svachon9 Posted March 3 Share Posted March 3 Easy Green instructions says dose once per week for low light and twice for high light. I'm using a Coop light for a 90 gallon 8 hrs at 70% intensity. So is this considered low or high light? And what is I go to 80%/8 hrs, low or high light? 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
svachon9 Posted March 3 Author Share Posted March 3 BTW I have a low tech set up if that matters, high fish and moderate plant load. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tony s Posted March 3 Share Posted March 3 Higher light anyways. Keep checking your nitrate levels. If they stay between 20 to 50 for planted tanks, you’re probably good with once. For the plants, as long as they’re healthy you’re also good. Sometimes more light equals more algae Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Pepere Posted March 3 Share Posted March 3 1 pump of Easy Green in 10 gallons of water provides 3 ppm Nitrate. On my densely planted co2 injected high light tanks I aim for 20-25 ppm Nitrate. I could get faster growth at 30 ppm nitrate, but that also means more frequent trimming… On my non CO2 injected tank I am at dosing to 15 ppm nitrate. On all tanks I do a 50% water change weekly, and then front load my entire dosageI to raise nitrates to20 ppm…. That would be 6 pumps in a 10 gallon tank. I also add about 3 ppm nitrates Wednesday morning based on my experience how quickly nitrates are consumed by my plants. Pretty much plants do not benefit much from Nitrate levels much above 30 ppm. The instructions on the bottle are not terribly useful to my needs. 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
svachon9 Posted March 3 Author Share Posted March 3 Thanks but I'm not up for a weekly water change. I do them about every 3 weeks. The tank is only 3 1/2 months old. My Nitrates are around 30-40 ppm. My plants have kind of regressed a bit after a real good start for the first 2 1/2 months. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Pepere Posted March 3 Share Posted March 3 (edited) Yep. I wasnt up for doing weekly water changes until I got sick of fighting Algae. I now feel water changes are more pleasant than fighting a losing battle against algae. Edited March 3 by Pepere 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tony s Posted March 3 Share Posted March 3 On 3/3/2024 at 5:44 PM, svachon9 said: I do them about every 3 weeks Keep an eye on your dkh and ph values. When they start to drop you’ll know for sure it’s time for a change. And I mostly agree. Do water changes when you need to do water changes. Me, it’s mostly a lack of time thing. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
svachon9 Posted March 3 Author Share Posted March 3 Do you think it's better to dose say 8 pumps/once per week or 4 on Sat and 4 on Wed for instance? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Pepere Posted March 3 Share Posted March 3 On 3/3/2024 at 6:03 PM, Tony s said: Do water changes when you need to do water changes Of course this begs the question of how do you know you “need” to do a water change? We only test for a few items.. ammonia nitrite, nitrate, gh, kh etc… As plants metabolise they create all sorts of metabolic waste products that are excreted into the water column and we dont test for them. Waste products tend to leach from the margins of leaves…esp. older leaves that the plant ceases to defend. Algae opportunistically colonizes on those margins loving the nitrogenous wastes… increased flow in an aquarium help in part by circulating fertilizer equally to all plants, but also by helping to flush waste products from leaves as well… but those compounds build up in the water… How many top aquascapers have a reputation for infrequent and small water changes? Of the scapes that impress me the most, the scapers advocate weekly deep water changes…. I certainly noticed far more success battling algae once I started weekly deep water changes… Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
svachon9 Posted March 4 Author Share Posted March 4 On 3/3/2024 at 5:49 PM, Pepere said: Of course this begs the question of how do you know you “need” to do a water change? We only test for a few items.. ammonia nitrite, nitrate, gh, kh etc… As plants metabolise they create all sorts of metabolic waste products that are excreted into the water column and we dont test for them. Waste products tend to leach from the margins of leaves…esp. older leaves that the plant ceases to defend. Algae opportunistically colonizes on those margins loving the nitrogenous wastes… increased flow in an aquarium help in part by circulating fertilizer equally to all plants, but also by helping to flush waste products from leaves as well… but those compounds build up in the water… How many top aquascapers have a reputation for infrequent and small water changes? Of the scapes that impress me the most, the scapers advocate weekly deep water changes…. I certainly noticed far more success battling algae once I started weekly deep water changes… I'm not an aquascaper. I have a heavy fish load with a moderately planted tank. See picture. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tony s Posted March 4 Share Posted March 4 Talking strictly fish health of course. You forget, I don’t have any issues with having algae in a tank. To me that’s a sign of a healthy environment for the fish Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Pepere Posted March 4 Share Posted March 4 On 3/3/2024 at 6:09 PM, svachon9 said: Do you think it's better to dose say 8 pumps/once per week or 4 on Sat and 4 on Wed for instance? 8 pumps will raise nitrate levels less than 3 ppm in a 90 gallon tank. And Easy Green runs a bit light in the potassium or phosphorous dosing iirc… I would be inclined to do a sufficient water change to lower nitrates down to 10 ppm and then dose easy green up to 20-30 ppm all at once. At midweek test and see what you nitrates look like. based on plant load in your photograph, I would guess they will not have decreased. I would then re test at the end of the week. If nitrates are rising, livestock and feeding is raising nitrates faster than plants are consuming them… in that case, nitrate levels are not a good proxy for fertilizer dosing as other fertilizer components will be consumed even though nitrates are not indicating… I would then perhaps have dose Easy green on a guess… as to how much of the other components are being consumed… meanwhile nitrates may well be increasing… My personal inclination is to not let nitrates exceed 40 ppm myself. I realize many people have no problem with it higher than that in a planted tank… 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
svachon9 Posted March 4 Author Share Posted March 4 (edited) In 3-1/2 months I have never had nitrates go above 40ppm and I do WC every 3 weeks. With the API test kit it's somewhere between 20-40 and probably closer to 40. I've going to increase dosing from 6-7 squirts and see how it goes for 2 weeks. But you think with my lighting, 8 squirts, once per week is OK? Edited March 4 by svachon9 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Pepere Posted March 4 Share Posted March 4 On 3/3/2024 at 8:29 PM, svachon9 said: But you think with my lighting, 8 squirts, once per week is OK? I suspect you will be low on trace elements and possibly potassium and phosphorous depending on what the phosphorous and potassium levels are in your source water. The reason I suggested a deeper water change to lower nitrates down to around 10 ppm and then dosing back up to the 20-30 ppm nitrate level was to see if that gives your plants a surge of growth, which would indicate they were being limited by nutrients other than nitrate. The dosing instructions on the bottle are overly simplistic in many respects. Lighting is not the only variable.. plant mass is a much bigger variable .. and a 90 gallon tank is pretty deep. Par falls off quickly with depth.. those short plants at the bottom of the tank are seeing much less light than the ones growing halfway up… Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
svachon9 Posted March 4 Author Share Posted March 4 Thanks! I think you are probably right about the EG dose. I do add root tabs as well. I'll give this a try and a couple of weeks. With such a deep tank, do you think I might need to eventually increase my intensity from the 70% I have it now? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Pepere Posted March 4 Share Posted March 4 It is possible. Especially as the plants grow in and start shading out the understory. I wouldnt right now though as you report you had better growth initially. On 3/3/2024 at 9:20 PM, svachon9 said: I'll give this a try and a couple of weeks In a tank not supplemented with co2 it is good to give it a longer period to see positive growth. Plants spend energy and resources to reconfigure themselves to changes in conditions. In a co2 tank, that can take 2 weeks bed fore seeing positive change. In a tank without co2 it can take up to 6 weeks. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TMartins Posted March 4 Share Posted March 4 I totally agree with @Pepere and a tank without CO2 you definitely need patience since everything is a lot slower. I only started seeing positive results when I tweaked and waited though frustrating as it is. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
svachon9 Posted March 4 Author Share Posted March 4 (edited) Thanks very good advice. One last thing, do you think it’s better to not have a glass top? I seem to get some calcium build up and it seems like over time it would block light to the plants. I have a wood canopy and 2 Tidal HOB which make a lot of surface turbulence So I’m a little worried about water on the wood Edited March 4 by svachon9 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TMartins Posted March 4 Share Posted March 4 I would recommend a glass top especially to save on heating and to keep things from falling in (I have kids so that’s a concern of mine). I do have to clean it because of buildup but I feel it’s worth it. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tony s Posted March 4 Share Posted March 4 (edited) On 3/4/2024 at 11:53 AM, svachon9 said: So I’m a little worried about water on the wood Take and seal it with a coat of polyurethane. should solve that issue. fine sand and finish with a natural oil to protect it make sure the oil is safe for fish though. not sure how you'd find that out though Edited March 5 by Tony s sp Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Pepere Posted March 4 Share Posted March 4 Vinegar will clean up the mineral deposits off of the glass lid nicely.. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
svachon9 Posted March 5 Author Share Posted March 5 On 3/4/2024 at 5:22 PM, Pepere said: Vinegar will clean up the mineral deposits off of the glass lid nicely.. Thanks! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Recommended Posts
Create an account or sign in to comment
You need to be a member in order to leave a comment
Create an account
Sign up for a new account in our community. It's easy!
Register a new accountSign in
Already have an account? Sign in here.
Sign In Now