1st Day For EI - Is This Right?

[kazooless]

Okay this is for Tom or any of the gurus here,

First of all Greg Watson is awesome. I just wanted to say that publicly.

Secondly, Tomorrow is a water change, put in new plants, prune out all the old algae ridden leaves/plants, and start my very first week of EI dosing.



So, using the Nutri-Calc I found on this forum, this is what I plan to dose. Please help me out and give me a thumbs up or a correction. You can see my tank setup below in my signature, but quick summary of most important is 55 gallon, high fish load, almost 3 watts per gallon (look below), San Diego water which is hard (13 DH).

3x per week: (water change day which is Saturday, Monday, Wednesday)

1/2 tsp KNO3
1/4 tsp K2SO4
1/8 tsp KH2PO4
1.5 tsp MgSO4 (Epson Salt from Longs Drugs)

3x per week: (Sunday, Tuesday, Thursday)
1 capful of Fourish (I already have a whole bottle so didn't want to waste it)

Friday will be no dosing (except for fish feeding I guess).

Does this sound like a good start?

 

[Tom Barr]

Try a bit lighter till the plants grow in.
Also, traces, how much are you adding?

You likely can forego the MgSO4, I'd only add maybe 1/2 teaspoon or so.
K2SO4, you do not need to add also.

KNO3 has enough K.

Regards,
Tom Barr

 

[kazooless]

Okay, how about now?

Try a bit lighter till the plants grow in.
Also, traces, how much are you adding?

You likely can forego the MgSO4, I'd only add maybe 1/2 teaspoon or so.
K2SO4, you do not need to add also.

KNO3 has enough K.

Regards,
Tom Barr

For traces, I thought the Flourish handled that. I am putting 1 capful 3x per week. It's just normal Flourish.

I got the K2SO4 because in my reading here in your phorum, you talk about a light fish load and that if you have a large fish load, you don't need so much KNO3, but then the K level is diminished by diminishing it. Ergo, add some K2SO4. (Plus, now I own a whole pound )

Maybe this then:
3x per week: (water change day which is Saturday, Monday, Wednesday)

3/8 tsp KNO3
1/8 tsp K2SO4
1/8 tsp KH2PO4
1/2 tsp MgSO4 (Epson Salt from Longs Drugs)

Sound okay?

So, here is the fish load and I'll post a picture of the brand new setup. I suspect you'll still say I need 4x - 8x more biomass, but I'm gonna have to grow it if that is the case. There comes a time when the wife isn't pleased with the budget, and these plants aren't cheap.

Fish load in this 55 gallon:

11 Large Tiger Barbs
16 Large Neon Tetras
2 Large Silver Mollies
2 Small Black Mollies (seems like they'll never get big)
2 Swordtails
2 Blue Gouramis
2 Small American-Flag Fish
3 Medium Botias
2 Gara Algae Eaters of some sort
1 Large (and kinda mean) Rainbow Shark
3 Small Albino Corydoras
10 Amano Shrimp

Here's the New Setup: (The green in the center rear is Peacock Fern from PetSmart. They had tall ones, but not in good condition. These were really healthy looking and should grow tall. It says Selaginella Wildenowii)

And a reminder of the old:

And for closer detail, here are links to the left, center and right. I salvaged as much as I could from the old plants. Hopefully the Crypt will bound back with a vengeance. I have it right by a new bed I made as a shelf step where the CO2 reactor was moved to by the canister outlet.

http://web.mac.com/kazooless/iPhoto/tank/0DA92622-4090-4FB3-8058-7232047EC3AB.jpg

http://web.mac.com/kazooless/iPhoto/tank/5C77E4FD-843E-4D15-A08D-A5D15E35F386.jpg

http://web.mac.com/kazooless/iPhoto/tank/8078E2D6-F307-4E99-B7AC-435EC3F10EA9.jpg

 

[Tom Barr]

Use cheapy plants till the others grow in.
Tell her you stole them from guys pond.

I'd add about 10mls of the Trace 2-3x a week.

But you really have very little pant biomass in there.
Best to do 2x a week water changes till things grow in well, clean the glass, filter etc often.

Regards,
Tom Barr

 

[kazooless]

I'll See What I Can Do

Use cheapy plants till the others grow in.
Tell her you stole them from guys pond.

I'd add about 10mls of the Trace 2-3x a week.

But you really have very little pant biomass in there.
Best to do 2x a week water changes till things grow in well, clean the glass, filter etc often.

Regards,
Tom Barr

Okay, I'll see what else I can do.

Can you point me to a link explaining what the lack of biomass does? I haven't seen that yet, so I can only guess. My guess would be that maybe there aren't enough plants to use the nutrients so there isn't enough competition to fight the algae. But, that is only conjecture. I'm not sure what is so important about starting with a large volume.

Am I still about 1/4 the amount I should start with?

And i'm assuming that my adjusted amounts above are okay now?

Thanks,

 

[Tom Barr]

Namely to add NH4 uptake, more O2 and better bacterial and cycling in general.

Regards,
Tom Barr