# Dosing a low tech



## Matt1988 (28 Oct 2012)

Hi all I'm going to be buying some EI salts soon just wondered what % of the normal dose and how often I should be dosing I have some prolife for trace at the mo and im dosing 50% of the recommended dose 

the tank is only in its second week it has 1 inch of soil and then 2 inches of gravel  lighting is 2 x24W T5 on for 7 hours I'm planing to do water changes once a month to 

Thanks
Matt


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## Alastair (28 Oct 2012)

If I do dose I follow these guidelines per 20gallon 

1/4 Teaspoon of Seachem Equilibrium (for traces and Calcium + Magnesium). (1.42 ppm Ca, 0.42 ppm Mg, 3.43 ppm K and 0.02 ppm Fe)

1/8 Teaspoon of KNO3 (Potassium Nitrate) (5.27 ppm NO3 and 3.32 ppm K)

1/32 Teaspoon of KH2PO4 (Potassium Mono Phosphate) (1.61 ppm PO4 and 0.66 ppm K)


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## Matt1988 (28 Oct 2012)

How often would you say you dose that as I know you have quite a lot more plants than me 

Matt 


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## Alastair (28 Oct 2012)

Hiya, 
I'd say once a month or twice mainly as I have the emerged plants with hungry roots in the water but you can dose each week or every other week. 
With having the soil under the gravel you shouldn't really need to dose unless you start to see signs of deficiencies. 

I got the initial guide from one of Tom barrs articles on his site where he states to add it weekly but if your using a nutrient rich soil you can easily get away with dosing once a fortnight on the ferts plus any water your topping up evaporation with contains nutrients also. 


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## logi-cat (28 Oct 2012)

I dose everyday to be honest except sunday along with easycarbo daily. No longer injecting co2 and plants in my aquarium (eleocharis sp mini and staurogyne repens) are doing well. No outburst of algae, just some small spots on the glass.


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## Matt1988 (28 Oct 2012)

Thanks Alastair,

Do deficiencies look the same in all plants or is it different in different plants? Also is there a list of deficiencies with pictures?  

I think I'll dose once a month and increase it if I need too. I'm using John in3 under the gravel  

And logi-cat I'm not adding any CO2 to this tank  trying to keep it as simple as pos

Matt


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## AverageWhiteBloke (28 Oct 2012)

There's this on James Planted Tank no pictures though.


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## roadmaster (30 Oct 2012)

Would not wait for defeciencies but would dose daily amount of Full EI for my size tank, once a week or two, for low tech.
Is what I do for low tech 340 litre, and worked from the outset.Once plant mass  increased ,,I actually add a little more now with 50 % water change every couple week's or maybe three week's.


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## jack-rythm (29 Nov 2012)

is there such thing as dosing too much NPK/Ei fertz? seachem recommend you dose 6ml per week for larger tanks.. what happens if you do this everyday as apposed to once a week? or the same dosage on a nano..? I have always wondered if it can actually do damage to the tank if you overdose NPK?


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## Iain Sutherland (29 Nov 2012)

Jack, the levels have to be stupidly high before it will do any harm and believe it is only the fauna that struggle at those levels.  Over dosing is not an issue unless you drop something like a litre bottle of ferts in a small tank, then a water change might be in order


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## jack-rythm (29 Nov 2012)

Ha ! yeah thanks, you would of thought I would of known that but sometimes people just gotta ask! thats good then because im dosing my 3x 300mm triptych cubes daily with NPK and 2ce a week with excel.. was even debating upping the excel as I get this half price but things are going well so why mess with something that works ay!

cheers Iain


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