Dosing questions

**solidbrik** · 12th Jun 2014, 20:54

Hi folks..got a question to ask you pros. I just started cycling a new tank ( http://www.aquaticquotient.com/forum...d.php?t=111548) and am wondering if daily excel and twice a week flourish is good enough?

Since there is no fauna at this point in time, should I quickly double dosage to increase plant growth followed by a 50% water change just before introducing fauna or should I just continue following recommended dosage according to the bottle?

Thanks in advance. .

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**Urban Aquaria** · 13th Jun 2014, 02:53

If there are no livestock in the tank, you can double dose the Excel and the ferts to see if they help... this is the best time to test out and do increased dosing anyways, if anything goes wrong you can easily scale back the dosing amounts, without livestock to worry about.

**solidbrik** · 13th Jun 2014, 03:52

Thanks..will just excel and flourish be good enough?

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**|squee|** · 13th Jun 2014, 09:10

What kind of plants do you have in your tank?

You will need a lot more NPK if it's heavily planted. Flourish covers micros and Excel sort of covers CO2, so you need NPK. Look into Seachem Equilibrium too.

If your substrate is Aquasoil you can hold off the dosing for a while, as Aquasoil will give a lot of boost to your plants in the initial stage.

**Urban Aquaria** · 13th Jun 2014, 12:29

Originally Posted by solidbrik

Thanks..will just excel and flourish be good enough?

Those should be enough during the initial start up period for a low-tech tank.... though i'm not sure of the nutrient composition of the HELP soil you are using (and how long the nutrients last) and the type/density of plants you have in the tank, so you'll just have to monitor the plant growth and see if there are any deficiencies and then dose the necessary macro or micro ferts accordingly.

**solidbrik** · 13th Jun 2014, 17:00

Thanks Bro! Using ada amazonia..just wanted to be sure with tried and tested materials first..

As for plants. .only hair grass and monte. .waiting to carpet.. I gave it a long illumination period of 12 hrs yesterday but i noticed that flora dun pearl despite..or do non co2 tanks don't usually pearl?

Just ordered 无忧co2 D501 from taobao. .try n see before deciding if I wanna invest in a proper co2 set..

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**Urban Aquaria** · 13th Jun 2014, 23:43

Originally Posted by solidbrik

As for plants. .only hair grass and monte. .waiting to carpet.. I gave it a long illumination period of 12 hrs yesterday but i noticed that flora dun pearl despite..or do non co2 tanks don't usually pearl?

For pearling to occur, the oxygen levels in the tank would have to be at their saturation point, then when no more oxygen can dissolve in the water and they start to appear as oxygen bubbles.

This usually happens in high-tech tanks with Co2 injection because there is a balanced combination of sufficient light, Co2 and nutrients which enable the plants to photosynthesize at maximum rate, the amount of oxygen they produce very quickly exceeds the water's oxygen saturation point and results in lots of pearling, especially in tanks with high plant density.

In low-tech tanks without Co2 injection, the main limiting factor is Co2, even with lots of light and nutrients, the plants stop photosynthesizing once the natural Co2 levels in the tank are depleted (which tends to happen very quickly in a non-Co2 injected tank), so when photosynthesis stops or slows down = no more or very little oxygen is produced, hence no oxygen saturation and no pearling. Usually in this case, all the excess light and nutrients help to grow algae instead.

There are exceptions though, its possible to sometimes see pearling even in low-tech non-Co2 injected setups... such as when a large water change is done in the midst of the lights-on photoperiod with water straight out of the tap. Tap water from the pipes usually contain a whole bunch of dissolved gasses including CO2, so when the new water is added with fresh CO2 content, the plants get a temporary boost, hence more continued photosynthesis and more oxygen production.

It can also occur when the water temperature is very high, like 32-33°C or more, at such high temperatures the water cannot hold much oxygen so its saturation point is lower. If high water temperature is combined with a high density of plants in a comparatively small volume of water, then its possible that with sufficient light and nutrients, even the relatively small amount of oxygen produced by the plants could reach the lower saturation point and then pearling occurs. I've observed this effect in my outdoor tank recently, when the water temperature climbed very high (34°C, no kidding), blazing sunlight beaming on the tank, i could see tiny oxygen bubbles forming on the plants.