dear all,

I wondered what would be the effect of overdosing micro's in my tank that is doing reasonable good. Good plant growth (although i see some stunting, little algae apart from some occasional spirogyra?) tank needs pruning at least once a week. 50% of water is changed 2x/week.

What would happen if I add 2-3x the adviced amount of micro's according to EI? Let's assume the tank is light limited and CO2 is not an issue. Is it just a waste of money or could I induce algae, deficiency/toxicity of some element?

greets,

yme

If your tank is growing nicely why would you want to? If it aint broke.. etc etc

I've routinely add about 2-10X the maximum trace mixes without even noting any issue.

I dosed 200mls in a 20 gallon tank of Flourish.
I dosed 20mls of TMG in a 20 gallon 3x a week for 4 weeks.

Spirogyra is not that bad but seems like the CO2 could use some work, adding more current might help or changing the existing current routine.

Go in there and try to prune it out really good and then stick to good routines thereafter, with special attention to CO2.

So you are wasting the traces if adding more under non limiting conditions.
Since it cost more than KNO3, this is a real issue.

Most do not want to waste traces or light.

Regards,
Tom Barr

it´s doing oke. but can be improved. the wallichii for instance is still a bit ratty. I would like to exclude a microelement deficiency by overdosing. In addition, I would like to see what could happen to a tank when your overdosing. what are the symptoms? but if I understand corectly, there are none, except an empty wallet....

@tom,
I will try to get a better flow. there are enough pumps: 1x eheim professional, 1x 600 watt powerhead (with CO2 inlet) and a 900 watt powerhead connected to an external co2 reactor (this one is not pumping too fast).

thanks!

yme

With ample light, R wallichii in softer water grows like a weed.
If you have troubles with it, try adding the CO2 flow right on it.

Regards,
Tom Barr

Hi Tom, when you say soft, how soft do you mean?

Relative term I know.

5 or less KH.

Regards,
Tom Barr

what about Gh?

hi Tom,

you already suggested that and I followed your advice. It receives now more CO2 than the tonina (which is growing great). KH is around 3 and GH is 7. As you may remember I gassed my fish due to a too high CO2 level. pH is now 5.90

greets,

yme

Gh is is fine as long as it's above 1-2 of so, it can be 10 or so without issues with so called soft water plants.

KH is the real issue.

YME,

either there is something in you tap water that is not being tested, such as copper etc, or it's just maintenance and consistency.

Sometimes folks have to work and bit harder to get things going, then they can relax a bit after getting over a hump. It could be something like poor/reduced flow from a filter, cleaning the CO2 diffuser, a good trim, not doing a water change when you should , not dosing consistently etc.

I use to think all sorts of things in the past, but I know it's just me not doing or looking at something that might be the reason.

Everytime.

While copper or other issues(high Na+) do occur, they have only been found definitely in 2 or 3 cases out thousands that I've helped.
So they are very rare.

SAE's will nibble R wallichii also.

regards,
Tom Barr