EI rest day and water change...

[MyCatsDrool]

Should you dose ferts on the water change day or rest? Should you rest the day before or the day after your H2O change?


Currently i am doing

M Macros
T Micros/Excel
W Macros
T Micros/Excel
F Macros
S Micros + KNO3/Excel
S H2O change and no dose

Is this appropriate?

 

[SparKy697]

Are you able to get the results you want with only dosing Excel every other day? I was dosing it every day and still didn't like the results.

I include KNO3 as a macro and dose the micro's on their own. Something that I notice is that you might get more benefit if you dose KNO3 after your water change. If you think about it, you are only getting one day worth of results from it.

I dose nothing on PWC day. FWIW

 

[MyCatsDrool]

I also include KNO3 in my macro days. I usually run low on nitrogen so I dose KNO3 an additional day (saturday) with micros.

So i should consider dosing KNO3 on sunday as well and do excel daily?

 

[An t-iasg]

This is how I dose - I do a water change on Saturday. If it's Saturday morning, I do my first macro dose after the WC and turn the tank lights on. If it's Saturday night, then I turn the lights off after the WC and do not dose. In this case, then Sunday morning becomes my first macro dose. I keep track in a notebook when I do water changes because my macro-micro days shift depending on when I do the water change. My routine may be tweaked a little from week to wee, but generally I don't do any dosing the day before a water change. If you dose 3 days of macros and 3 days of micros, then the 7th day should be a rest day.

 

[rich311k]

I dose macros ao water change day and alternate between micros and macros the rest of the week. I rest on the day before water change day.

If you are not happy with you growth there is no harm in dosing Excel everyday.

 

[SparKy697]

I'm not sure about the effects of dosing nitro with the micros, we'll have to see what the experts say. I would think that if you are running low by sat. you may want to up your dosage during the week.

If you have enough plant mass that you are eating up KNO3 in such a short time, I suspect that you would benefit from more carbon. If excel is your only carbon source, I would use it daily. I was thinking that you were a DIY co2 person?

 

[MyCatsDrool]

so i guess what i am asking is should i dose on WC day or is it ok to have this be the rest day?

 

[SparKy697]

Not to be evasive, but are you not happy with your plant growth?

I don't think that anything bad can happen if you do.

 

[rich311k]

I think if you do the water change and then dose the next day your plants go a day without ferts. Of course this depends on when you do the water change and what your lighting cycle is. I do my water change on Sunday afternoons in the beginning of my lights on period, so I add my macros when I am done and we are off and running for another week.

 

[MyCatsDrool]

well. i just recently decided to really take this planted tank seriously and do all i can to make it lush. So, I was unhappy with my plant growth. But i added a LOT more co2, gw ferts, and excel to my tank. This was only a week ago, and i am already seeing excellerated growth, but it is still too soon to tell.

I am just trying to understand proper dosing for EI


EDIT: I am DIY CO2...2 hagen systems + 2 gallon jugs of DIY diffused into the filter.

 

[Hoovercat]

Generally, you want to dose after water change so you don't "bottom out" after you dilute your fert solution by adding 50% undosed water. I would drop the suturday dose. Even though you know KNO3 is getting low then. You're essentially wasting what you dosed on Sat. by changing 50% on Sun. If you know KNO3 gets low by late in the week dose extra on Fri. instead. That way your plants get to use it by Sat. lights out.

 

[Hoovercat]

In general, EI is designed to overdose most of your ferts by week's end. Changing 50% at week's end removes any and all excesses.

 

[dapellegrini]

I also dose nothing the day before PWC and dose my Macros back in right after the PWC. Since the plants will use the Macros without regard to the lighting cycle, there is no need to worry about doing the PWC early in the day. Micros on the other hand can be more effective if dosed at the beginning of your daily photo period.

I would say up you KNO3 dosing, only dose Excel on Saturday, and dose your macros back in on Sunday with or after your PWC. When you first get into the swing of it, it can seem like you are dosing A LOT, but if you are sticking with the EI numbers for your tank size and keeping your CO2 above 25ppm all will be well.

HTH