EI Stragey Q&A

[charlie]

Thanks Charlie I did not have that link... do you dose both micro & macro on the same days?

Same as you are doing now, macros on day 1, 3 & 5 - Micros/ trace element mix  on day 2, 4 & 6.do nothing on day 7 , on day 8 ( day 1) large water change & restart your dosing regime.
Regards

[dan2x38]

Today I did my 50% WC. For 2 days prior I added no ferts. Out of 3 light tubes I shut 1 down. Should use all three? The hair algae is scaring me that it will bloom... I have my CO2 bottles cycling every 5 days to keep higher & more stable level. I dosed using the mixtures from the link Charlie posted. Is there something I can or should be doing to make sure the algae balances out? I did prune out as much of the leaves with hair algae on them I could.

[dan2x38]

Still getting hair algae build up? I pruned today getting rid of most of what was there. It is not a bloom but I would have to add, Yet!

What can I do to balance this and prevent further growth? I'm thinking on ditching the EI dosing.

[Aquaviewer]

Whats are your CO2 levels like now(KH/pH balance)?  Inconsistent CO2 concentrations could be a contributing factor to your algae issue.

[BigDaddy]

Don't forget, EI is for a heavily planted, lightly stocked tank.  If your tank is not "heavily planted" then you will be adding more ferts to the water column than the plants can use.  So algae will use it.  However, once the plants tank off and you have a heavily planted tank, then the algae will subside.

Don't turn off lights, lights grow plants.  Don't stop dosing ferts, ferts grow plants.

The reason you were getting algae is because you were SUPER dosing that tank.  My 75 gallon only gets 3/4 tsp of NO3, 3/16 tsp of KH2PO4 and a 1/4 tsp of traces.  You added a whack load more than that and only did a 50% water change.  There are still tons of ferts in your water column.

Leave the lights on, make sure your CO2 is high all day and follow the dosing regime charlie linked to.  Put away your test kits, don't worry about an initial bit of algae, and wait for the plants to settle in and start growing well.

[dan2x38]

OK BD... it is heavily planted! I have not used test kits since Charlie told me to hide them. I hate algae! Is this more like starting a new tank? I need to wait for a balance? So I should do larger WCs? approx. how long before things should settle down?

CO2 is close 25ppm last time I tested 3 weeks ago... I'm using DIY 2 bottle rotation... shortened my rotation so every 5 days I have a new mixture, each bottle gets changed every 10 days... I use champagne yeast it produces longer...