I'm new to EI - can someone please look at this. (thanks)

[rick4him]

Here is my dosing schedule

Dosing Schedule
Sun - No dosing
mon - 50% water change - 1/4 tsb K2SO4, 1/2 tsp GH booster, 1/4 tsb of KN03, 1/16 tsp KH2P04
tue - 1/16 tsb trace (kent, tropica, etc)
wed - 1/4 tsb of KN03, 1/16 tsp KH2P04
thur - 1/16 tsb trace (kent, tropica, etc)
fri - 1/4 tsb of KN03, 1/16 tsp KH2P04
sat -1/16 tsb trace (kent, tropica, etc)

As you can see I only dose KS204 on Monday's after my water change. I have read that people dose it 3x a week. Meaning I should also dose it on days I do my macro's. What do you guys guys think?

What would happen if I didn't have enough k2so4 in my tank? How do I know if I have enough, and what is it used for?

Any suggestions on my dosing?

it looks like I'm not getting enough "K'. What do you think?

Well I was doing the math, and I'm I'm doing my math right, I'm adding only 8.25 "k" into my tank once a week. (via K2SO4) Plus I am getting a very small amount of "K' from my KNO3. So if I am doing my math right, there is no way I am any where around the recommended level of 20ppm, thus meaning my plants aren't getting enough "k".

Also it looks like I am adding WAY to much kh2p04 into my tank. (IF I am doing the math right) it looks like I'm adding around 10-13 ppm of phosphate to my tank, when the suggested level is around 1.0 ppm.
which would cause issues in my tank.

thoughts?

Also it says that you use the "suggested" amounts if you have high light/high planted. If not use 50% - so I'm not sure if my tank is highly planted or not. SHould I use less ferts, more, change some things, etc.

HELP.

 

[VaughnH]

That schedule is about what I used on a 29 gallon tank. It worked ok for me.

 

[rick4him]

That schedule is about what I used on a 29 gallon tank. It worked ok for me.

What about the math that I did - how am I getting 20ppm of "K" with what I"m dosing?

 

[Mooner]

Try this for 2-3 weeks. See how the plants respond. You're looking for a non-limiting dose. The plants will tell you what they need. More than likely you will have to adjust some or all of your schedule to meet their needs.

 

[VaughnH]

You are getting a lot of potassium from the KNO3. In fact that should be all you need. I have never dosed any extra potassium. (That doesn't prove anything, but I'm sure Tom has said repeatedly that extra potassium isn't needed, nor does it do any harm if you chose to dose extra.)

 

[rick4him]

You are getting a lot of potassium from the KNO3. In fact that should be all you need. I have never dosed any extra potassium. (That doesn't prove anything, but I'm sure Tom has said repeatedly that extra potassium isn't needed, nor does it do any harm if you chose to dose extra.)

Ok, sound good. But the dosing schedule I am doing now doesn't sound like I am not doing enough does it?

Is the only worry about dosing to much just that you would be loosing money by wasting ferts? Is overdosing better then under-dosing?

 

[VaughnH]

Some level of all of the fertilizers we use has to be "too much". I believe potassium is no different in that regards, but the levels you would get with your dosing aren't going to be "too much". As I said, you can rely on the potassium in the potassium nitrate being enough, in most cases. If you want to be absolutely sure you have enough you can dose potassium sulphate to get more. I don't think there is any chance that you are dosing too much.

With the EI method we are trying to always dose at least as much of each nutrient as the plants need, and that means we almost always dose more than the plants need. The weekly big water changes "reset" the fertilizer levels so we can't build up any nutrient to the level where it is "too much". If we do 50% weekly water changes, the maximum level will never exceed twice the weekly dosage total. Since the plants are consuming the nutrients, the actual maximum levels will always be less than that.

 

[Tom Barr]

Rick,

I believe I am about the only person in this hobby that's done any controlled test tio investigate what is too much, those upper ranges of nutrients.

CO2 is a more complex test. It involves more accurate measurement, interferences, O2, current, plant biomass, but measuring O2 is a good method to consider most of the main affects.

I've never met anyone to date that's measured the toxic effects on livestock in this hobby under a controlled set up specifically looking at the toxic effects.

As far as plants go, they tend to be much more resilient to nutrient concentrations than fish or shrimp(the most sensitive). Adding to this, I've done plenty of back ground checks on how much NO3 and NH4 are considered toxic.

You should read, or get started(it'll take awhile!), on the BarrReport newsletters.

Those answer a lot. I think when we first start off, we obsess and want to learn everything about it now.

The how is relatively easy in this hobby, the why and theory are not defined well.
I am seeking to change all that which is why there's this site today.

Give those a read.
It'll organize the how, theory and why much better than random thoughts.


Regards,
Tom Barr