Could we dose all week EI dosing at once? For example, each saturday I intend to dose for all week something like 50 ppm of KNO3, 6 ppm of PO4, 10 ppm of Mg, 10 ppm of Ca + micros nutrients. There is any concern about this? If yes, why? Thank you.
Are they unavailable for the plants when they are stored in the substrate, or can it be considered a temporary stock system to make them available when needed?s to the phosphates, as they are the most limiting factor in most aquatic ecosystems, the living organisms have learned to uptake it really quickly (and store it for future use), so it's probable that a couple of hours after you add photosphates into your tank, they will "dissapear" (they can be succked up by substrate, plants, or other organisms)
They become unavailable to the plants as insoluble salts. Only extreme acidic conditions (like not found in tank) will make them soluble again.Are they unavailable for the plants
It doesn't work like that, the plants would suffer due to the wildly varying nutrient levels. People who have tried it long term suffer algae and poor plant health.Could we dose all week EI dosing at once?
I agree with that just in part. In some kind of substrates there are organics (like tannis or other humic substances) which can bind some nutrients (probably phosphates also) and in this form they should be available to plants. Also, the "extreme acidic" conditions you mention may be created by roots deeper in the substrate. Plants have learned to utilize the oxidized form of nutrients using their own acids and chelates (like citric acid). So the plants (using their roots) are able to uptake even the unavailable nutrients, although they do it only under the conditions of extreme deficiency (at least, that's what I have read).They become unavailable to the plants as insoluble salts. Only extreme acidic conditions (like not found in tank) will make them soluble again.
Sorry to disagree again, but I don't think plants are too much stressed by changing levels of nutrients. In hydroponics people use much, much higher nutrient concentrations then we use, with great success. I myself am right now using 90 ppm NO3, 9 ppm PO4, 60 ppm K, 0.9 ppm Fe in my test tanks, and the plants (Pogostemon and Ludwigia) seems to have no problems with it. I dose it once a week, then I change 100% of water, and dose it again. I had just a little algae issues (which is quite normal under such conditions). But I admit that our plants can experience some problems in case we have there a combination of fast-growers with slow-growers, as the slowly growing plants won't be able to gain the same amount of nutrients as the fast-growing ones, so they may probably suffer.The plants would suffer due to the wildly varying nutrient levels. People who have tried it long term suffer algae and poor plant health.
Could we dose all week EI dosing at once? For example, each saturday I intend to dose for all week something like 50 ppm of KNO3, 6 ppm of PO4, 10 ppm of Mg, 10 ppm of Ca + micros nutrients. There is any concern about this? If yes, why? Thank you.
First of all, we don't know the maximum uptake rate of our plants. What T.Barr says is some data based on his experiences (although we don't know the methodology of how he came to such results). I asked him several times how he came to such numbers, but he never explain it in detail.If we know that plants have a maximum absortion rate around 20 ppm why the hell is this figures? 50 PPM?
Also there have been reports that using EDDHA chelated iron resists the phosphate reaction (as often used in commercial all in one fertiliser), but EDDHA costs quite a bit more than normal EDTA iron.
Ah, that's why. I remember reading about the first EI & PMDD experiments, years ago, about dosing macro and micro together and that EDDHA got round the reaction issues in the tank, but I thought it got dropped due to cost at the expense of dosing alternate days. I know now why.EDDHA is just 30% more expensive than EDTA. But the problem is its colour.
But nitrates aren't toxic for fishes even in a very high level (300 ppm +)Also the there are long term health implications for your fish in such high levels of nitrate.
In fact, I think the Fe-DTPA can be more stable than Fe-EDDHMA (at least according to my little experiment).That page states DTPA is also compatible. Although I think it's not as stable as EDDHA.
Fortunately DTPA is good enough, I'm using it.