Mark.A
Member
Hey all! Looking for advice on how I can best change my dosing over from TNC Complete to DIY Salts for my low light/low tech tank. I know EI was designed with high light/high tech tanks in mind so I want to figure out what I would need to dose to roughly equal what I am dosing now with TNC Complete and maybe what I can safely increase/decrease from there.
I am currently dosing 5ml per day of TNC Complete into my 123 Litre low light/low tech tank via a dosing pump. It is very heavily planted with a full Helanthium tenellus carpet, loads of moss, java fern, various Anubias, various Bucephalandra, few different stands of Crypts a Crinum calamistratum and some Ludwigia sp. mini 'Super Red'. The only plant that grows fairly quickly is the Ludwigia, although the mosses, Crinum and carpet are not far behind.
I have very little algae, just a slight sprinkle of green dust algae on top of some of the rockwork, which I actually quite like. I have no deficiency issues at all with the plants, they all grow healthy and look good.
The reason I want to switch over to DIY salts is cost, not really for this tank as it's not that expensive using TNC Complete for this tank but I'm about to set up a second tank and another larger third tank will be coming after that one, hence the interest in switching to DIY salts. All three tanks will be low light/low tech so the nutrient requirements should be pretty much the same per litre so I figured I'd get to grips with the dry salt mix now before I start the second tank.
Things to consider:
My tank is heavily stocked and I feed heavily so N+P may not need to be dosed as high and can probably come down from what's in TNC Complete. I will test the nitrates/phosphates before my next water change and give you the exact figures. I also have 2.5 ppm PO4 in my tap water but only a slight trace of nitrates.
Questions I have:
1 - I've seen the ' All In One Solution' for dosing all the salts in one solution - if this works and you can just dose everything in one solution without issue then why isn't everyone doing this? Is there a downside or reason not to do this? Would you recommend it?
2 - I've seen somewhere before that someone was dosing the salts separately but within the same day so the tank was getting everything every day rather than alternating macro/micro nutrients on different days. Is this a thing and if so is it better? Does it make any difference? Would you recommend it?
3 - Where is the best place to get the dry salts in bulk in the UK?
4 - Is there any reason not to make larger quantities, like 5 litres of the macro/micro nutrients?
5 - Can anyone recommend decent looking containers to hold the 5 litres of nutrients?
I am currently dosing 5ml per day of TNC Complete into my 123 Litre low light/low tech tank via a dosing pump. It is very heavily planted with a full Helanthium tenellus carpet, loads of moss, java fern, various Anubias, various Bucephalandra, few different stands of Crypts a Crinum calamistratum and some Ludwigia sp. mini 'Super Red'. The only plant that grows fairly quickly is the Ludwigia, although the mosses, Crinum and carpet are not far behind.
I have very little algae, just a slight sprinkle of green dust algae on top of some of the rockwork, which I actually quite like. I have no deficiency issues at all with the plants, they all grow healthy and look good.
The reason I want to switch over to DIY salts is cost, not really for this tank as it's not that expensive using TNC Complete for this tank but I'm about to set up a second tank and another larger third tank will be coming after that one, hence the interest in switching to DIY salts. All three tanks will be low light/low tech so the nutrient requirements should be pretty much the same per litre so I figured I'd get to grips with the dry salt mix now before I start the second tank.
Things to consider:
My tank is heavily stocked and I feed heavily so N+P may not need to be dosed as high and can probably come down from what's in TNC Complete. I will test the nitrates/phosphates before my next water change and give you the exact figures. I also have 2.5 ppm PO4 in my tap water but only a slight trace of nitrates.
Questions I have:
1 - I've seen the ' All In One Solution' for dosing all the salts in one solution - if this works and you can just dose everything in one solution without issue then why isn't everyone doing this? Is there a downside or reason not to do this? Would you recommend it?
2 - I've seen somewhere before that someone was dosing the salts separately but within the same day so the tank was getting everything every day rather than alternating macro/micro nutrients on different days. Is this a thing and if so is it better? Does it make any difference? Would you recommend it?
3 - Where is the best place to get the dry salts in bulk in the UK?
4 - Is there any reason not to make larger quantities, like 5 litres of the macro/micro nutrients?
5 - Can anyone recommend decent looking containers to hold the 5 litres of nutrients?