EI Guidance

[groovyfishguy]

I have been roughly following the EI Using The seachem line for about 3 weeks. So far the results are amazing. Since I set up this tank 2 months ago I have had some BBA, Gren dust, and what I think is staghorn... Alll seem to be in retreat now...

Heres the tank Parameters
190 Gallons
4x96 CF Lighting with reflectors
11 Hour a day photoperiod
Undergravel filter (soon to be replaced with 2 Eheim's)
Pressurised co2 kept in the 30ppm range with lights
PH 6.9 Photoperiod
PH 7.5 Non Photo
KH 8
NO3 seems to be hovering around 20-25


Water Report

Copper 1.12 ppm
ph 7.6
calcium 72ppm
magnesium 26ppm
Nitrate .458 ppm
Ortho Phosphate .058 ppm
Potassium .0036 ppm
Sulfate 230 ppm
Silica 8.8 ppm
Hardness 290 ppm
TDS 633 Ppm


Plants
15 Italian Vals
15 Vals
20 Dwarf Sag
15 C Willisi
15 C Wendtii
15 C Balanese
4 C Lucen
20 Stems Golden Jenny (growing like mad)
10 Anubius Nana
2 Anubius Coffeola
3 Large Red Spot Ozelot Swords
3 Small Red spot ozelot swords
1 Kleiner Bar sword
20 Java Ferns

Fish

9 Clown Loaches
6 Botia Histrionica
4 Botia Striata
2 Botia Sids.
5 Panda Cories
2 Porthole Cats
9 Oto Cats
3 Rubbernose Plecos
3 CLown Plecos

12 Rummynose tetras
14 Glowlight Tetras
12 Lemon Tetras
1 Bamboo Shrimp

So I Guess I would consider this a Light/Medium Planted Tank with a Medium/Heavy fish load ( Not quite one inch per gallon ATM)

So here is what I was going to dose

1.5tsp KNO3 4x a week
.25 KH2PO4 4x a week
35 Ml CSM+B 3x a week (based on one TBSP per 250 ml solution)

When I was switching over I ran out of K and I think it bottomed out my new growth on my vals was almost white.. hardly any green.

What do you all think is this regiment a good place to start?

Eagerly waiting your instruction
Robert

 

[Tom Barr]

Re: EI Guidance

Well, the KNO3 adds enough K+ for 4x the tank/plant biomass.
I suppose you mean when you were dosing the SeaChem stuff?

Anyway, GH/KH are great.
Copper is interestingly high, might want to test that in the tap/tank.

Crypts like Copper actually.

I'd suggest a lot more Anubiuas nana, some java fern etc in the darker recesses, on wood etc.

The routine sounds good.

Make the water changes easy on you, use a large siphon to drain or hard plumb or see the water change device links on the net.

Regards,
Tom Barr

 

[groovyfishguy]

Re: EI Guidance

Tom,

Yeah I was using seachem and ran out of the K+ before I got gregs stuff
Thanks for the tips I will keep you posted.

 

[Tom Barr]

Re: EI Guidance

Just give it a few weeks and keep up on things and the tank will stabilize well.

Regards,
Tom Barr

 

[tnnlynch]

Re: EI Guidance

Are you worried the clown loaches will get a bit crowded as the tank grows in and they get larger? I have 6 red line barbs (puntius desonii) that seem a bit crowded by the plant growth in my 120. Then again maybe the fish love it as their color is fine. Anyway, it sounds like a really nice tank. Good luck with eliminating the algae.
Tom

 

[groovyfishguy]

Re: EI Guidance

Are you worried the clown loaches will get a bit crowded as the tank grows in and they get larger? I have 6 red line barbs (puntius desonii) that seem a bit crowded by the plant growth in my 120. Then again maybe the fish love it as their color is fine. Anyway, it sounds like a really nice tank. Good luck with eliminating the algae.
Tom

Im not too worried about it as they don't grow too fast. I've had 3 of them for about 2 years and they are maybe 4 inches the others are all around an inch or so.