My first approach to EI-------->Result: Planorbis mass death

[guillermops]

Hi,

The other day I started my way into the amazing EI world by reading some of the posts from this site. I was excited about it so I made my numbers and went to the chemistry shop to get some magic powders...
Using the nutrient calculator suggested by Tom I got the dosages for my non-CO2, low lighting 120L tank as follows:
10 ppm KNO3 + 1 ppm KH2PO4 x2 a week (by selecting the 'EI low light' option)
I dosed the tank last Thursday and tested for nitrates yesterday to start getting a grasp on the nutrient uptake for my plants. They were kind of below 10 ppm, and I thought: cool my veggies are eating!

This morning I've noticed I couldn't see but death Planorbis all over the front and fishes having a feast on their corpses!

Did I miss the shot for that long? What should i've done instead?
Thanks,
Will

 

[csmith]

Unless there were some impurities in your fertilizers (which is a possibility, where were they acquired from?) the dosing shouldn't be at fault. Check the labels of your fertilizers for content, just to be sure.

 

[guillermops]

Hi,

Thanks for the early response
I've check the packagins ans says nothing about impurities (or richness ) the only reference the labels do is the KNO3 is Food Industry grade and the KH2PO4 is Pharma Industry grade...couldn't afford the Lab grade one...

Funny thing is I forgot the guy that passed me the snails said to be very careful and clean well the bottom dirt of the tank "because the NO3 doesn't get down well on these guys"...

Thanks,
Will

 

[DanielSev]

Hi,

If you think that this massive death of your snails is due to a NO3 spike, then you may try to dose EI daily. Anyway, the steady state target for standard EI is about 25-30 ppm of KNO3, thus you don't seem to be adding too much.

Best regards,
Daniel

 

[Florin Ilia]

Is there any proof that NO3 spikes kill snails?

 

[Tom Barr]

I wish EI would kills snails.

I have all these species and try very hard to eradicate them.

MTS, Physa, Planorbis, Assassins, Nerites, the latter 2 to control the others. Which they really do a poor job of truthfully.........
Also, I've set up new ADA AS and even 6-8ppm of NH4 did not kill them.

I wish I could kill snails with KNO3.
Really.........I wish I could. That would be so great.

 

[guillermops]

Hi,
That would be a very interesting topic to know about. That is the main reason I created this thread: is it possible that innorganic ferts kill snails (provided they don't contain traces of copper for example)? if so, what are the theshold values?

I am not sure about the link between my dosage and the deaths...does any of you what concentration values could potentially do that? should I look somewhere else inside my tank?

And also, what is the best strategy (time/cost/difficulty) to keep their shells in good shape?

Will

 

[guillermops]

I wish I could kill snails with KNO3.
Really.........I wish I could. That would be so great.

Hi Tom,
Kill is always simpler than keep, I'm telling you... I read once in a forum a guy that made an electrolitic device with a 9v battery and copper cable, so the Cu ions were profused into the water column. I think it was two days later that you could harvest the dead bodies.
I find this unnecessary cruel. You can always give them away to your cousins and stuff

Will

 

[Florin Ilia]

You can always give them away to your cousins and stuff

If you can catch them... Take a look at Tom's tanks

 

[Tom Barr]

Hi Tom,
Kill is always simpler than keep, I'm telling you... I read once in a forum a guy that made an electrolitic device with a 9v battery and copper cable, so the Cu ions were profused into the water column. I think it was two days later that you could harvest the dead bodies.
I find this unnecessary cruel. You can always give them away to your cousins and stuff

Will

I have little issue smashing every pest snail I see.

They breed faster than I can stop them.

I've run levels up to 100ppm of NO3 from KNO3, no impact of any sort.
30-50ppm for long term.

Most of my tanks run 10-30ppm, so this is what I deal with, the traces are higher, but the copper is a still a very logn way away from doing any harm. CRS and Fire Red shrimp should be far less tolerant than any snail I'm aware of.
And I have plenty of them.

 

[guillermops]

Nothing is simple.

Actually, your signature is kind of annoying It reminds me how far I am from knowing anything...

Thank you guys for all the answers, from my side I consider this thread as closed:

Chemical fertilizers don't kill snails in EI's working doses and that's it.

I would like to keep it short so other people may find this useful info quickly.

Thanks again,