Newbie Needs Help With Ei Kit

LadyDay

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Aug 30, 2019
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Hello everybody.

I am completely new to EI dosing. I have tried, and failed, to grow aquarium plants in the past, but have just replanted my tank and am determined to get it to work. I hope you can help me with fertilizers.
I have ordered a "starter kit" for EI dosing (from aquariumplantfooduk), but am unsure if I should follow their recommended dosage.
My aquarium is 325 liters (85 us gallons). It's a bit overstocked with fish. I have low light (15 Lumen per liter). I have just started injecting pressurized CO2, aiming for about 25 ppm. About half the area is planted (see attached photo). I only have the air"stone" on when CO2 is off. I have put Tropica Nutrition Capsules by the roots of the plants. The substrate is sand with a grain size of 2-3 mm.

The plants I have are:
  • Microsorum pteropus 'Narrow'
  • Echinodorus 'Reni'
  • Cryptocoryne x willisii
  • Hygrophila 'Siamensis 53B'
  • Cryptocoryne beckettii 'Petchii'
  • Hygrophila difformis
  • Hygrophila siamensis
  • Elodea
All the plants are rated easy by Tropica.

The kit suggests a macro solution of:
  • 4tsp Potassium Nitrate
  • 1tsp Potassium Phosphate
  • 6tsp Magnesium Sulphate
  • 500ml Water
And a micro solution of:
  • 1tsp Chelated Trace Elements
  • 500ml Water
Both dosed 10 ml per 50 liters (13 us gallons) aquarium water 3 times per week (alternating days).

I question the dose because of my low light and heavy fish load. Should I lower the doses? I am particularly worried about too high concentration of Nitrate. Should I be?

I have GH at 15 dH, KH at 18 dH and pH of 7.4.

Thank you for any suggestions.

20190824_150646.jpg
 
Last edited:

LadyDay

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Aug 30, 2019
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Some of my plants are showing definite signs of lacking something by the way. I'm guessing Iron or Magnesium? Or maybe it's just because they haven't had proper CO2, just EasyCarbo, until now? Either way, I figure it will sort itself out with normal EI dosing? (I've been using EasyLife Profito for fertilizer until now)

Plante1.jpg


Plante2.jpg
 

Phishless

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The kit suggests a macro solution of:
  • 4tsp Potassium Nitrate
  • 1tsp Potassium Phosphate
  • 6tsp Magnesium Sulphate
  • 500ml Water
And a micro solution of:
  • 1tsp Chelated Trace Elements
  • 500ml Water
Both dosed 10 ml per 50 liters (13 us gallons) aquarium water 3 times per week (alternating days).

I question the dose because of my low light and heavy fish load. Should I lower the doses? I am particularly worried about too high concentration of Nitrate. Should I be?

I have GH at 15 dH, KH at 18 dH and pH of 7.4.

Thank you for any suggestions.

Here is a running total of one dose in ppm's.
Don't think you have enough plant mass to need 3 doses per week.
Don't think you even need MgSO4.7H2O with 15dGH?
Note that 10ml per 13 gallons is a 65ml single dose.
Would not hurt to add some K2SO4 to the mix for a little extra potassium.

What are your NO3 levels before a water change?

Let me know your thoughts?

I used Zorfox calculator which you can download to your computer and run your own numbers.
Let me know if you need help or explanation, easy to use.:)

LADYDAY Fert1.jpg
 

LadyDay

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Aug 30, 2019
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Thank you for the helpful effort!
Do you have an idea about how many doses I might need then and how big?
According to the website of my water provider the Magnesium content of my tap water is 10 ppm (Calcium is 95 ppm). Do you think this would cover my plants Magnesium needs so I don't need Magnesium Sulphate?
I don't know if 65 ml for a single dose is a lot. It does sound like a lot. I have to trust the guidance of the more experienced so far. You have received a lot of likes, so I feel like I can trust the life of my plants in your hands :D
I can definitely add some K2SO4. Will the calculator tell me how much or do you have an idea? Also, any suggestions on where to buy it? Aquariumplantfooduk is out. I'm in Denmark, in Europe, by the way, so I prefer a European vendor (tax and shipping from outside the EU is unnecessarily expensive).
According to the drop test I use (from Tetra) the NO3 level before my weekly water change tends to be about 25 ppm (12.5 ppm from tap).
My thoughts are that it makes sense to alter the dosage/content from the kit according to the specifics of my tank. It's pretty cool to be able to do that actually. Of course it doesn't make sense to over-dose as long as the plants get enough, that would just be waste of fertilizer. Whatever makes the plants happy and the algae unhappy ;) (I don't have much algae yet, but I do have a little bit showing up. Some cyano bacteria under the substrate on the glass and a few strands of staghorn algae and green hair algae. I would like to beat it before it takes proper hold!)
I will download the calculator and have a play around with it. Thank you for being available once I inevitably will need help! I am not entirely sure I understand what the image of the calculator is telling me, but I might understand once I've tried out the calculator (and haven't had wine :rolleyes:).
Do you happen to have an idea about what my plants are showing symptoms of?
 
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Phishless

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If your tap is 10ppm of MgSO4 adding 1.2ppm per dose would add no ill effects.
K2SO4 should be available locally for you.

65ml dose provides what I listed in the pic, it is not excessive ppm concentrations.
All compounds and elements in the chart are ppm values.
I would start with 1 dose of each, macro and micro once per week.

Roughly 4875 lumens of what type of lighting?
Maybe a way to get an estimate of PAR value?

Deficiency I would want to say a micro element.
Hard to tell from pics but it seems newer leaves show veins and are lighter on tips.
I'd try 1 dose of each per week for 2 weeks and see if improvement is made.

There are many claims that NO3 from dosed compounds are more readily available than NO3 produced through the nitrogen cycle.
There are no studies or "fact" to back up this theory.:rolleyes:

Likes mean nothing, I have several friends here and sell lots of plants.
I do have a journal here which I have failed to update recently.

Wine is good, whiskey is better!!! :D:D:D
 

LadyDay

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Aug 30, 2019
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Micro at water changing day and macro the next for example? I've read that you shouldn't give both at the same day.

The lights are two Akvastabil Effect Line LEDs (https://www.akvastabil.dk/en/lighting/leds) . They each have 12 3W diodes. I don't know if they're 4500 Kelvin or 6500 Kelvin. I don't know how to calculate PAR, but there are graphs of the light wavelength distributions on the linked website. The tank measures 130x50x50 cm (51x20x20 inches), with about 5-6 cm (2 inches) deep substrate. The lamps are about 5 cm above the water surface.

Yes, the leaves are much lighter, a pale yellow on the tips and edges, but still have green veins. Hopefully I'll get the fertilizer soon, while they still hang in there.

It would be interesting with a proper scientific study to see if there really is a difference between NO3 from different sources, when it comes to plants.

I know, likes don't say much, I was mostly joking. Do you sell plants as a business or on a hobby basis? I'll try to find your journal and have a look.

Whisky is indeed even better. But not that burbon you Americans drink (;) Jack Daniels is for mixing into Cola :eek: ), it has to be proper, Scottish, Islay single malt. Really smokey! Like Laphroaig, Ardbeg or Bowmore. Yum! Unfortunately good whisky is expensive, so I don't get to enjoy it as much as I would like. :(
 

LadyDay

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Aug 30, 2019
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If I dose a third of the first mentioned, as suggested, is it better that I dose each of them, micro and macro, once per week (65 ml at once), or split it up into three times per week each (20-and-a-bit ml at once)?
 

Phishless

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No business selling plants just don't like to toss in the trash.

Dosing 22ml 3 times a week would be a better idea, yes!

I will need to check out the lights online later.

Canadian blended whiskey is much smoother, such as Crown Royal. :D
 

Phishless

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72 total watts over your tank is most likely in the low light range.
That light spread out and raised above the tank a bit, don't think it would reach a medium range of light.
 

LadyDay

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Aug 30, 2019
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Yes, I'm pretty sure it's low light! I'm hoping my plants can do well anyway, they are all marked "easy" by Tropica.
I would in principle like better lights a lot, but I don't know if I can mount other lights in my top (https://www.akvastabil.dk/en/effect-line-lighting). It's also really expensive, so my boyfriend isn't on board, he thinks the ones we have are strong enough. But if you happen to have any good light suggestions, I'd love to hear it! Definitely LEDs.

If you're ever in Denmark I'll buy a round of whisky.
 
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HHLaursen

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Jul 11, 2017
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Dry Fertilisers are not easily sourced here in Denmark. To my knowledge we only have one option at the time, which is begreenm8.
He seems to have k2so4 at his webshop if you haven't found any yet :)

Sendt fra min ONEPLUS A6003 med Tapatalk
 

LadyDay

New Member
Aug 30, 2019
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Denmark
Dry Fertilisers are not easily sourced here in Denmark. To my knowledge we only have one option at the time, which is begreenm8.
He seems to have k2so4 at his webshop if you haven't found any yet :)

Sendt fra min ONEPLUS A6003 med Tapatalk

Hi. Thanks for the suggestion. I got it from co2supermarket.co.uk
Good with a Danish source too though!
God weekend.