EI Dosing Help - 12 Gal - Now with Dry Ferts!

[Purrbox]

I'd skip the Friday macro dosing, and dose those amount on Saturday right after the water change. This will help to ensure that your nutrients don't bottom out as a result of the water change. Otherwise it looks good.

Sorry we lost you with the math, but I'd say that we've reached a consensus with the final numbers that Wizard of Ozz posted.

 

[David14259]

Thanks purrbox.

One question, why is the dose for the Phosphorus so much higher than the rest? I'm going to go through my Flourish pretty quickly dosing 24mL 3X a week.

Here is the final Schedule with Amounts:

Sunday:
Excel 1.0 mL
Flourish 3.0 mL

Monday:
Excel 1.0 mL
Nitrogen 5.5 mL
Potassium 7.0 mL
Phosphorus 24.0 mL

Tuesday:
Excel 1.0 mL
Flourish 2.0 mL

Wednesday:
Excel 1.0 mL
Nitrogen 5.5 mL
Potassium 7.0 mL
Phosphorus 24.0 mL

Thursday:
Excel 1.0 mL
Flourish 2.0 mL

Friday:
Excel 1.0 mL

Saturday:
50% PWC
Excel 4.0 mL
Nitrogen 5.5 mL
Potassium 7.0 mL
Phosphorus 24.0 mL

 

[Zezmo]

Zezmo has adjusted a couple of the numbers.. not sure where his are from tho

I based the recommendations on a 30/3/30 ppm strategy. That said, I think the routine that Wizzard and Purrbox recommend sounds good. The final proposed strategy as listed above looks pretty good. The Phosphorus is a bit high, you could cut that dosage in half and still be in good shape. Remember, these are only starting points. Actual dosing will have to be adjusted over time based on the results in the tank. Give any routing at least a month to see the results before adjusting.

Your routine should provide these weekly PPMs.
Nitrogen:27.62
Phosphorus:7.51
Potassium:29.19
Iron:0.494

The excel dosage could also be doubled, or tripled without issue. Start with the 1ml, if you start getting any algae issues, try upping that before adjusting the other ferts.

 

[rkilling1]

I would either do the PWC on sunday with the routine you have listed or move your dosing in one day. You want to dose the Macro's right after the PWC.

By dosing per your schedule, you risk bottoming out on one of your Macro's between friday and sunday.

 

[David14259]

I would either do the PWC on sunday with the routine you have listed or move your dosing in one day. You want to dose the Macro's right after the PWC.

By dosing per your schedule, you risk bottoming out on one of your Macro's between friday and sunday.

Define "Macro" Please.

I thought doing the PWC first on Saturday, then dosing the chemicals after the PWC would take care of the bottoming out problem.

 

[rkilling1]

I would either do the PWC on sunday with the routine you have listed or move your dosing in one day. You want to dose the Macro's right after the PWC.

By dosing per your schedule, you risk bottoming out on one of your Macro's between friday and sunday.

Define "Macro" Please.

I thought doing the PWC first on Saturday, then dosing the chemicals after the PWC would take care of the bottoming out problem.

Disreguard what I said. I could of swore that I read your schedule of dosing the NPK on sunday and doing the PWC on saturday.

It all looks good.

 

[Purrbox]

Macros are Nitrates, Phosphates, and Potassium. Micros are also referred to as Traces, and are the rest of the nutrients your plants need.

I believe taht rkilling was refering to the first dosing schedule you listed. Your adjusted schedule looks fine.

The reason that the Phosphorus dosing is so much higher, is simply because that fert is very dilute. I would definately recommend switching to dry ferts when you Flourish ferts run out. It will last a lot longer and costs quite a bit less.

 

[David14259]

The reason that the Phosphorus dosing is so much higher, is simply because that fert is very dilute. I would definately recommend switching to dry ferts when you Flourish ferts run out. It will last a lot longer and costs quite a bit less.

Alright, I'll switch to dry ferts when I run out of Flourish. However, you know that that means we'll have to redo all these calculations....

Thank you all for your work and input. I don't think I could have figured that all out myself. I'm still rather lost.

My plants thank you!

 

[David14259]

Ok....Dry Ferts now.

Hey guys, I got my dry ferts from Greg Watson or whatever his name is.

Here is where I'm at:

KNO3: 6.5tsp/36.4g in 500mL of water.
1mL will give me 1.0 ppm Nitrate

KH2PO4: 6.5tsp/31.2g in 500mL of water.
1mL will give me 1.0 ppm Phosphate

K2SO4: 8.5tsp/51.0g in 500mL water.
1mL will give me 1.0 ppm Potassium

CSM+B: ??tsp/??g in 225mL water.
1mL will give me ??? ppm Trace Nutrients.

Now, I'll dose these 3X a week, how many mL of each solution should I dose each time? Also, I'm not sure about the mixture for the CSM+B.

Thank you very much for the help!
David

 

[rkilling1]

Here is a calculator for CSM+B from Joe (CZCZ):

http://justanothertank.com/calcs.php

I would dose KNO3 dry at 1/8 tsp 3 X a week.

Then dose your other Macro's to maintain EI taget levels (don't forget to add in the K+ from dosing KNO3):

EI target ranges
CO2 range 20-30 ppm
NO3 range 5-30 ppm
K+ range 10-30 ppm
PO4 range 1.0-2.0 ppm
Fe 0.2-0.5ppm or higher
GH range 3-5 degrees ~ 50ppm or higher
KH range 3-5

(If you were to mix 1 TBsp of CSM+B into 500mls, you would dose 2 ml's 3x a week)

 

[David14259]

What I'm confused is, is this: if I want to have a Phosphate level of 1.0-2.0ppm, do I dose 1-2ppm 3X a week?

That doesn't seem right to me.

 

[rkilling1]

What I'm confused is, is this: if I want to have a Phosphate level of 1.0-2.0ppm, do I dose 1-2ppm 3X a week?

That doesn't seem right to me.

In a high light/ CO2 injected tank, the plants will consume the ferts and that's why you add to the taget level every time. That is what EI is based on (providing enough nutrients for plant uptake).