Until I came on this forum I was running a phosphate remover in my filter
and trying hard to keep the nitrates as low as possible
and testing with a home test kit to the point of paranoia
.Thanks to the advice from my LFS and a couple of books that I have read with regard to keeping plants and, getting rid of / keeping at bay, algae. Although for me algae has never really been a big problem, but then perhaps I have just been lucky 8) , or maybe 5oto's, 1SAE, a pleco, a uv steriliser and 2x20% water changes a week worked
.
Of course I thought I was doing everything right because I was doing it by the book....
Three weeks on and I am introducing PO4, K and NO3 in large quantities (at least it seems that way at the moment because I am not used to it
), not only that but I have learnt a new lingo, mgso4, kh2po4, k2so4. My lighting has been checked and slightly modified, I have tripled my water flow and now I am happy with the water chemistry bit to.
.
I have dosed just twice with NPK and once with the trace elements so far and already I can see a marked improvement in the growth and colour of my plants, and I thought that they were ok before :!: The second 50% water change is due tommorow so my first proper week of EI is next week (the ferts didn't arrive until tuesday just gone, which was good service as I only ordered them on sunday from AE).
Thanks guys for all your help, and thanks Ed for your patience.
As Clive might say "I have been assimilated"