Do I need full Ei in this tank

[Frenchi]

Hi ppl
I've been dosing full standard Ei mix into this tank for quite a while, I think everything is ok but was wondering as all the plants in there are like simple ones and not really fast growing I didn't know if I would be getting too much nutrient left over at the end of each week.. The water does seem quite brown at the 7 day water change ..
It's heavy planted I would say

250 litres
2x54watt t5's
Full pressurised co2

Is the Ei on its own enough?

What do you guys recommend
I'll add the pic so you can see wether it's heavy planted or not?



Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

 

[Andy D]

Yes does full EI. As long as you change 50% of the water each week then nutrient levels will be kept in check.

Tank looks great by the way!

 

[Jose]

Hi Frenchi. The browniness can not be from dosing ei because these are inorganic ferts, thus dissolve absolutely in the water (unless you were dosing more than ei ammounts of micros)

The colour in the water that you are getting comes most probably from organics. This could be due to a number of reasons. Waterchanges?, Under filtration (mechanical filtration)?. Actually I would say its most probably tannins from the big wood in the tank. How old is it? It must be getting better with time.

Even though ei is not your cause you could lower the dosage (probably). The only way to do this is by trial and error. The error can be algae or dead plants so....
Youd need to dose your tank with less nutrients (say 2/3rds ei) for a few weeks to see if you notice any negative impact. If you dont then you know you have enough with 2/3rds. You can repeat again until you see a negative impact. Remember plants can store nutrients for some time. For this method you need to start off with a healthy tank and keep the rest of parameters in top shape all the time(specially co2).

For me its not worth it really, because you dont want to give your plants just enough, you wanna make them fat (at least I do).

 

[Frenchi]

Yes does full EI. As long as you change 50% of the water each week then nutrient levels will be kept in check.

Tank looks great by the way!

I do change 50% or more every week without fail maybe sometimes if I'm on the wrong shift I go 8 days .. But I don't dose I still stop on the 6th day🙂
Thank you 🙂


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

 

[Jose]

I do change 50% or more every week without fail maybe sometimes if I'm on the wrong shift I go 8 days .. But I don't dose I still stop on the 6th day
Thank you

Its ok to miss a day or even a week, specially if tank is stable. I you were to miss a week you do need to keep dosing although not as much.

 

[Frenchi]

Hi Frenchi. The browniness can not be from dosing ei because these are inorganic ferts, thus dissolve absolutely in the water (unless you were dosing more than ei ammounts of micros)

The colour in the water that you are getting comes most probably from organics. This could be due to a number of reasons. Waterchanges?, Under filtration (mechanical filtration)?. Actually I would say its most probably tannins from the big wood in the tank. How old is it? It must be getting better with time.

Even though ei is not your cause you could lower the dosage (probably). The only way to do this is by trial and error. The error can be algae or dead plants so....
Youd need to dose your tank with less nutrients (say 2/3rds ei) for a few weeks to see if you notice any negative impact. If you dont then you know you have enough with 2/3rds. You can repeat again until you see a negative impact. Remember plants can store nutrients for some time. For this method you need to start off with a healthy tank and keep the rest of parameters in top shape all the time(specially co2).

For me its not worth it really, because you dont want to give your plants just enough, you wanna make them fat (at least I do).

Thanks .. The wood is quite old over 12 months anyway.. I did mix the Ei as a all in one with the preservatives added but it does discolour over time.. I'm going back to macro micro every other day when it's gone 🙂 ..
The filtration I think is quite over filtered I have a JBL 1901 and a aquaone aquis 1200 on there I have to turn one off to feed lol 🙂
I do not have many sponges in them though maybe that has something to do with it. they are both mainly built up of ceramics and k1 media



Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

 

[Jose]

Thanks .. The wood is quite old over 12 months anyway.. I did mix the Ei as a all in one with the preservatives added but it does discolour over time.. I'm going back to macro micro every other day when it's gone ..
The filtration I think is quite over filtered I have a JBL 1901 and a aquaone aquis 1200 on there I have to turn one off to feed lol
I do not have many sponges in them though maybe that has something to do with it. they are both mainly built up of ceramics and k1 media

No, its not the sponges or EI. Keep dosing ei and keep everything the same. Tannins from the wood will go with time. You can do more water changes if you dont like the look. You can also use activated carbon to suck up the tannins. Probably nothing else will help.

This colouring is quite common with wood and one of the reasons why I dont use it although I must admit it looks darn good.

 

[Frenchi]

No, its not the sponges or EI. Keep dosing ei and keep everything the same. Tannins from the wood will go with time. You can do more water changes if you dont like the look. You can also use activated carbon to suck up the tannins. Probably nothing else will help.

This colouring is quite common with wood and one of the reasons why I dont use it although I must admit it looks darn good.

Nice one thanks Jose appreciate the advice🙂


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

 

[EnderUK]

You should see my nano tank it's like tea, tannis is good for the creatures in your tank and will help lower the lighting levels in the tank. However if you want a crystal clear tank you can try purgin or active charcoal or just up the water changes.

There are many ways of dosing a tank, EI, PPS-PRO, PMDD+PO4, duckweed (not to be used with high tech) all of them work depending on your tank. Tom Barr himself has stated that EI is about 125% the uptake of most tanks and can be slowly cut back to a critical point over a few weeks with careful observation of the plants. He makes it sound easy but it's not, which is why you're recommened to use full EI dosage and 50-60% weekly changes.