EI kit ordered. but how much liquid carbon?

[island lad]

Just ordered the ei starter kit for my Roma 125L. The tank has the standard 2x 20w T8's (8hrs a day), with A tetratec 700 external along with the internal fluval filter. The tank is moderately planted and I've been dosing 15ml of profito per week along with 2.5ml easycarbo per day. When the kit arrives will I need to do a large water change before using salts. Also will the plants require a higher dose of liquid carbon due to uptake of the new ferts ?

Many thanks, Steve

 

[ceg4048]

Hello,
You should be doing large water changes all the time anyway. Water changes are always a good thing.

You can add more liquid carbon if you wish but it really is difficult to predict what any tank requires. Normally more nutrition requires more CO2 but we really do not know how much the plants are using now. Since liquid carbon is expensive and toxic you should try to get away with the least amount you can. 2X to 3X bottle recommendation is a good starting value.

Cheers,

 

[island lad]

I'm doing fifty percent water change weekly anyway. And I was thinking 2x dosage for the carbon (5ml). I guess I was trying to figure balance between low light, decent ferts and amount of carbon. I don't think flow is an issue from what I can see but maybe something for me to keep an eye on.
Many thanks

 

[ian_m]

.... And I was thinking 2x dosage for the carbon (5ml)....

Liquid carbon in excess (or even as per recommended) will melt some plants. Unfortunately, very much try it and see. If you see melting, not attributed to anything else, then back off your liquid carbon levels.

I melted all my egeria densa and hair grass this way and put odd hole in anubias leaves using it as an algea removee

 

[island lad]

Yeah the one bunch of grass in my tank has gone from bad to worse but if I'm dosing with ei then surely some amount of carbon will be necessary ? All other plants are doing OK with the profito but the ei will surely produce improvement overall.

 

[island lad]

Or maybe with the 2x20 watts of lighting then maybe I should just dose with the salts and scrap the carbon. One things for sure, I don't think I need nor can I afford to run pressurized co2. So much to learn !