have seen, however much much bigger tanks maintained by pros with my exact Co2 setup achieve better results with less Co2 that I am blasting...
I'm just following the rotabutterfly.com recommended EI dosages. Before switching to EI I was advised to see whether or not my previous regime was really providing enough ferts because I didn't know whether I had reached my max plant uptake. I can see now that I had not because the plants are growing even better with the new regime. However you're right that switching to full EI is probably too much for what my plants need, so I am dialling down my micros. I believe they are accelerating clado growth.Julia Adkins said:I don't understand why you are dosing with 3-4 times the recommended dosage.
6 weeks into EI and things got worse algae-wise now with bba and gsa all joining my clado!
I was perplexed as to why my hairgrass not growing well since it was getting blasted with CO2 but came to the conclusion that perhaps it was the regular trimming that was attracting the clado.
Unfortunately I had to idea what my GH is (have trouble deciphering test kits) but I live in Hong Kong and the water here is reported to be very soft so..... this week I tried boosting GH during WC by adding about 1tsp of epsom salt and some K2SO4 and I did not experience a big algae explosion like I did before after adding my macros, so... maybe GH is really the key in my tank.
Tank doesn't actually look this bad, but I have some gsa on the glass clouding the photo.
The leaves in my pogostemmon have exploded since EI and I have never seen such radiance.
Why are you dosing 3-4 times recommended amount? If you are dosing more than your plants require then something else is going to move in and use the nutrients
For example, here are some optimum values for different plant species (optimum concentration = external concentration of nutrients needed for maximal growth):
Pistia stratiotes = 19 ppm NO3, 8.9 ppm PO4
Salvinia minima = 23.5 ppm NO3, 8.9 ppm PO4
Vallisneria americana = 93 ppm NO3
Ruppia maritima = 6.8 ppm NO3, 0.2-0.4 ppm PO4, 0.08 ppm Fe
Lagarosiphon major = 3.7 ppm NO3, 0.37 ppm PO4
Elodea canadensis, Elodea nuttallii = 7.4 ppm NO3, 0.74 ppm PO4
Eichhornia crassipes = 22 ppm NO3, 1.5-3.0 ppm PO4
Callitriche cophocarpa = 19 ppm CO2
Elodea canadensis = 35 ppm CO2
Egeria najas, Egeria densa = 44 ppm CO2
Potamogeton crispus = 66 ppm CO2
Hydrilla verticillata, Ceratophyllum demersum, Myriophyllum spicatum = 22 ppm CO2
Utricularia species = 44 ppm CO2
Hydrilla verticillata = 2.4 ppm Fe
Potamogeton gramineus = 0.9 ppm Fe
Potamogeton nodosus = 5.6 ppm Fe
Potamogeton pectinatus = 8.9 ppm Fe
Apprentice said:One trick I learned from the web to read GH at lower levels is instead of looking at vial from side, look at it straight down from the top.