EI fertilization dosing while away

[Molly]

I have two planted tanks (30 and 75 gallon) up and running fine. I have had great results using the Barr estimative dosing system on a daily basis.

I often have to travel for work, but until now I have only been gone for at most two nights. I have found that my tanks are still pretty happy if I miss a day or two of fertilization every now and then; I just pick up where I left off as if I hadn't skipped a day and everything seems fine.

Now, however, it seems that I will be travelling farther away and will be gone for longer periods of time. For example, the week after next they are sending me to Amsterdam and Paris, and I will be gone for 4 nights. A few weeks after that it looks like I will be gone for nearly a week to Japan and Hong Kong.

I would prefer not to have to get somebody to dose my tanks while I am gone. I guess I could .... but I am really not comfortable with anybody messing with my tanks. I am sure the fish will be fine without food for that amount of time ( I will feed them well before I go and upon my return).

So what shoul I do about the fertilization ?? How about cutting the light timer back to maybe 8 hours and double dosing before I go?

 

[Greg Watson]

Re: EI fertilization dosing while away

I often have to travel for work, but until now I have only been gone for at most two nights.... [...].... but I am really not comfortable with anybody messing with my tanks. I am sure the fish will be fine without food for that amount of time ( I will feed them well before I go and upon my return).

So what shoul I do about the fertilization ?? How about cutting the light timer back to maybe 8 hours and double dosing before I go?

For years, Tom beat me over the head with a 4x4 ... and often grudgingly, I adopted a "best practice" that he recommended ...

I dose macros on M-W-F and Micros on T-Th because I am often gone Fridays through Mondays ... which effectively rules out most weekend dosing ... and my wife and I are often gone for 7-10 days ...

A lot of the world looks at micro managing their nutrient levels (often keeping them as close to the low end of the limits as is possible) ... the really neat thing about the Barr Estimative Index approach, is that it often is essentially looking at the high end of the limits ...

It is my *personal* experience in a 180 gallon aquarium, that if I max out my dosing of macros and micros using the EI recommendations ... 10 days later, I come back to a tank with essentially no algae growth in it ... sometimes the plants are not as nice as they ordinarily are, but no algae ...

The only time I come back to trouble is when my CO2 tank runs out while I am gone ...

Tom keeps harping on most of us to increase the CO2 ... and I can't tell you how important that is ...

Actually ... I often don't realize that I'm out of CO2 until I see little green spots on my glass and then I go "Oh ... I'll bet I need to check my CO2 !!!! ...

Other people's experiences might be different ... other than CO2, I don't personally have any problems being gone for that length of time ...

Greg

 

[Tom Barr]

Re: EI fertilization dosing while away

Lowering light will reduce uptake also. 80-10 hours, do not drop below that, better yet, reduce the intensity, I do not mess with 10-11hours photoperoids.

Regards,
Tom Barr