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Feeding for a 75g tank

Damian Smith

Seedling
Joined
12 Feb 2010
Messages
11
Hi Guys,

Could some one please advise whats is the simplest way to feed a new setup. I will have by the weekend planted up an exsiting tank with around a 100 plants. The CO2 system is ordered and filtration and lighting are sorted once the plants are up and running.

I have been through other threads to gain help on C02 and tank set, this is about the last step I need to get my head round.

Is there a simple weekly fert you can use say after water change or is daily better.

Are liquid all in one feeds ok or can you use root tabs?

What the hell is EL???

Thanks as ever

Damian
 
Hi Damian
Damian Smith said:
Is there a simple weekly fert you can use say after water change or is daily better.
Daily is better for sure ;)
Here's a simple take on it. Suppose you need 2000 calories a day to survive. That means you need 14000 calories to last you a week. Now you can eat all of those 14000 calories on a Monday if you wish, and you'll be stuffed, but by Sunday you'll be feeling pretty rough. Whereas if you ate 2000 calories a day you would feel much better :D . So if you chucked all your ferts in on a Monday, the plants would stuff themselves straight away but by the end of the week they would be feeling pretty rough too.
Damian Smith said:
Are liquid all in one feeds ok or can you use root tabs?
All in one liquid feeds are OK and can be used in conjuction with root tabs, although the root tabs are not a requirement if your water column dosing is OK.
Damian Smith said:
What the hell is EL???
It is actually E I, as in E eye. It stands for Estimative Index. By far the cheapest way to dose a tank. Take a read of this excellent article here viewtopic.php?f=34&t=1211
 
Thanks Chris,

Once again ukaps comes up trumps. I will read this and give it a go.

Are there any products that would do to start the plants off and help keep alge down, as i introduce the CO2 and then up the WPG?

Thanks again.

Damian
 
Hi Damian
Damian Smith said:
Are there any products that would do to start the plants off and help keep alge down,
All you need to start the plants off is their food (ferts). Healthy plants and a clean tank will keep the algae away.
If you go down the liquid feed route, Tropica's TPN+ is an all in one feed which I have used in the past with good results. This contains all the required nutrients as well as the Trace elements. Just make sure it is the TPN+ and not the TPN, they are two different products. TPN+ is green in colour, and TPN is brown in colour.
After you've read the article linked to above (more than once in my case :oops: ), you may want to try the dry salts route.
It's certainly the cheapest way I've ever dosed a tank :D
You are certainly going about things in the right order, CO2 first, after that it should be flow around the tank.
Lighting should be the last thing on the list of things to upgrade, which you already seem to be aware of :thumbup:
Talking of lighting, you would do well to only start off with 6 hours lighting per day and increase it by an hour per month up to your desired lighting period. The time of day is irrelevant as long as it's regular. After all, there's no point in having the lights on when you're out all day and can't see your tank :rolleyes: . (Mine are now on 4pm till midnight :wideyed: but the tank is well established).
 
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