Hi all I have double dosed EI before now and my cherry shrimp were unaffected. Didn't have crystals at the time. These commercial ferts are nowhere near as concentrated so your shrimp should be OK overdosing a bit.

Hi Jaap Not sure about this but I think the original concept was possibly to prevent the Iron in the Trace reacting with the Phosphates in the Macro mix, although I have found this not to be the case in the volumes of water we are dealing with. However, you should find that the strength of the...

Hi Tim With T5's and CO2 you will definitely need to dose. Your cheapest option is dry salts and dosing the EI method found here EI tutorial. Have a read (more than one is recommended :lol: ) and digest. For my 180l I use 6 tsp KNO3 2 tsp KH2PO4 in one bottle with 600ml water. Dose 50ml on...

Hi Tim Ideally you should dose the water column. It will depend on what you mean by "aquatic compost". Most of the expensive gear has nutrients in it, so in the early days of the tank you may get away without dosing, but they will eventually run out. However, the key to any dosing strategy is...

Hi whitey89 I don't have any experience of ADA ferts, but I think they are weaker than the solution I use, (James' DIY TPN+3), and my CRS have been fine for a long time now :D

Hi all This is what the Ascorbic acid prevents when using the all in one :wink: I don't have any experience of the exact recipe you are using, but I do have lots of experience using James' DIY TPN+ (3) recipe (1 tank running for 3 years and 1 tank running for 2 years) and have never had any...

Hi Iain I know what you mean. I have often thought about automated dosing then I just couldn't be bothered with all the hassle of finding reliable peristaltic pumps, agitation etc. I got into the habit of chucking it in before I go to work. I've been running like this for 3 years and never got...

Hi easerthegeezer No reason why not. The only precaution you would have to take is that you will have to add Ascorbic acid to the mix to stop the Iron in the Trace reacting with the Phosphate. It won't be consistent. Think Winter - Summer evaporation rates. They vary immensely. It depends how...

Hi malawistu After reading up on this you will not need to dose anything else. This contains everything you need. The general consensus is to dose little and often, so a daily dose would be absolutely fine. Someone once said, think of it like this:- If the average man needs 2000 calories a day...

Hi Bill Hoggies advice is sound :D . The fish are not bothered by the lack of light. It's people that worry about the light. My tanks go for many days without the lights on if I ever run out of CO2 :oops: Even without lights on in your tank the fish probably have more light than they ever...

Hi Harry The 180l. But it looks nothing like that now :lol: , it's been rescaped twice since then. But I was still dosing like that when that tank was running.

Hi Harry. Any time that suits you. Mine get dosed at 6am and the lights don't come on till 5pm :roll: . The tank has been running like this for the last 3 years :D

Hi skeltonw00t If you are already using this mix and your plants are doing good then all is well. I'm using James' C's All in one mix (DIY TPN+ 3) for 2 of my tanks and the only things that look a bit light is the KNO3 and MgSO4. (James' Recipes here James recipes) James recommends 48g KNO3 in...

Hi Harry This is your Trace elements (It's an American thing :lol: ) Measuring spoons can be bought at any supermarket. Asda sell a set for 99p :D There is a 1 tsp, 3/4 tsp, 1/2 tsp , 1/4 tsp & 1/8th tsp in the set. Now you'll be able to get any measurement you wish with a combination of...

Hi all It certainly is :D . In fact you can dose whenever you like. I dose 11 hours before my lights come on :crazy:

Hi all Sorry for my misunderstanding :oops: Apologies to Stuart. I've only ever used the Flourish Excel :oops: Dose whenever it suits you. It won't make any difference. I chuck mine in before I go to work at 6am and my lights don't come on till 5pm. Been running like this for the last 3...

Hi Stuart The product(s) you refer to are one and the same. It is called Flourish Excel. There is another one called Easycarbo which is similar stuff. Lifted this from one of our sponsors sites. For Easycarbo Tanks with minimal plants - 1ml per 100 litres Tanks with fair amount of plants - 1ml...

Hi skankypup I would use the normal dose for the tank size and not worry about overdosing. You will run into more problems if you underdose (failing plants = algae on the leaves etc.) I started a low tech about three years ago using James C's recipe and didn't dose enough. I got BGA all over...

Hi sussex-cichlids Yes it is :D With regards to Magnesium Sulphate, if you are not sure that your tap water contains enough, start your dosing regime using the MgSO4 and gradually reduce it over a couple of months. If you do not see any deficiencies in the plants then your tap water...

Hi Christor We normally spread it around the bottom of the tank before the substrate goes in, and it acts as a slow release nutrient. If you have an established tank you can freeze it with some water in the form of ice cubes and push them into the substrate. I do this about once every 6-9...

Hi Mick The Anubias will need feeding with all the usual suspects, but you are correct to assume they will not need anywhere near EI levels. If you want to keep your life simple, use this All In One I have been using the DIY TPN+ (3) recipe for the last 3 years on a 1wpg, no CO2 tank. I dose...

Hi all Absolutely. You're never going to save them :D

Hi all The bulk of it yes. However, it can't deal with localised Ammonia production, produced by failing plant leaves. If it could, you wouldn't get algae on your plants :D .

Hi all Missed this bit. :roll: This is not quite the case. It's not about out competing the algae. Algae need far less nutrients to survive than our higher order plants, so the plants will never out compete the algae for nutrients. The problem is the trigger. Once algae has been triggered, it...

Hi all I agree with all of the above, however there is one very important ommission. Ammonia. Ammonia + Light = Algae...........guaranteed every time :(

Hi kizkiz You've done well to keep your plants growing if you're not feeding them. Maybe your fish waste is doing the job :D . There are limits to how much powder can be mixed with water. (You didn't state what quantity you were mixing up). The limits can be found here Solubility in water at...

Hi all As Alastair says, they will be fine :D To put your mind at rest, I have run a tank using double the recommended EI values for 9 months, to see what would happen :shock: . Apart from mental plant growth rate (CO2 had to be ramped up too :roll: ), the fish and shrimp were fine. In fact...

Hi TetraUK I would be inclined to dose for the whole tanks volume. You just need to make sure that it contains everything the plants need. If it has the contents on the bottle look out for N, P & K (although the fish waste will provide some of these) and Trace elements. You won't need to...

Hi Jen I use this on a non CO2, heavily planted tank, and use 50ml per week on a 100l tank. The Tropica recommended dose of 5ml per 50l per week (as mentioned on James' page) is way too low. I had BGA everywhere when dosing at this rate. BGA is no more since upping the dosing rate. Tank is now...

Hi Matty1983 FYI. I add one and a half teaspoons to 240ml water and dose 30ml twice a week on 180l heavily planted tank. This works well. This is a good sign :D . Trace is what it says on the tin. The plants do not need very much of this. I would be inclined to leave your Trace dosing as it...

Hi morefirejules08 Just be aware there are limits as to how much of each powder can be dissolved in a given amount of water, although 500ml is plenty if you want to just double the strength of your solution. The limits are found here at the bottom of the page Solubility in water

Hi morefirejules08 That will work. I have done it many times :D

Hi skeletonw00t HC just loves CO2 too, so by upping your flourish excel, as you are about to do, will only help your cause.

Hi Matt Nitrate remover does what it says on the tin. Therefore this wouldn't be a good idea in a filter for a planted tank. Carbon will remove some of your ferts, so you may have to increase your dose slightly. However, I have found that running EI levels of the stuff is usually more than...

Hi Richard It is not recommended to inhale or ingest this stuff, so using common sense should tick all the boxes. If you go to the bottom of the page on the 'Board Index" you will find a list of our sponsors, which is always a good place to start. I have recently been using Aquarium Plant Food...

Hi tonyg1 Not that I'm aware of :D As with all high pressure cylinders, treat them with respect, and you'll be fine. 60 Bar (870 psi) is not to be messed with :wink:

Hi tonyg1 Sounds good :D . I run a Rio 180, and like yourself, added reflectors at the beginning of my planted tank journey, but that was before I learnt about UKAPS (and had the Matrix telling me that plants need lots of light to grow :lol: ). My tank now runs with no reflectors and I've even...

Hi PeteA. I can only vouch for cherry shrimp, but on one occasion, for at least 6 months, I ran double EI values and the shrimp were just fine, breeding as usual :D

:shock: :shock: I've heard it all now :lol:

Hi Bob. Not sure about Bonsai, but my garden loves it :D I can't foresee a problem myself, maybe the Bonsai growers amongst us can chip in.

Hi tonyg1 The ferts are relatively easy to sort out but your biggest problem is going to be your lighting. If you can, I would reduce that lighting to 1 tube if it can be switched independently, (not likely on the Rio), if not, diffuse the lighting somehow or raise the light fitting up, and...

Hi all I mix a 4 week supply in seperate bottles and have never had any mould/fungus issues in 2 years, and mine are kept in the cupboard under the tank :D Other way round Bob :wink: . Keeping the solution acidic prevents the reaction between PO4 and Fe in the Trace, P-Sorbate prevents the...

Hi all Aha, All is now clear :D No worries guys.

Hi Bob On a 2 week supply you are unlikely to get any mould, however, the Trace will react with the PO4 and the Fe will become unavailable to the plants, so you need to make the solution acidic to prevent this from happening. By the way, I'm using good old tap water for my DIY TPN+ mixtures...

Hi Bob I use the DIY TPN+ in a low tech, low light, fully planted affair, and I need 4 times the recommended dose :shock: Any less and it's BGA, guaranteed :( It is certainly a very diluted fertiliser. One only has to look at how much powder goes into it, but it serves it's purpose. All...

Hi all About 180g if my memory serves me correct. (36g KNO3 per 100ml) :D If anyone's interested, it's 22g per 100ml KH2PO4 and 25.5g per 100ml MgSO4. These figures were taken from James' site but the link is broken :( This was a hi tech start up :shock: and obviously not using Aquasoil or...

Hi All Bobtastic Your numbers work the same for me. Stuworrall I run a 180l and using the EI tutorial on here, I should use 5 and 5/8th teaspoons of KNO3 and 1 and 7/8th teaspoon KH2PO4. I just use 6 and 2 teaspoons respectively, for a 1 month supply (12 doses). Now if we assume 6g per...

Hi all I always use that one. Works a treat :D Lil-lynx Lets do the sums. 10ml per 50l and your tank is 450 litres which is 9 times bigger (than 50l), so you need to dose 9 x 10ml which is 90ml at each dosing. If you are dosing 90ml 3 times a week that will be 270ml per week. As this bottle...

Hi Chris A quick calculation tells me your tank holds 112 US gallons. The amounts below are for a 120 gallon tank so this would be good enough. 13.5 tsp KNO3 4.5 tsp KH2PO4 36 tsp MgSO4 Mix it all up in 600ml water and dose 50ml 3 times a week. You will also need to get yourself some Trace...

Hi Toadass I always dose a new set up from day 1. Unless someone can convince me otherwise, I want my plants to get off to the best start possible, e.g. no shortages. The plants will have enough on their plate adapting to their new environment. The last thing you want to do is let them go...

Hi hotweldfire That just about sums them up. Their health is the best indicator. Never seen one. I ran an experiment for about 6 months dosing double EI values with crazy CO2 levels. All fish and shrimp were fine. Shrimp carried on breeding. Although it has to be said they were only cherries...

Hi all What took you so long Luis. My BGA went in 4 days :wink: @xim You will find a large majority of us have binned our test kits and rely on the condition of our plants and livestock to tell us if something is wrong :D

Hi Clive That may well explain a few things round here. Thanks for taking the time out to post. The last 1kg I bought off there seems to be the legitimate stuff. Been using it since February and no problems to report :D .

Hi Madlan And that's from a man who knows a thing or two about planted tanks :wink:

Hi all This is exactly the reason ebay do not allow the sale of KNO3 on their site anymore :(

Hi Vince On your journey into the planted tank world you will hear all sorts of manufacturers garbage This being one of them :lol: You need NPK and Trace end of story :wink:

Hi tovtm As you need 12 doses (dosed 3 times a week) for a 4 week supply, mix it up with any amount of water that is nicely divisible by 12. 600ml works well for the Macros, as that works out to 50ml per dose :D . As you only need 8 doses of the Trace (dosed twice a week), any amount divisible...

Hi Dawid This is what we know as 'pearling', because the O2 bubbles look like small pearls on the leaves. Too many people stress about this. Our goal is to maintain healthy plants and this can be achieved without the 'pearling'. On day 1 your plants had access to vast amounts of CO2 (in the...

Hi Dawid That's good news :thumbup: Your calculations are correct (providing you meant 1ml per 40-50l :wink: ). Although I know a few people that overdose this stuff. I don't use it now, but when I did, I used to dose 8ml per day on the 180l with out any problems.

Hi Tom The TDS would go up. You certainly won't affect their health that's for sure. To put your mind at ease, on one occasion I was about to rip down a tank and thought I'd try an experiment before I did. I doubled the EI dose and cranked the CO2 to the max. Fish and shrimp were fine, but the...

Hi Dawid Easycarbo is good for 2 reasons. First of all it is a source of Carbon for your plants and secondly it has anti algae properties :D The only problem on the Rio 180 is it will work out expensive in the long run. It will be cheaper to use CO2 gas on a tank this size. The initial outlay...

Hi Vince This will be fine for your Crypts. I have a tank full of them and I didn't have any melt at the start, and they're in hard London tap water. See here Beyond (I must get round to updating this as it is well grown in now :roll: ), This is not so. Crypts are one of the easiest, lowest...

And Dawid has got a 40 gallon to deal with :shock:

Hi Dawid I think you'll find they mean it will last up to 6 months when mixed with water :( With your size tank it would be cheaper to buy the ingredients individually. I know that because I run a Rio 180 myself :D

Hi tovtm The link is broken at the moment. Is this fertiliser in liquid form or dry powder? EI is probably the best option for two reasons. First of all you will be supplying all of your plants needs. Secondly, that's about as cheap as you can dose a tank :D If you decided to 'mix your...

Hi Alan :shock: Thats a lot of light, especially being T5's. You'll need to be on top of your game with the maintenance. Might be an idea to start off with 2 lamps and go up to 4 lamps when you have everything like CO2 delivery and flow etc. sorted out. The solution goes acidic as soon as...

Hi Alan Then let's work it out :lol: . According to the calculator linked to in the previous post, using your original figure of 323 litres, you need to dose the following per week 15g KNO3 5.7 KH2PO4 36g MgSo4 2.6g Trace Multiply all that by 4 for a 4 week supply 60g KNO3 22.8g KH2PO4...

Hi Alan That's you sorted for a good while :D

Hi Alan A long while :lol: Always interested to hear how you get on :D When you mix your first batch, you will find you have loads left in the tubs or bags and you will quickly realise that it's going to last you ages :D As far as quantities go you will use them the most in this order...

Hi Alan Phew :D I can see where you're heading with this. Check out this link James Planted Tank for maximum saturation of any of the given powders. You need to go to Dosing methods/Dosing calculator and scroll to the bottom of the page. Can't post a direct link on my PC at work :( I think...

Hi madlan :shock: Seems like an awful lot to be dosing daily. If you went full on EI, from the EI dosing tutorial, a 20 gallon tank only needs 9/16 of a teaspoon of KNO3 per week. As your is an 85 gallon tank (call it 90 gallon and multiply everything by 4.5), you will only need about 2.5...

Hi Johno2090 Just make sure you use enough water for your 'concentrated' mix as there is only so much powder that can be dissolved in a given amount of water. It's usually not a problem, but just something to be aware of. Check bottom of the page here James' Dosing Calculator Page And your...

Hi sdlra It doesn't matter what day you do your water changes. Do whatever suits your lifestyle. Just make sure you dose Macros on water change day, then day 3 and day 5. Then Trace on day 2 and day 4. No dosing on days 6 & 7 (although a few of us do :roll: ).

Hi Mark. You're probably getting away with it because your lighting is low, therefore demand for ferts will be low. Providing your plants are looking good and you haven't got a tank full of algae then I suspect you will be OK for now. But do watch out, as the plants get bigger the demand for...

Hi Mark Take a close look at your plants. If they're still healthy, then I'd say your OK. If the plants are not looking their best, then you will probably need to add it If you're running CO2, and depending on your lighting, then your plants uptake of N & P (and everything else), will be greatly...

Re: Help to check calcs, for first try with EI + easycarbo o Hi m_attt Thanks for the kind comments :D The trimming became a chore in the end as I ran that tank for 12 months. Had to cut it once a fortnight. Gone for lower maintenance plants now.

Re: Help to check calcs, for first try with EI + easycarbo o Hi Matt Welcome to the forum. Your maths is pretty much bang on :thumbup: I have the 180 myself and they are the numbers I use, pretty much. I had to up my KH2PO4 though, as I was getting GSA. Now I don't see a drop :D That's...

Re: Wanting to start EI dosing using solutions and dosing pu Hi andyseatrout Let's not even go there. :lol: It has been proven time and time again that excess ferts do not cause algae :D I even tried it myself when I was about to strip a tank down. I ran double EI values for at least 6...

Hi maanse Welcome to the forum. :text-welcomewave: First question, how long is your lighting period? Following these observations, my guess would too much light, (lights on too long), and not enough CO2. If we bombard the plants with too much light, the demand for everything like ferts & CO2...

Hi John No major precautions needed as long as you don't drink it :lol: . On a serious note, the only one I'm aware of is, it is not recommended to inhale the KNO3, but I suppose that could be said for the majority of 'chemicals' in powder form. Other than that, it's all pretty safe :D

Hi alzak No need to stress. During my experimenting days :roll:, I double dosed EI levels of everything, including the Trace mentioned above. All fish and shrimp were fine :D . Gone back to normal levels now.

The only change I noticed was that my wallet was fatter :lol:

Re: Wanting to start EI dosing using solutions and dosing pu Hi foxfish. I totally agree with you. I know the all in one mixture works, as I use it in my 2 low tech tanks. However, as Andy was struggling to get his head round the powders, I didn't want to introduce another 2 ingredients for...

Re: Wanting to start EI dosing using solutions and dosing pu Hi andyseatrout. Now........take a deep breath and stop stressing :D . First of all lets start with the ingredients. You need KN03 (Potassium Nitrate, also called Saltpetre if you're searching ebay, £3 a kilo, bargain :D ) KH2PO4...

Hi JenCliBee As nry says, I think it's down to personal choice. Me, I do both :roll: I use full blown EI on my hi tech and mix up the James C's TPN+ equivalent and use that on a low tech planted and a low light CO2 moss tank. As the ferts demand is much less in the low techs, it just makes my...

Hi mark4785. You will find that as your knowledge evolves in this planted tank game that hobby grade test kits are totally unreliable. You'll need to spend some serious bucks to get anywhere near an accurate one. My test kits went in the bin a long time ago. The condition of your plants and...

Hi RudeDogg1 Cherry shrimp at least, do not appear not to be affected by high levels of ferts. In my last 180l set up (journal in the signature), I ran double EI values for at least the last 6 months of it's life, as an experiment, and no fatalities to report :D