overdosing micro's

dear all,

I wondered what would be the effect of overdosing micro's in my tank that is doing reasonable good. Good plant growth (although i see some stunting, little algae apart from some occasional spirogyra?) tank needs pruning at least once a week. 50% of water is changed 2x/week.

What would happen if I add 2-3x the adviced amount of micro's according to EI? Let's assume the tank is light limited and CO2 is not an issue. Is it just a waste of money or could I induce algae, deficiency/toxicity of some element?

greets,

yme

 

it´s doing oke. but can be improved. the wallichii for instance is still a bit ratty. I would like to exclude a microelement deficiency by overdosing. In addition, I would like to see what could happen to a tank when your overdosing. what are the symptoms? but if I understand corectly, there are none, except an empty wallet....

@tom,
I will try to get a better flow. there are enough pumps: 1x eheim professional, 1x 600 watt powerhead (with CO2 inlet) and a 900 watt powerhead connected to an external co2 reactor (this one is not pumping too fast).

thanks!

yme

 

hi Tom,

you already suggested that and I followed your advice. It receives now more CO2 than the tonina (which is growing great). KH is around 3 and GH is 7. As you may remember I gassed my fish due to a too high CO2 level. pH is now 5.90

greets,

yme

 

hi Tom,

waterchanges (2x/weeek 50%) and ferts adding are very consistant (have printed a scheme which is next to the tank). cleaning the pump was was done 2 weeks ago. I could imagine that it is still a CO2 related issue. growth has improved since I put it next to the CO2 outlets. If so, it is just tweaking.
A week ago I showed someone how the automatic CO2/pH electrode worked. I put the electrode in a cup of tapwater and showed him my "mist". Unfortunately, I forgot to put the electrode back in the tank. So 15 minutes later I saw my fish at the surface: pH was 5.67. Due to this accident I now now that 5.67 is too low. pH is now 5.90 so only a 0.2 difference that's left (i know, that's still a lot of CO2). Although it's not related to the wallichii I can imagine that there is a lack of current (and therefore CO2) on the opposing side of the CO2 outlet. It's really full of plants: less current.

If that doesn't work, I'll try less light. on my 100x30x30 (cm), 90 liter tank I have 2x 30 watt T8 for 10 hours and 1x 30 watt T8 for 1 hour.
*just did a bit of converting: 9 hours 2.5 watt/gallon and 1 hour 3.75 watt/gallon. this is in bruto liters and I have reflectors on all TLs. maybe I can remove the light pak of 1 hour.....*

in respect to untested elements: I'll go to the LFS to test for copper. BTW have you ever heard of aluminium poisoning? I have seen a great tank which has a aluminium hood. Some parts can come in contact with condensed water from the tank and may fall back into the tank. Would this be a problem? (it is rally a very nice tank).

a bit off-topic....

greets,

yme

 

hi Tom,

I don't think there is pearling after just 2 hours. I never really monitored it specifically, but I think it takes 4 hours. If I remember correctly, I do see bubbles at the needle plants, but that is (I think) just trapped CO2 mist.

greets,

yme