EI or PPS-Pro...Help Me Decide

[Rak9378]

I have been researching both methods and I think I am going to go with EI but I was hoping to get some opinions here before I make my final decision. So first some background. I have a 54g tank that is on its way to becoming heavily planted. Substrate includes Flourite and I have been dosing 1-2x a week with Flourish. No CO2 and at this time I don't intend to start with pressurized CO2 but I am going to start dosing with Excel. My goal here is to really just to have a lush vibrant planted aquarium and maybe speed up growth a little (I'm not looking for explosive growth). Lighting consists of a T5 HO with two 10,000k daylight bulbs and I'm currently running it for 8 hours a day. I'm considering replacing one bulb with something in the 6,000k range and reducing lighting to 6 hours.

Here is a link to a thread with pics if anyone wants to see...
http://www.aquariumadvice.com/forums/f24/aquascape-advice-290206.html

So my thought is to do a modified version of EI whereby I would dose at lower levels than what is recommended for my tank size given that I'm not going to be using pressurized CO2. I may also do some testing at first even though EI does not require this just to get a baseline for parameters and then once I see how the plants react I can make adjustments accordingly. As for dosing nitrogen, I have a pretty full fish load so my nitrates are already in the 20ppm range so I'm thinking I may not dose nitrogen unless I see my nitrates drop.
So my questions to anyone reading this are as follows:
1) What do you think of my plan? Any advice would be much appreciated
2) To anyone currently using EI what has been your experience? Pros vs cons?
3) To anyone using PPS-Pro, why should I be using that method instead of EI?
Thanks for the help!

 

[Mebbid]

1 - EI is formulated to dose for a specific amount. I wouldn't cut back on anything just in case it drops below the necessary amount for the plants.

2 - I like EI but it's a bit hungry on the ferts. I am actually waiting for the pps pro ferts to arrive in the mail so I can give it a try.

 

[Hawkins409]

I use EI. I've never tried PPS pro. Last time I posted on a thread for this topic, there were excellent points made by both sides. EI supporters will tell you it is easier. PPS Pro people will tell you that what they do isn't difficult, and it avoids overuse of ferts. EI supporters do 50 percent water changes per week to take out those extra ferts. There's no right answer, in my opinion. What is great is that you are trying dry ferts. It's less expensive than liquid ferts and root tabs, and your plants will flourish. It really does make a big difference.

 

[Hawkins409]

I think of EI dosing as being like taking a multivitamin. PPS Pro is taking 3 or 4 separate vitamins and that you can adjust to exactly what your body needs. The multivitamin will give you more than you need, so those people have to flush it out. Haha

 

[Mebbid]

I feel the need to point out that dry fert dosing doesn't take place of root tabs under plants. Other than that Hawkins put it very well.

 

[flitabout]

Well I really can't say which is easier. I have only used pps-pro. The premise behind it is to give the plants what they need daily and they always have what the need to maximize growth and decrease water changes. I still do weekly 50% water changes. The premise behind EI dosing is that you overdose everything so the plants never have to compete to for nutrients to it supposed to maximize growth. Then reset every week with a large 50% water change. But from what I have seen they are both very close. I am lazy so I like pps-pro. I add the same amount of ferts every morning before the lights come on. One side gets 4 mls of macros the other side gets 4mls of the micros. The mixed bottles last about 2 months with my 2 tanks. In EI I have heard of dosing macros one day and micros the next. In basically the same way. The ferts that are used are the same. I think there is very little if any difference in them in the long run. Both are customizable for your tanks needs. Main difference is how they are dosed rather than what is dosed.

 

[Rak9378]

1 - EI is formulated to dose for a specific amount. I wouldn't cut back on anything just in case it drops below the necessary amount for the plants.

2 - I like EI but it's a bit hungry on the ferts. I am actually waiting for the pps pro ferts to arrive in the mail so I can give it a try.

Thx Mebbid. The reason I am considering cutting back the dosage or at least the number of days I dose is because I'm not using pressurized CO2. I have read that this is the appropriate thing to do with low tech tanks because the recommended dosage levels for EI are based on high tech tanks with CO2 of 30ppm. I realize using excel is not considered low tech but I wouldn't consider it high tech either. Thoughts? Thx for the tip on root tabs. I do have a sword that would benefit from root tabs so I will look into it.

I use EI. I've never tried PPS pro. Last time I posted on a thread for this topic, there were excellent points made by both sides. EI supporters will tell you it is easier. PPS Pro people will tell you that what they do isn't difficult, and it avoids overuse of ferts. EI supporters do 50 percent water changes per week to take out those extra ferts. There's no right answer, in my opinion. What is great is that you are trying dry ferts. It's less expensive than liquid ferts and root tabs, and your plants will flourish. It really does make a big difference.

I think of EI dosing as being like taking a multivitamin. PPS Pro is taking 3 or 4 separate vitamins and that you can adjust to exactly what your body needs. The multivitamin will give you more than you need, so those people have to flush it out. Haha

Thx Hawkins. The biggest argument I have seen against EI is the water changes but I already do large weekly water changes given my fish load. EI just seems more straightforward to me. Never thought of it like a vitamin we would take lol

Well I really can't say which is easier. I have only used pps-pro. The premise behind it is to give the plants what they need daily and they always have what the need to maximize growth and decrease water changes. I still do weekly 50% water changes. The premise behind EI dosing is that you overdose everything so the plants never have to compete to for nutrients to it supposed to maximize growth. Then reset every week with a large 50% water change. But from what I have seen they are both very close. I am lazy so I like pps-pro. I add the same amount of ferts every morning before the lights come on. One side gets 4 mls of macros the other side gets 4mls of the micros. The mixed bottles last about 2 months with my 2 tanks. In EI I have heard of dosing macros one day and micros the next. In basically the same way. The ferts that are used are the same. I think there is very little if any difference in them in the long run. Both are customizable for your tanks needs. Main difference is how they are dosed rather than what is dosed.

Thx for the PPS perspective! Like you I want the easiest method.....let's say we are efficient instead of lazy ... EI actually appeals more to me for this reason because it's not exact. No testing because you're not working towards specific parameters but the plants get what they need and aren't lacking.

 

[flitabout]

For me I would do the testing regardless of dosing regime. My tanks go through a varying amount of phosphates. My tap tank 1 week had 1ppm and my RO tank had .25 and was showing small spots of GSA. When I saw it my first thought was to test for the phosphate. Which was low. So I dry dosed the potassium phosphate mix to 5ppm. In 2 days my phosphates were back down to 1ppm. Without the testing I wouldn't have known what my tank needed. It's also not an everyday test just once a week before the water change. I also never dose nitrates. In my personal opinion I would test regardless of the which dosing I did but that's just me. Well that and my tap has unstable conditions!

 

[Rak9378]

For me I would do the testing regardless of dosing regime. My tanks go through a varying amount of phosphates. My tap tank 1 week had 1ppm and my RO tank had .25 and was showing small spots of GSA. When I saw it my first thought was to test for the phosphate. Which was low. So I dry dosed the potassium phosphate mix to 5ppm. In 2 days my phosphates were back down to 1ppm. Without the testing I wouldn't have known what my tank needed. It's also not an everyday test just once a week before the water change. I also never dose nitrates. In my personal opinion I would test regardless of the which dosing I did but that's just me. Well that and my tap has unstable conditions!

I intend to test initially just for that reason. But overtime I would like to be able to go without testing or at least infrequent testing. That is my hope anyway.

 

[Rak9378]

Ferts have been ordered!! I have decided to go with a modified EI. Given that I will be using Excel instead of pressurized CO2 I will dose ferts at the amounts recommended for the tank size range below mine (ie half of the amounts required for my tank size). I think I may only do 2x a week to start and do some testing to see what my uptake is and then modify from there if needed. Thx to all for your views/advice.

 

[Hawkins409]

Sounds like a reasonable plan to me.

Testing: I do EI and don't do any testing unless I suspect a problem. You aren't going to find many people that will support going without testing, but I guess what I'm saying is that you are in the company of someone else who does doesn't test but does do weekly 50 percent water changes. I know, I know, there are people who won't agree with that.

Low dose or skipping doses: I dose at the recommended levels every other day, at least that's my plan. These are little bity, fraction of a teaspoon scoops we are talking about here even for my 75g. I'm not perfect, so also inadvertently skip doses sometimes. If I skip a couple of doses in a row, I might see the plants lose their color or see an algae problem start to come on.

 

[Mebbid]

Just dose the full amount of ei with excel. That's what I did for about 6 months with no ill effects. I did increase to 6x the recommended dosage of excel though so the plants didnt run low.

 

[Rak9378]

Sounds like a reasonable plan to me.

Testing: I do EI and don't do any testing unless I suspect a problem. You aren't going to find many people that will support going without testing, but I guess what I'm saying is that you are in the company of someone else who does doesn't test but does do weekly 50 percent water changes. I know, I know, there are people who won't agree with that.

Low dose or skipping doses: I dose at the recommended levels every other day, at least that's my plan. These are little bity, fraction of a teaspoon scoops we are talking about here even for my 75g. I'm not perfect, so also inadvertently skip doses sometimes. If I skip a couple of doses in a row, I might see the plants lose their color or see an algae problem start to come on.

Thx Hawkins. I appreciate the feedback.

Just dose the full amount of ei with excel. That's what I did for about 6 months with no ill effects. I did increase to 6x the recommended dosage of excel though so the plants didnt run low.

I would dose full amount but I don't want to use 6x the recommended dosage of Excel. That's why I'm scaling back the dosage for the ferts. But thx for your suggestion.