E.I. & Dosing Example

Tom (or anyone), please join in. I have a few questions, perhaps you can help. When you mention using 1/4 teaspooons, etc., you are talking dry powder of fertilizer directly added to the tank, right? I use a liquid mixture of 167 mls of water with one teaspoon of the various fertilizers when doing liquids. Is that the ratio you use when dosing liquid fertilizers? You also mentioned not using vermiculite in the substrate. Why is it detrimental?
Okay, my tank. It is 75 gallons, 4 feet by whatever, holding 63 gallons of water. Eheim 2229 canister, Top Fin 60 otb filter, UV sterilizer when I feel I need it, and pressurized CO2 with controller. I try to maintain a 6.8 PH by controlling the KH in the tank @ 6.5. A little high according to the chart, but the fish don't seem to be stressed, and I have no major problems. Light is a JBJ 260 watt compact fluorescent with four CoraLife colormax bulbs. I believe, with compact fluorescents and a good reflecter, that would be approximately equvalent to 345 watts, or about 4 watts/gallon. Is this correct? GH is maintained at 5 GH. Trying to maintain the 4:1 Ca/Mg ratio. The tank has been recently redone, massive pruning, cleaning, heavy replanting. Just having begun utilizing your methods (addition of ferts, etc.), I achieved incredible growth!! I just couldn't bear to cut anything or remove anything, I was reveling in the plant's growth after all that time of growing algae. Finally, when 75% of the tank was pure plants, and the fish couldn't swim in it, I had to replant/prune massively. Sob!!
This is the result of my water report from the county, for reference:
Al,B,Cd, Cr,Mn,Mo,Ni, are negligible.
CA- 11.5 ppm
Cu- .11 ppm
Fe- .o1 ppm
Mg- 1.9 ppm
P- .3 ppm
K- 1.7 ppm
N- .64 ppm
SiO2- 6.70 ppm (Is this level problamatic or too high?)
Na- 4.1 ppm
Zn- .02
Okay, I drain and refill 30 gallons for my weekly w/c. At that time, I will add the ferts necessary to bring the level of water I replaced up to the level, at one time, that you recommend in the E.I.- that is, NO3 to 20 ppm, K to 30 ppm, and PO4 to 1.0 ppm. I do this by adding potassium nitrate & sulphate, and potassium phosphate, according to Chuck Gadd's calculator. I don't trust the test kits, so what's in the 30 odd gallons I didn't change, I have no idea. GH for the entire tank is 5GH and KH is 6.5.
Now, please stop giggling and laughing, but is this the correct way to do it? Or, do you try to maintain that nutrient level and add the ferts equally (4 x/week) to get to those levels, for the 30 gallon w/c?
Greg got me straight, I hope, on adding the micros 3x a week, approximately 19 mls at each shot. Is the mixture I use ( 1 tsp/167 mls water) and frequency for the micros okay? Double checking, much of what you say is contrary to accepted practice, but yours WORKS!!
I apologize for the long post, but I, like I'm sure others, want to follow your doctrine as closely and as accurately as we can. This post is for that reason.
And, btw, write the d--n book, will you?
Thx in advance,
Walter

 

Re: E.I. & Dosing Example

Thanks, Tom, I've got my chainsaw out and I'm ready to prune!!!