Questions about non-CO2 tank and estimative index

Hi,
I just have a couple of questions as I launch into using the EI (when my fertilizers arrive).

I have a 10g and if you read my other thread, you know I have a couple of issues I'm trying to work around for now.

1. CO2 - I'm not ready to invest in a CO2 system yet. Ultimately when I get a bigger tank that's what I'm going to do. But in the meantime someone mentioned using Flourish Excel in place of CO2. If I do this, how should I go about using the estimative index? I would assume that I will still need to cut back the recommended dosage. I've had lots of bga issues in the past and I don't want to way overdo it because I'm afraid of a bloom, plus my lighting isn't very good (see #2).

2. The other issue is lighting. My hood only has screw in type light sockets so I'm using a 13w screw in florescent bulb right now. I was thinking about perhaps removing that fixture and making something up diy to install a florescent tube. If I do this, what should I be looking for in a bulb and what should I avoid? Without CO2 I probably don't want to overdo it on the light either, so what should I go for as far as wattage goes? I have Hygrophila polysperma and a java fern, both of which are doing ok with the 13w bulb and actually a while back I had 2- 25 watt incandescent bulbs and they did ok with that too.

Thanks!

 

I found 10 watt bulbs that are rated at 6500K, "daylight." I'm not sure how well they will work but the tank looks so awesome now because the lighting is a different color.

So with the 2-10 watt bulbs, how many hours a day should I leave them on? I'm not dosing ferts yet, they will probably take a couple of weeks to get here. But I am adding calcium and magnesium to increase kH and gH because my tap water is 0 on both counts.

Also I added some plants now, I have one Vals and two Crypts, besides the java fern and hygro. The man at the shop told me those would be good for a low light tank.

So considering that I want to avoid algae at all costs, how many hours should I start using the lights for as a minimum? And should I increase my lighting once I get the ferts? And, I couldn't find any Excel so this is going to be strictly non-CO2 for now.

 

Yes, they are simultaneous. Do I need to increase lighting when I get my fertilizers or just keep it at 8 hours no matter what?

I'm trying to figure out exactly what I need to be adding to get my water up to par. I saw the measurements of fertilizers for non-co2 tanks somewhere on the board, I'll find that again. Also what I'm trying to figure out is how much calcium and magnesium I need to be adding to bring up my gh and kh to decent levels. I'm adding a little at a time until I get it increased to appropriate levels, but since my tap water is 0 on both counts I need to get a solid measurement of what I need to add every water change for calcium and magnesium, same as the fertilizers. Pretty much my water is just like distilled, the pH is 6.4 out of the tap, no buffer at all. It apparently has tannic acid in it, that's what I was told, due to the yellowish color. It's obviously not iron. The water is so acidic that my in-laws house which was only 15 years old, had to be totally replumbed with plastic pipe, the copper sprung leaks all over the place. So there's probably copper in my water too from the pipes here.

 

I might be able to get some info on the water down at the town hall. I live in a really small town in central Newfoundland on the ocean.

I cut the lights down to 6 hours for now until I get my ferts because I noticed after just one day, algae forming on my hygro. I don't want to let it get a foothold again.

I'm going to see if I can find any info on the internet about what else could be in the water here. We have a constant problem with blue residue in the bathtub and sinks, I thought this was from copper leaching from the pipes but I'm not really sure.

 

Hi,
Sorry I wasn't specific enough. I am adding calcium carbonate which will increase both KH and GH as well as epsom salts for GH. Plus some baking soda too sometimes.

The tap water is 6.4 pH.

We do have a whole house carbon filter installed, but the problem is that the copper is coming from our house water pipes after the water hits the filter.

Will running carbon in my tank remove the calcium and magnesium that I am trying to increase, or will it affect fertilizers? Will copper harm plants? I know it harms some types of fish.

Thanks!

 

Ok, I added carbon to the filter and I'm going to start adding baking soda, epsom salts, and calcium carbonate to each 50% water change. I started off yesterday adding about 1 tsp of each (baking soda and epsom salts) to my 4 gallon water change and it brought the KH up to 80 and GH up to 50 (both near 0 before). The pH also went up to about 7.6. Fish seem to be doing ok so far. The carbon didn't affect my KH overnight. I also put a few seashells in my filter too to keep the KH up. Not sure if I mentioned that I added two crypts and a vals so the tank is pretty well planted now. My lighting is still at 6 hours/day until I get my ferts.

How often should I be changing the carbon? And I heard once that carbon will leach phosphates into the water, is this true?