AM 1000, not 100(sorry), the 1000 is much better for adding CO2 to a tank this size, the 500 is more for maybe 20-40 Gal tank max. Add as much flow as you got to the CO2 and mixing it good in the tank.
This will help a great deal.
If I understand you correctly, having a good substrate cuts down on the need to be perfect on dosing fertz. I believe I have chosen suitable sediment, Eco-Complete, but correct me if I am mistaken.
Well, EC has nothing to offer really, ADA As or the worm castings, or DIY soil methods do. For many, it's too late once they are at this stage.
But it can really help and reduce any issues and makes things like weekends, vacations, general neglect much easier and simple to handle.
This stuff will happen also.
Fertz or being perfect with it is not an issue UNLESS you are trying to add limiting amounts. Slightly limiting is okay, strongly limiting is bad.
You also fail you get 100% efficacy from your CO2 and your lighting if limit a nutrient/s. See Tropica's explanation using light and CO2:
http://www.tropica.com/article.asp?type=aquaristic&id=142
CO2 may be treated like any nutrient that's limiting.
As far as light and any limitation or stress:
You cannot talk about nutrients or test them if you do not know what the light and CO2 are doing. EI addressed this a decade + ago very well, since I used MH's at 4 W/gal as an upper bound for PAR, and cranked the CO2 up to 30-40ppm ranges.
If you limit PO4, which PPS does do..........you end up with hard to remove GSA on glass and Anubias. I'd modify it and add more PO4.
PMDD is what PPS pro is really, with a little PO4 added, but not enough.
See here, it pre dates PPS pro by well over 8 years and was widely used:
http://www.thekrib.com/Plants/Fertilizer/pmdd-tim.html
Hardly anything new. Toss a little PO4 in there and it's almost verbatim......
Nor was EI, see at the bottom, there's the infinite series dilutions as well.
My thing was to make it simpler than using scales etc........or test kits.
PPS pro just took that idea and added water changes. It's not simpler or better, it's too lean to make nutrients independent in many tanks.
PMDD+PO4 is a more accurate label. I suggest a richer version if folks dose daily works better than say 2-3x a week with dry powders:
http://www.theplantedtank.co.uk/PMDD.htm
Folks in the UK like it.
I have another version up on my site as well.
I also use non CO2, Excel and other methods, as well as support lower light + sediments ferts etc. If you are concerned about waste, excess, management, reducing the pruning frequency, less algae etc.....then it starts with lower light.
This is independent of any dosing nutrient method.
I can do that method with any dosing scheme and change a little here or there, they both/all add the same thing. Same with sediments that are rich in N and P, they still add it and plants can get at it. So some suggest they do not need to dose anything using soil once they set it up for months.
Thing is, what works better and what is the best management for you?
Most tend to do some neglect, many will not buy a scale and play chemist, many are very turned off by all that. While I have a very research oriented side, and have done a lot more testing than most, I still realize people are human and have habitats and things come up. I'm no different.
I'd much rather have you understand light and CO2, nutrients are the easy part. I use those same type of dosing bottles for the traces and any other liquid I add. They are convenient.
I feed fish daily, so I dose daily, but I go off for a week or two often.....so I have a back up in the sediment and simply reduce the light down a tad. I come back, and the tank is fine after 2 weeks etc.
2.2 W/gal of PC or T5 lighting is on the medium high end for me.
Read Poppy's PAR data on T12 vs PC vs T5 on TPT forum for more there.
My tanks are deeper than yours and I use less light.
As far as CO2, Amano and myself both say do not do it.
I'll let you decide who knows what they are talk about more.
If you believe that less is better, then adding CO2 only when you need it, and adding lower light(because the demand is also less, so less is required) would be your goal, if..........you really cared about "less is better".
Why add CO2 at night? There's simply no good reason to do this if you have a good sized tank like yours, and a solenoid will pay for itl;sef in 2 refills, simple: you waste 60-65% of every tank refill having the CO2 on when you do not need it, then you hassle getting the tanks refilled mor eoften as well.
That alone, but wait, there is more; fish health. the no# 1 killer of fish in planted tanks is not NO3 or any nutrient..........it's CO2. This is a simple easy to ask statement you can ask around and see for your self.
Folks gas their fish carelessly every week on these forums. Every week.
KNO3 over dose? No one I've met has ever done it, so where's the risk?
What can we do to reduce this risk?
Less light is one thing.......another is to add it only during the day light cycle. Fish/shrimp respiration is two parts; O2(so have good current) and CO2.
So when we add CO2 during the day, it's also when the plants are giving off O2, so we have high CO2+ high O2, things are fine. Since we only add it for 8-9 hours etc........if the rate is too high, too much etc, again, we get more wiggle room than a chronic setting, which is not strong at night to gas the fish, but is weak when the plants need it during the day.
In effect, I can add more for an 8-10 hour burst during the day than anyone can 24/7. Give your fish a break at night.
We only add CO2 to amplify plant growth and reduce CO2 competition between species. No other reason. A little more fish respiration is fine for a few hours daily. Much better than 24/7.
As far as who to believe, welcome to the internet.
c:
This ain't no peer review process. It's information, but it is not knowledge.
Some good, some bad, some old and not updated, some quackery, some misinformation. Like an aquarium, the system is only as good as it's filter.
Regards,
Tom Barr
I guess you could also go with 10-12 aeneus corydoras... or pandas!
