10 gallon planted EI dosing with no CO2 question...

Fish_Bone

Fish_Bone

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Jun 14, 2012
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Samual
I have a instantly cycled (via seeded filter) 10 gallon with about ten stalks of Elodea canadensis (anacharis, pondweed), one Anubias barteri var. nana ( I believe), one potted Cryptocornye Undulata (red), two Echinodorus Latifolius. I used caribsea aquarium sand roughly 2". I have a Aqueon single tube strip light 15w with a ge plant and aquarium T8 bulb (510 lumens, color temp 3100).

I have a baby red marble bristlenose pleco and 4 cobra tail guppies in the tank as well. I have been doing EI dosing of dry ferts. 1/8 (KNO3) nitrate, 1/32 (KH2PO4) phosphates, 1/32 (K2SO4) potassium 3X a week every other day, on off days I dose (plantex CSM+B) trace 3X a week. Sunday is my reset day, %50 WC.

I am not dosing CO2, I have a single stage regulator and a DIY reactor, but I am waiting for the drop checker in the mail and I have yet to buy a 5gallon CO2 tank.

I have one week under my belt dosing at these levels, the plants seem to be standing a bit taller and their color has not wavered from the nice green they had when I got them.


My question is this...am I doing everything right?
 
I'd dial back the ferts a bit until you get the CO2 going. I'd consider increasing your lighting, as well (once the CO2 is added). 15W of T8 lighting is just barely enough for low light plants.
 
Slappy*McFish said:
I'd dial back the ferts a bit until you get the CO2 going. I'd consider increasing your lighting, as well (once the CO2 is added). 15W of T8 lighting is just barely enough for low light plants.
Click to expand...

Thanks slappy, I was curious after reading tom barr's article where he discusses Diane walsted(?)'s method for growing plants without co2, but I wasn't sure i completely understood it. Any recommendations on how much I should cut the dosing back?


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With that amount of lighting and no CO2, you could effectively cut your dosing in half (or more) and enrich the substrate with ferts rather than primarily the water column.
 
Yeah I have to admit I don't know which plants are water column feeders or root feeders...

I will cut the dosing to 1 time a week rather than 3 times. I guess I will have to start looking into a better light...or I guess I could use the one I bought for my 75 project, it has a dimmer control on it. I will post the stats when I get off work.

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I think maybe you've put the horse before the cart, or maybe plunged into the rip tide after your first swim lesson. Ask yourself what kind of tank and how you want it to look, what plants you love, and how much work you want to do. With the exception of the swords, your current plants are just average, low maintenance varieties. They fit in well with your admittedly cruddy, but doable light, and are more the speed of some root tabs once in a blue moon than EI dosing and CO2. EI is more for high light, injected CO2, with finicky stem plants needing pruning every few days. The kind of plants you pay 10 dollars for a cutting and pray they dont arrive dead. Aka, a pain in the *** for the average hobbyist, and a challenge for even the dedicated veteran. You put a known excessive amount of nutrients in the tank, to force growth in plants. It is not entirely necessary to have CO2 and column ferts in a planted tank! Like I said, the ferts and CO2 are for certain plants, and a certain look, and a certain dedication.

I like your idea of dialing back the dosage. If it was me, I would just stop dosing all together and wait until some "worthy" plants and your CO2 growing pains are sorted. PLUS many new tanks experience an algae bloom, like green water, green spot, diatoms, slime, etc after a month.
 
I will admit that I am overly eager to learn and this is my first planted tank after failing once because I gave it a go without any knowledge. Now that I am armed with just enough info to be dangerous, I went as all in as I could.

I did mention that I have a led plant light for my 75 I could use. It would be awkwardly big on a 10 gallon but its meant for plants.

My goal for the 10 was to start the plants I plan on using in my 75, when I finish it.

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I have the same light but i only dose liquid CO2 along with the help of my floramax substrate. I get good results. Im nervous about dosing anything else ATM. Can we have a picture of the tank to see how it looks?

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I have since cut the anarchy in half and moves them to the back for better light.

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