How do I account for fish crap?

[Jersey Scape]

HI,

I am currently using the EI method of fertilizing where I dose the following:

30 Gallon Tank, 3.2wpg, VERY HIGH CO2 close to 70ppm

3 x a week --- 3 Pinches of KNO3
3 x a week --- 1.5 smidgens of Mono Potassium Phosphate
3 x a week --- Flourish Excel 7mls
1 x a week --- 1/2 tablespoon Equilibrium

I have about 30 new endlers in the tank, so I'm wondering if I should decrease the ferts and by how much. I do weekly water changes of about 60% religiously. As you can tell, I'm not an expert in this fertilizing thing so I usually dose what I am told to... Any suggestions?

Here is what the tank basically looks like...

Thank You

 

[Greg Watson]

Re: How do I account for fish crap?

Nice looking tank!

The endlers are not going to contribute enough bio-load in that tank to materially impact what you are dosing. Keep up the good work.

I love your tank!

Greg

 

[Jersey Scape]

Re: How do I account for fish crap?

Thanks...

Tank looks a bit different now, I have about 30 downois in the front. No more blyxa or the dwarf sags.

You are the one that helped me out a few months ago when I emailed you about ferts. To this day I still have no real clue as to what anything is but I keep dosing the suggested routine along with regular water changes and I have ZERO algae. You might find the occasional green spot here and there on the glass but nothing else. I guess it's because I blast the hell out of the Co2 plus I add one capful of Excell just in case. Heck, I blast so much CO2 that my 5 pound tank is half empty after 4 months and it's used on a 30 gallon.

I just had a major issue with Green Water for about 3 weeks. It all started when I did major uprooting without changing the water that day but I finally won the battle.

Here is how I did it:

All the conventional rules were broken.

I was so pissed off at the green water that I literally wanted to take a baseball bat to the tank and start over. The blackout method did not work and ruined many of my plants. Yep, I got even angrier. Anyway, I came home a few days ago and changed 99% of the water 3 times. I drained the water until I heard the fish splashing and then refilled it to the top. The water was drained again and filled back up. Then I said, "Ahh, what the hell lets do it one more time for good luck". So I drained it and refilled it again. I quickly washed my filters and got the entire set up running without fertilizing. This all happened on Friday so no ferts went in that day, Saturday nor today. I will also be performing a water change today (Sunday) and will start the regular dosing routine again. The water has been crystal clear, fish are doing great and I'm extremely pleased with the results. I forgot to mention, after I filled the tank each time I would go in with a net and find as many dead or decaying leaves as possible. Since the blackout killed many leaves they were all over the place just sitting and decaying but when the water was green I was not able to see them. Another observation was that there were many dead pond and ramshorn snails just laying there on the bottom; might have been from the crazy amount of Co2 or the Excel. I also stuck in some willow branches that are growing roots pretty fast, taking all the excess nutrients out of the water. Needless to say, the tank looks excellent and I don't have to break it with the bat anymore.