Mg and Ca in EI alternate ?

It depends on the actual ratio of Mg and Ca though, I had liquid rock for water when I lived in Utah, but plants just wouldn't grow until I added a small amount of Mg.

AqEnthusiast said:

I am using EI alternate and it seems it talks more of KNO3 (for Nitrates), K2SO4 (for K) and KH2PO4 (for P) and micro.

what role does mg and ca play in that (MGSO4, CASO4/CANO3)?

At few places it says it is not necessary to add mg/ca as it comes from "tap water" and then I was wondering can "my tap water" be different from that of the author. .

So is there and harm in adding MGSO4 and CASO4.2H2O/CASO4.1/2H2O/CANO3) as prescribed on this calculator

http://calc.petalphile.com/



Sent from my GT-N7100 using MonsterAquariaNetwork App

Click to expand...

As I'm the person that wrote and promoted the idea of EI, I have stated adding GH booster for a good 18 years now. Now if other folks want to over look this and not suggest this as part of the routine, well, I cannot chase folks around and tell them to rewrite the advice etc.
Basically I'm not going to do that.

If I see it in passing, I'll say something to straighten things out.

Snakeice has about the only significant issue where someone might not add GH booster. Since most tap has some, enough Ca++, mg may or may not be present. Most tap waters have a decent amount of both, but not all, so adding a bit of MG can help, and it will be pretty quick if that's an issue(1-2 days tops) that you see an improvement.

Also, adding more Ca and MG, does not harm any plant I know of, nor does the ratio matter one bit.
What matters is the absolute value of each individual nutrient in accordance with Liebig's law of the minimum.
Ratios do not matter as far as aquarist are concerned, if you are a farmer trying to cut fertilizer cost per hectare? Then ratios make a difference or if they are insanely different like in some soils, but I've never seen such an issue and have falsified 100's of ratio claims for aquatic plants over a very wide range of species.
I suppose ratios help some folks think about dosing easier, but absolute values with Liebig's law is a wiser more correct approach.