Please check my EI dosing

[idylldon]

Hello,

I have a 55-gallon planted tank with a light fish load (two adult angels and four corys). Although I don't have it fully planted yet, I should have tomorrow when a shipment comes in.

The stats:

Lighting: 2.8 wpg
GH: 4
KH: 4
pH: 7.4
CO2: ~25 ppm. (keep my pH around 6.8 during the day, turn it off at night)
NO3: 5
Substrate: regular gravel

I'd like to start doing the EI dosing regime tomorrow after a 50% water change, and I was thinking about starting with this:

Thursday: 50% water change, 1/2 tsp. KNO3, 1/16 tsp. KH2PO4
Friday: 10ml Flourish
Saturday: Macros as above
Sunday: 10 ml Flourish
Monday: Macros as above
Tuesday: 10ml Flourish
Wednesday: off

Is this a good starting point or is something horribly off?

Also, I've been fighting the diatom problem since I set this tank up a couple of months ago. Will getting my dosing down with the proper light and CO2 move this stuff out for good?

Thanks in advance for any advice.

Cheers,
--
Don

 

[Laith]

Re: Please check my EI dosing

You need to get your CO2 up. At a pH of 7.4 you are at 5mg/l of CO2. At a pH of 6.8 you are at 19mg/l of CO2.

You want a consistent 30 to 40mg/l level of CO2 during lights on...

 

[Cornhusker]

Re: Please check my EI dosing

your diatom issue can be taken care of with the use of otto's.get at least a dozen or so.i've also found that the addition of mag. and seachem eq.helps a lot.it seems like from my experience its hard to start a tank out on regular gravel.they start so much easier with flourite,onyx,ec,OR the new substrate our weedman is coming up with. regards,cornhusker

 

[idylldon]

Re: Please check my EI dosing

your diatom issue can be taken care of with the use of otto's.get at least a dozen or so.i've also found that the addition of mag. and seachem eq.helps a lot.it seems like from my experience its hard to start a tank out on regular gravel.they start so much easier with flourite,onyx,ec,OR the new substrate our weedman is coming up with. regards,cornhusker

The angelfish will eat the ottos (they're very small) that I have, so I'm trying to grow them out a bit in my 15 gallon before putting them in the 55.

As for substrate, yeah, I wish I could've found some good substrate locally, but there isn't anything available and I sure don't want to spend the money on shipping bags of flourite or eco-complete. I plan to do something about the substrate when I get to the "big" city where there are numerous stores that carry it, though I might just wait for Tom's mixture.

Do I need to dose some Mg.? I have epsom salts and can do it if needed. Suggested dosage?

Thanks,
--
Don

 

[idylldon]

Re: Please check my EI dosing

OK. I've been doing the EI dosing schedule as outlined in my first post above for a week now and have seen excellent results in plant growth and pearling. I upped my CO2 to between 30 - 40 and it stays constant throughout lights on. I have plenty of water movement with two Emperor 280 filters (I made some baffles so there's little surface movement but good water-column current).

A couple of questions:

1.) I noticed that at the dosing levels I use I might not be getting the recommended levels of K as suggested in the EI article. Do I need to add more K by using K2SO4? Is there any household/garden products that are pure K2SO4? I've done two orders with Greg and have forgotten to get some each time.

2.) While the plants are doing great, I fear that they'll be done in by the brown algae that still plagues my tank. It isn't a brand-new tank (it's about 2 months along now) and I have 2.8 wpg. About the only variable that I don't know regarding brown algae growth is the amount of silicates in my water. The water company doesn't have that info (aren't required to test for it they told me). I bought a rubbernose pleco who is diligently working on the algae, but at the rate it grows I'd need about 10 of them to keep up. Otos are out because they'd last about a nanosecond with the adult angels. Any ideas on how to get this diatom problem handled would be greatly appreciated. At this point, I'm ready to try dynamite.

Cheers,
--
Don

 

[Cornhusker]

Re: Please check my EI dosing

if otto's are a added treat for your angel fish, try bushynose pleco's,say three or four,try to find half grown ones ,they would eat better. that might solve your problem with diatom,that is a very short lived algae. regards,cornhusker