Easy Green Dosing Regimen

[Evan]

I dose Easy Green twice weekly as per the instructions on the bottle but i can’t get my nitrates above 10 ppm. Should I dose daily for a while until I get a stable 40 ppm nitrate?

[jwcarlson]

I have a few tanks in which I am constantly struggling to keep nitrates in.  I guess it's a decent problem to have.  When I am "on top of it" I have dosed as often as daily.  Checking nitrate levels every couple days.  Some time ago someone relayed to me that one pump from the bottle is intended to raise nitrates by 3 ppm in 10 gallons of water.  That has been pretty accurate based on my testing before and after dosing.  So I operate under the assumption that it's close enough for what I'm doing.  So if you're sitting at 10 in a 40 gallon I would test to confirm where it's at give it 12 pumps just before lights off and then check it first thing in the morning.  12 pumps should raise nitrates by about 10 ppm in a 40 gallon.  Again, you're not making pills being pretty close is almost always more than good enough.

If it looks like it has boosted up to about 20, then you can be pretty confident.  If it's significantly different then start looking at your test method.  Then it's a matter of figuring out how much nitrate is leaving the system on a given day.  Some aquariums I have are very easy to kind of balance this in... others it seems like I get it for a few weeks and then it all goes to pot... I don't understand it, but to be honest, I haven't invested enough mentally to try figuring it out.  It doesn't seem like it should be that complicated considering that it is not complicated in some tanks.  In any event... you're not alone in your struggles!  I tested all my aquariums a couple days ago and had only one of them above 10 ppm nitrates.

[lefty o]

i would let how the plants look guide me as to whether they need more fertilizer or not, rather than relying on a number.

[Sleepy]

On 3/28/2023 at 6:51 AM, Evan said:

I dose Easy Green twice weekly as per the instructions on the bottle but i can’t get my nitrates above 10 ppm. Should I dose daily for a while until I get a stable 40 ppm nitrate?

Whats your water change schedule?

[Evan]

On 3/28/2023 at 12:02 PM, Sleepy said:

Whats your water change schedule?

I did a water change this past weekend. The prior water change was March 4.

[Sleepy]

On 3/28/2023 at 12:07 PM, Evan said:

I did a water change this past weekend. The prior water change was March 4.

What size tank? How heavily planted?

[JoeQ]

On 3/28/2023 at 6:51 AM, Evan said:

I dose Easy Green twice weekly as per the instructions on the bottle but i can’t get my nitrates above 10 ppm. Should I dose daily for a while until I get a stable 40 ppm nitrate?

The instructions are a general guesstimate, you will need to dose more as your plants grow, dose less after a huge trim. Let your plant mass and over all growth be your guide. Not an abstract number of what you think your nitrates should be.

[Evan]

Standard 55 gallon. Pretty heavily planted.

[JoeQ]

You might want to add a pump {or two} to your standard dose, but id say everything looks good. 👍

[Tanked]

On 3/28/2023 at 6:51 AM, Evan said:

I dose Easy Green twice weekly as per the instructions on the bottle but i can’t get my nitrates above 10 ppm. Should I dose daily for a while until I get a stable 40 ppm nitrate?

I'm glad to see someone else ask this question, as I recently began experiencing the same issue. A new maintenance routine that includes a weekly 50% water change has reduced a steady +- 40ppm nitrate level to +-10 ppm.  In my case, the tank is lightly planted.  The Crypts seem happy, but the other plants still aren't growing.  I'm beginning to think I'm flushing the extra EG down the drain.  

[lefty o]

On 3/29/2023 at 8:16 AM, Tanked said:

I'm glad to see someone else ask this question, as I recently began experiencing the same issue. A new maintenance routine that includes a weekly 50% water change has reduced a steady +- 40ppm nitrate level to +-10 ppm.  In my case, the tank is lightly planted.  The Crypts seem happy, but the other plants still aren't growing.  I'm beginning to think I'm flushing the extra EG down the drain.  

any particular reason you are doing 50% water changes weekly?

[Tanked]

On 3/29/2023 at 9:57 AM, lefty o said:

any particular reason you are doing 50% water changes weekly?

50% is a slight exaggeration. 10-15 gallons subtracted from a 29 gallon tank.  The weekly water change, (not the quantity) is part of some changes suggested by @Seattle_Aquarist  to try and figure out why my plants don't grow, and help to compensate for a lot of evaporation.  I am also adding Magnesium Sulfate on a weekly basis, along with Iron and Easy Green twice weekly.  Like @Evan I'm wondering if a daily dosing might be a better idea until I find the middle ground.

[jwcarlson]

How hard is your water, @Tanked?  I've got a goodly number of plants that just plain don't seem to want to grow and I'm increasingly convincing myself that my super hard water is playing a bigger role than I would expect it to play.  Just curious.  I just try a bunch of stuff and hope some of it works. 😄

[Tanked]

On 3/29/2023 at 10:37 AM, jwcarlson said:

How hard is your water, @Tanked?  I've got a goodly number of plants that just plain don't seem to want to grow and I'm increasingly convincing myself that my super hard water is playing a bigger role than I would expect it to play.  Just curious.  I just try a bunch of stuff and hope some of it works. 😄

300+GH, 40KH.  The 29 is my official planted community.  There is something strange about this tank.  With the possible exceptions of the Crypts, plants in this tank usually start off well, and then either stall out, or fail. I've even bought the ACO light to eliminate some of the DIY lighting issues.  Dying plants removed from this tank often do better in other tanks with the same GH/KH.

[jwcarlson]

Weird, but I kind of have a 37 in the same situation.  It's like it's cursed.  😄

But it's also a very deep tank, which has kind of been what I have leaned on as a possible cause.  Truthfully, I hate everything about the tank's footprint and am perplexed what stocking would make sense in it.  Dumb move to have bought it, but... it is what it is at this point! 😄  I've given up on getting the dang things to thrive, I still can't keep nitrates in the tank though.

[JoeQ]

On 3/29/2023 at 11:22 AM, jwcarlson said:

Weird, but I kind of have a 37 in the same situation.  It's like it's cursed.  😄

But it's also a very deep tank, which has kind of been what I have leaned on as a possible cause.  Truthfully, I hate everything about the tank's footprint and am perplexed what stocking would make sense in it.  Dumb move to have bought it, but... it is what it is at this point! 😄  I've given up on getting the dang things to thrive, I still can't keep nitrates in the tank though.

I have a 36g and its 21" to substrate, which kind of stinks cause you have to blast the light to reach the substrate. More light equals more fertilizer, I finally gave up on the all-in-ones on account of the low to no nitrates and went with a EI macro & micro regimen. Im much happier, its much easier!

[lefty o]

On 3/29/2023 at 9:34 AM, Tanked said:

50% is a slight exaggeration. 10-15 gallons subtracted from a 29 gallon tank.  The weekly water change, (not the quantity) is part of some changes suggested by @Seattle_Aquarist  to try and figure out why my plants don't grow, and help to compensate for a lot of evaporation.  I am also adding Magnesium Sulfate on a weekly basis, along with Iron and Easy Green twice weekly.  Like @Evan I'm wondering if a daily dosing might be a better idea until I find the middle ground.

im not a subject matter expert, but it seems counter productive to me to be doing largish weekly water changes.

[Sleepy]

On 3/28/2023 at 3:18 PM, Evan said:

Standard 55 gallon. Pretty heavily planted.

Now seeing your tank (which is nice btw!) this give a lot of insight.....Aside from the Ludwigia I pretty much see a ton of heavy root feeders I would be investing more in possibly root tabs than dosing a ton of Easy Green TBH. I also wonder what your light schedule is also because from the algae I see it looks like you have a ton of light going this would also be feeding into the low nitrates meaning the longer the photo period the more nutrients taken up. I would look at the lighting and possibly doing less/smaller water changes to get your water more nutrient rich.

[Tanked]

On 3/29/2023 at 12:42 PM, lefty o said:

Im not a subject matter expert, but it seems counter productive to me to be doing largish weekly water changes.

I agree.  I was originally doing about 5-8 gallons every other week. I'm thinking that I will be cutting back to just 5gal. weekly.

[jwcarlson]

On 3/30/2023 at 7:01 AM, Tanked said:

I agree.  I was originally doing about 5-8 gallons every other week. I'm thinking that I will be cutting back to just 5gal. weekly.

I was doing about 50% in my 36 or 37 or whatever it is every week.  I've gone to every other or every third.  I struggle mightily with keeping the dosing up because it's not near any of the other tanks (back in my daughter's room).  So I have to make a conscious effort to go back and observe.  The other tanks I kind of get a feel more/less by looking at them as to if they need some fertilizer or not.  And their plants are better for it.  I've thought about moving the tank from her room for that particular reason, actually.  

[Tanked]

On 3/30/2023 at 8:30 AM, jwcarlson said:

I was doing about 50% in my 36 or 37 or whatever it is every week.  I've gone to every other or every third.  I struggle mightily with keeping the dosing up because it's not near any of the other tanks (back in my daughter's room).  So I have to make a conscious effort to go back and observe.  The other tanks I kind of get a feel more/less by looking at them as to if they need some fertilizer or not.  And their plants are better for it.  I've thought about moving the tank from her room for that particular reason, actually.  

My WC routine also includes a deep gravel cleaning.  I think that this is detrimental if done weekly.  On average, Nitrates in my 75 were around 40ppm. I've begun propagating Wisteria in this tank with no additional ferts.  Nitrates have dropped to 25-35ppm.  The tank is also on a 2-3 week WC schedule.  Previously, the Nitrates in the 29 averaged 25-30ppm.  Wisteria didn't grow there.   

If she is old enough for safety reasons, try moving the ferts etc. to your daughters room requiring you to start there.  Another consideration is the amount of ambient light available in her room.