ADA substrate, ADA fert, and EI

[magnolia95]

Hi all,

I am about to set up a 20G with ADA powersand and aquasoil. It will have 65W and pressurised CO2 and I intend to plant heavily from day 1.

I purchased the Green Brighty Step 1 ADA fert which they say is for the newly planted tank, before I had heard of the EI. However I would prefer to use EI.

I have read what I can find on the ingredients of the ADA fert, and the best I can come up with is:

GREEN BRIGHTY STEP 1

A balanced existence of trace elements is
vital in the initial period, to stimulate the
sprouting of new roots and buds. Nitrogen,
Phosphorus or Potassium are not included,
as these may only induce algae development
at this stage when the plants nutrient requirements
are low.

So it seems to me that I could use it to supply trace elements along with the normal EI routine.

Do you think this would work? I don't think it has iron either so I would still need to use Flourish - so I'm not really winning here

Or does the ADA substrate supply enough stuff for a little while to only need the ADA fert? I don't know!!! I'm confused!!!

As usual, any help greatly appreciated.

maggie

as a ps. do you think that my tap water at GH of 18, pH of 8.4 and KH of 15 would be okay after CO2 injection? Thanks!

 

[Tom Barr]

Re: ADA substrate, ADA fert, and EI

Hummm, most folks have fairly soft water that have used ADA set ups......this will be interesting........

Algae is not encouraged by these nutrients, that much is obvious.
So whatelse did they get wrong?

What is the real reason folks have issues in the beggining?
I know.

Amano does not or if he does, he's keeping quite to sell the ADA products........
Jeff Senske thinks he does it to sell products, a number of us that do know a lot about plant testing/physiology think he does not know...........(I'm certainly not the only one and this was discussed in person when we met him and asked him things).

It's anybody's guess whether he does or does not know.......

Why wait fertilize a new set up:
http://www.aquaticplantcentral.com/forumapc/showthread.php?t=2689

Fairly well beaten into the ground there.

Regards,
Tom Barr

 

[Tom Barr]

Re: ADA substrate, ADA fert, and EI

the ADa substrate will last a month or longer and then you switch in the ADA program to a different fert liquid to add more and more macro nutrients over time.

There is an inherent problem with this, while the tank might start up great, the differences in plant growth/lighting, uptake, tap water etc will cause imbalances over time.

Amano and I can catch such changes and respond to them. Many folks cannot.

How do you know when the substrate runs out?
Poor plant health/growth.

How do you estimate the time till it runs out?
Sort of hard. Only the plants will tell or you can take a small soil sample and and check.

Regards,
Tom Barr

 

[magnolia95]

Re: ADA substrate, ADA fert, and EI

I think I'll just chuck the Green Brighty and go EI from the get-go. I sure as heck don't want any algae battles!

Tom, I'm going to follow the amounts listed in your article:

1/4 teaspoon of KNO3 3-4x a week (every other day)
1/16th-1/32nd teaspoon of KH2PO4 3-4x a week (every other day)

Traces added on off days as the macro nutrients, so 3x a week, 5mls each time.
SeaChem Equilibrium 1/8 teaspoon after water change.

using Flourish for the traces. OK? except the Equilibrium as I have plenty of GH from my tap. Do you really think that GH (18) is ok for the plants?

maggie

 

[Tom Barr]

Re: ADA substrate, ADA fert, and EI

I'd suggest you go lean on the EI, at least for the first month.

About 1/4 for now.
Do not chuck the GB.
Follow things for the first month and you should be alright.

There are macros in the substrate.............so the plants will have some. After plants get going well, go to EI.

Plant as many plants as you can add in there from day one!!!!

Regards,
Tom Barr

 

[magnolia95]

Re: ADA substrate, ADA fert, and EI

I'd suggest you go lean on the EI, at least for the first month.

About 1/4 for now.
Do not chuck the GB.
Follow things for the first month and you should be alright.

There are macros in the substrate.............so the plants will have some. After plants get going well, go to EI.

Plant as many plants as you can add in there from day one!!!!

Regards,
Tom Barr

Thanks Tom, will do!
maggie