charlie;115430 said:
Thanks I will link this thread.
Regards
Actually, link the PMDD thread instead, since this is where I got it from.
And yes, I totally forgot my high school math, but I used enough logic to know that there are partial dilutions on the remaining tank water after each water change.
Some seem to imply that is NOT the case, which measn in fish only tanks where you feed fish food, the partial water changes will never stop the build up and increase of NH4/NO3, which is hogwash.
Most will agree that is hogwash, but.....when they dose KNO3.......suddenly there's now a double standard and that same logic does not apply?
You are still adding N in both cases and you still have the same dilution series in both cases.
50% weekly water changes just made the math SIMPLE. It states that your build up will/cannot exceed 2x the weekly dosing rate.
So if you dose 20 ppm a week of fish food or KNO3, the max build up possible is 40 ppm from that source.
You can change the volume of replacement, say 90%, then only 10% of the water is remaining.
The dosing calculator that Wet did allows you to model those and see the predicted outcomes.
You should link that:
Then they can play around with various amounts and ranges they think are best and see what is needed.
That said, you should be able to dose less and observe the plants, algae and use LESS dosing and/or fewer water changes and/or less % water changes if you start rich, then work slow and progressive down to lower ranges.
I see no good argument to "lard it on" if you can bother to observe and slowly modify, but not doing so will do no harm.
I do reduced dosing and water changes in some tanks.
But I also reduce light (and eliminate CO2 in some cases), chose non demanding plants etc.
It's not 100% ferts, that's a narrow view on a holistic picture.