Need Help with Tom Barr's EI

[shrimppaste]

Hi Everyone,

I am starting my planted tank after a hiatus of 3 years. And in anyway, I have been doing it all wrong the last time anyway. I really really like planted tanks. The main problems I had in the past was always with Algae and fertilisation. I came across a thread on EI by Tom Barr and think that this could be my answer. Which is why I am going back into planted tanks totally based on this. The whole idea of algae bloom based on deficeiency and not excess is I think a new way of lookin at it. Below is what I have taken of Tom Barr's site. However, as excited as I am, I am still unclear and everything is still a big confusion. I hope the veterans out there who have had experience with EI can help clear some of my questions. Basically, these are the areas I am not sure of.

1. What is PPM? So how do we measure PPM? Do we have to measure PPM of every thing or can we just measure a few crucial ones like CO2, KNO3 etc.? And for us to achieve this PPM do we just increase?

2. How does KH come into play in allof these?

3. I know in Singapore potassium something is illegal. So in order for us to achieve the below regiment, what is a good brand of fertiliser to use? I do not want to use a few brands and have it all the more confusing. I was thinking of sticking to one brand for example seachem and just stick to it.

4. Lastly, what is uptake cause I was reading in Barr's site and it is even more confusing. So how do I achieve this uptake. The example below shows the usage for a 80 litres. If I have a 160 litre tank, does that mean I just double it?

I know I have asked a lot of questions, but I have invested a lot this time round in terms of tank, lighting, chiller, etc and I really want to get it right. So I would really appreciate it if the experts out there can help make all these into as painless and easy as possible. Thanks!

A Typical Tank
A typical routine for a high light tank with low fish load:
Volume 80 liters (20 gal high standard tank)
5.5 watts/ gal. - two 55watt 5000K/8800K lamps
CO2-25-30ppm (I turn my CO2 off at night)
Canister filter
Fluorite (any porous iron rich material will do) about 7-10cm depth

A Typical Dosing Routine
1/4 teaspoon of KNO3 3-4x a week (every other day)
1/16th-1/32nd teaspoon of KH2PO4 3-4x a week (every other day)
Traces added on off days as the macro nutrients, so 3x a week, 5mls each time.
SeaChem Equilibrium 1/8 teaspoon after water change.


So the aquarist dose only 3 things really, KNO3, KH2PO4 on the day of the water change then every other day there after, traces of the off day till the next week rolls around. Do a 50-70% water change, dose the macro nutrients back, add the traces the following day and repeat. You can slowly back off this amount till you notice plant growth differences to tailor your individual tank’s need, but all you will do is waste some macros and traces by adding more than the plant needs. You should give each change in your routine about 3 weeks before making another change. This will take time but is worth the time spent. It will not cause algae unless you over look something, namely CO2 or under dosing KNO3 which both of these account for about 95% of all algae issues. If you focus on the plant’s needs, the algae will no longer grow. I hope this helps and ends much frustration for the aquatic gardener so then aquarist may focus on aquascaping and growing plants rather than asking how to kill algae. The aquarist does not have to stick with merely a weekly routine with the water changes or accept 50% as their volumes. This will level off the dosing at 2x the dosed amount so that nothing will ever be overdosed beyond 2x the target range.

[Shadow]

1. What is PPM? So how do we measure PPM? Do we have to measure PPM of every thing or can we just measure a few crucial ones like CO2, KNO3 etc.? And for us to achieve this PPM do we just increase?

PPM = part per million
1 ppm = 1mg/liter
To measure ppm inside your tank, you need test kit. To measure/estimate fertilizer dosing you put into your tank, you can use online calculator liker fertfriend, fertilator from APC, Chuck's calcualtor or visit my blog

2. How does KH come into play in allof these?

Nothing

3. I know in Singapore potassium something is illegal. So in order for us to achieve the below regiment, what is a good brand of fertiliser to use? I do not want to use a few brands and have it all the more confusing. I was thinking of sticking to one brand for example seachem and just stick to it.

You can use seachem N and K, and dose P with KH2PO4. I'm using this that is why I put seachem product in my calculator

4. Lastly, what is uptake cause I was reading in Barr's site and it is even more confusing. So how do I achieve this uptake. The example below shows the usage for a 80 litres. If I have a 160 litre tank, does that mean I just double it?

You can use the calculator to calculate how much you dose each time.
Typical plants uptake rates at high light and CO2 is (from Tomm Barr article)
NO3: 1-4 ppm
PO4: 0.2-0.6ppm
So you need to dose 10ppm if you dose every other day. After that see how your plant react. Pay attention on your fast growing plant. usually this plant will show sign of defficiency first.

Most important thing in planted tank is the substrate, get fertile substrate like ADA aquasoil. The reason is the soil will help you to buffer our laziness in dosing