# Newb to EI and low tech



## bennell (21 Nov 2014)

Evening folk, first post here but ive been hunting through various threads on this forum taking away alot of info. I have a few Qs i hope to get answers for.. Ill try keep it short and sweet. P.s appologies for the crude pictures in advanced 

Ok so i have a 20gal 6 month old with 9 male guppies, 14 neons, 1 common pleco @ 3" and 2 glowlight rasaboras(admittedly over stocked).

Filtration i have a Fluval u3 on a sweet spot with the output on both the top and bottom nozzles for some plant movement and surface agitation.

Flora i have
Pygmy Chain Sword
Anubias x2
Hygrophila corymbosax2
Jungle val x3
Corkscrew val x2
Java fern x1

Lighting i have 2x15w cfl w/reflectors around 3 inch from surface on from 1pm till 10pm so 9 hours solid.

El dosing being low tech (zero co2) i used for my MACRO, 2 tsp pot nitrate 1/2 tsp pot phosphate and 3tsp of mag sulphate to 250ml of water(tap)

MICRO is 1/2 apf chelated trace to 250ml water(tap)

I dose 7ml per day on and off of each so mon, wed, fri macro, tues, thurs, sat micro and sunday rest w/50% pwc. This regime ive taken from the card when i bought the EI pack from aquariumplantfoodUK which i know is just an guidline.

I was dosing API co2 boost but ive read on various forums this can cause certain plants to melt and with low tech the plants can get into a routine of having less co2 so its not needed.

My plants are growing -slowly as expected as low tech but with problems im unsure about. As the pictures show my jungle val is turning brown and the ends are shredding, corymbosa is also browing at the ends, curling and growing with holes, corkscrew val has melted alot as this has been in for 2 week now but isnt getting better, and my anubias has a small spot of browning but is sprouting a leaf every week.

My other issue is, after i done a 50% change and dosed macro the day after, i found that there is a film on the surface which is making the tank look foggy as the light isnt penetrating the water cleanly but i dont have a clue what this could be, i store my EI mix in the fridge(cool and dark)  and this is the second week of dosing. Previously i used easylife profit and it was doing ok but it made sence to spend £25 on something more flexible, more pure and longer lasting.

Any idea what could be going on, i have a feeling im doing the EI wrong but i wouldnt know what to increase.


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## Quetzalcoatl (21 Nov 2014)

Hi mate. Welcome to the Forum.  I'm sure someone with a lot more experience than me will be along soon to offer advice on this but what I can confirm is the biofilm on the surface is due to you're poor plant health. I know your not dosing CO2 but notice the checker on the side of the tank. Have you considered injecting? Normally I'd suggest adding liquid CO2 but I've had bad experiences with Vals and liquid carbon so wouldn't recommend this. The plant mass and your photoperiod also seems excessive. I'd reduced this considerably. Hope this helps.


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## bennell (22 Nov 2014)

Thank you for the welcome and reply, i am considering injecting and going down the 2kg fire extinguisher route as it seems much cheaper but i wanted to try out low tech as this is my fire plated tank in 10 years. I shal reduce the photoperiod right away to 7 hours? Other than that, would be the best thing for now?


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## Quetzalcoatl (23 Nov 2014)

Sorry for late reply, had a really busy weekend. I reckon 6/7 hrs is adequate for the plant mass you have at present so reducing the photoperiod is a good place to start. What's the stem at the back? Is it a hygrophila species? The growth looks really leggy at the base so this would indicate inadequate flow at substrate level? What filter are you running? 

I can relate to your predicament, I started out low tech with no intention of growing plants, never even heard of an aquascape. My local LFS stocked a few of the more common plants and so I started experimenting. Wasted a lot of money and a lot of  plants. I brought pretty much everything they suggested to become successful, and still I wasn't seeing any improvement. I started researching and found UKAPs and one of the first things That became apparent was that I needed to sort out my CO2. Never looked back.  

Keep at it mate, I'm sure you'll crack it. Half the fun is learning what works and what doesn't. Don't expect instant success, just trial and error for a bit until your comfortable.


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## StevenG (28 Nov 2014)

bennell said:


> Lighting i have 2x15w cfl w/reflectors around 3 inch from surface on from 1pm till 10pm so 9 hours solid.


In my 10 gallon tank I have 2 10W CFLs raised 26" from the substrate and that's the sweet spot for them.  I am planning to go down to 8W and lower them. 

I don't have any Vals but here's a link to a deficiency finder:  http://deficiencyfinder.com/

Try using www.petalphile.com
It's a fert calculator.  Set it to EI low tech.


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