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new to this, please help: cycling aquasoil, cycled after 2 weeks? if not what's happening?

Abcdefg said:
and stop the ferts from accumulating in the tank over time...
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That's one part of the reason for weekly water changes, but biggest reason is to remove the waste organics produced by the plants in such a high energy environment. You can probably dose EI for weeks with nitrates rising to 100's of ppm without issue, but leave the waste in the water too long and algae quickly moves in....
 
ian_m said:
That's one part of the reason for weekly water changes, but biggest reason is to remove the waste organics produced by the plants in such a high energy environment. You can probably dose EI for weeks with nitrates rising to 100's of ppm without issue, but leave the waste in the water too long and algae quickly moves in....
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Thanks Ian,

could I ask a bit more about EI?

I was under the impression that EI (in my case the starter kit mentioned above) should provide all of the 'nutrients' apart from CO2 and light, that plants would require to grow.

would it be the case that if you didn't have any livestock, then pure RO with standard EI dosing would be all that they needed? or would their be possible defficiencies?

I ask this as I might have noticed a change in my plants with some translucency in new growth and tips, and I'm wondering if they are missing something that was in the Tap, or whether they are just adapting and will be ok after they transition to the new conditions?

Would they need to transition in this way? for example if GH, KH, tds and PH have changed?

Thanks,

Tom
 
Abcdefg said:
would it be the case that if you didn't have any livestock, then pure RO with standard EI dosing would be all that they needed? or would their be possible defficiencies?
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Not recommended to use pure RO as has no pH buffering capacity and no calcium.

Lack of pH buffering capacity means that you can get pH crashes, pH drops to exceeding low values, very very easily possible killing the plants and certainly very adverse effect to any fish. Basically without buffering even the smallest amount of acid will cause significant pH drops. You really need to add some hardness back to the RO by either cutting with your tap water, which I assume is hard or why else spend money producing RO (3p a litre is typical cost) or add re-mineraliser to bring up kH to 4-8 range typically.

You also need to cut or re-mineralise RO to add some calcium back or else plants can suffer calcium deficiency. This generally shows as poor, distorted and yellowing new leaves on the plants.
 
ian_m said:
or add re-mineraliser to bring up kH to 4-8 range typically.

You also need to cut or re-mineralise RO to add some calcium back or else plants can suffer calcium deficiency. This generally shows as poor, distorted and yellowing new leaves on the plants.
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... oh dear, I think I'm quite possibly experiencing this...

I am using a shrimp remineralising product, but I'm not sure exactly what it contains.

Is there a straightforward way to add calcium on its own?

Thanks
 
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