Mixing of water in a larger tank requires a lot more water flow than compared to a smaller tank.

100gph in a 10 gall mixes things very well all over, this is not so true with larger systems.

Another issue is really the pressure, high pressure outflow blast plants everywhere, low pressure but high flow does not, these same issues occur in reefs as well.

The more complex the 3D terrain is, the more trouble you will have getting flow
and water slows down due to friction and more distance= more friction.
It's not a linear function based on flow. How the flow is used also plays a larger role.
You'd have to escape physics to beat this issue.

Regards,
Tom Barr

Lol, I see that more every day!


Yes, I used the normal 10x volume flow ratio for my 180 and it is nowhere need what I really needed.....


Amazing how often the scape components are right in the middle of my flow

I do not plan on competing with physics!

Thanks for the info and thoughts........

Now, if more folks would chime in with their specs (hint hint), I could consolidate all this great info!

So if I overdose I have to admit it?

There aren't twelve steps to this are there?

I have a 125 gal tank. 4x 96 watt cf, 2x 36 watt cf, ans 2x 30watt reg flourecents(36 in bulb). I run a rena xp4, 2 200 gph powerheads, and 1 powerhead thats 300 gph. N 2 1/2 tsp, P 3/4 tsp, and K 4 tsp. I have been having some thread algea for a while and have yet to get rid of it, but upping co2 and lowering palntex seems to be helping. Drop checker is green working on more of a yellow color. some plants are doing better than others and some are very slow growing. Lights on for 9 hrs a day. Moderet planted and low fish load(2 bushy nose pleco's and 27 tetras). Co2 is sprayed through the 2 200 gph powerheads.

Yes you do, but no steps!

Admitting is important IMO for the following (long winded) reason. This certainly applies to me, and maybe others as well.

Here goes............

When I started reading the Barr Report, I was always looking at threads with SIMILAR setups to mine, ie, tank size, or filter, whatever to see what others were doing that I wasn't.

When I saw the pics of some of these tanks, they were beautiful, great growth, no algae, etc.

Wanting a tank like theirs, I tried copying what they did along with trying the other advice I got, and making more mistakes, and learning more. I made many assumptions, which is never a good thing.

Not one thread that I can remember ever said that they OVERDOSE EI. Or, I drove right past it and didn't recognize it for what it was

So, if noone stated it, they mustn't be doing it, is what I reasoned..........

So, when my tank has issues due to UNDER DOSING, which I did not realize was the issue, it never occured to me to increase dosing, as that would be DIFFERENT than what I ASSUMED others were doing.

Now that I understand EI more and the non-limiting approach, and that each tank is different, I do this less and less (assume and blindly copy).

I think I (and others) tend to look for certain words or phrases when researching, and we miss the CAUTION sign because we were looking for the STOP sign.

Hope this makes sense.

Tinkerman,


That is a tremedous amount of light > 4 wpg. I am not surprised at hair algae.

Do you all of this for 9 hrs a day?

I would reduce some of this for sure, or at least not have them on all day if possible.

I know this is suposed to be a lot of light, but when I upped light from only 4x 96 wattcf my wallichii growth improved and algea did not. I have been dealing with this algea issue for some time now and the light doesn't seem to be driving it but the balance of ferts. The lights were not always on for 9 hrs a day I had been running 2 x96 for 9 hrs and the reat at 6-7 hrs. I have played with the lighting to test with the algea. The biggest affect was removing all plants and removing as much, algea rescaping, and not adding plantex and it is a lot easier on me not spending 3 hrs a week removing algea where I now only takes 45 mins to remove. I still think it is ferts that this has not gone away. I was told on another forum that I should consider looking at too much mulm and not vacing enough this has been done more than before without sucking out half the sand in the tank and didn't seem to impact thread algea. I received a copy of my water report and found 1-2 ppm of iron so I toke out the dosing of plantex. that along with making sure my co2 stays at green to yellow has helped the most. I am one of those people that would be scared that adding too much co2 or ferts I might kill my fish. but bake to the topic cause I don't plan to take over the thread thread that you where asking about lager tanks and ferts. I have asked about my algea problem already and would feel better talking in the forum that was intended for it. Sorry don't mean to come off like I don't want your opionon or anything.

Hi,

Your comments simply underscore what I said earlier:

a. That conventional wisdom, in this case >4 wpg is 'bad', does not always apply. Many folks go either way from CW and it works for them.

My whole thread is about benchmarks and recommendations versus real life examples......


I didn't mean to imply that light alone was the cause of the algae.

However, high light drives high demand for nutrients, including c02. Lessening the amount of light will reduce the need to introduce as much fertilization, which will allay your fears about overdosing. It is easier to lessen the light and keep demand less than to increase dosing beyond your comfort level.

I think your fears may be common, and one of the things I want to get out is that it will not cause massive deaths to increase your dosing to 2-4 X 'normal' EI or C02 levels.

Adjust slowly, sure, check and re-adjust, but the end level can be higher than 'normal' or common.

No worries.

When i first started I killed many fish and have had the same fish in the tank for a while now. When I first set the tank up I tested and some ferts where kinda high so decreased ferts. The algea came from my previous tank as I used the same plants and added a few. The ferts have always been an issue for me and when knowing what to add more of and what to add less of. So I will keep an eye on this thread to see the outcome from this as it is always nice to compare to what others do and have luck with.

I know i have seen this some where before but cant find it, what is the misting from? I also have the inline reactor and never see any misting. Is the misting good / bad?

I have a 125 with a 55 sump that's been running about 3 months. Getting back into the hobby after a long hiatus. Only equipment in main tank is ADA knockoff drop checkers.
Sump has heater, double Hyrosponge filter with a Maxijet 400, and Magdrive 9.5 for return to tank. Return pump has 'T' on intake where output of CO2 reactor is plumbed.
I'm using an AM1000 reactor with venturi mod and it is driven by a GenX 1500 needle wheel pump. The reactor is actually mounted inside the sump (submerged) to save space and minimize plumbing. Bubble rate is fast, can't really count it. 10lb Co2 tank lasts about 3 weeks keeping DC yellowish/green. Sump is minimally sealed and main tank is open beneath a canopy. Tank has twin internal overflows (All Glass tank) with Durso type standpipes. Water enters sump by passing through 200 micron filter sock mounted on a pvc filter sock adapter that's submerged in the sump - wet/dry was not something I wanted or needed.
Lighting was a Sunpod with 3x150watt MH HQI. Tank is currently under blackout/excel treatment to help my battle with Cladophora and Spyrogyra. During this i have mounted a Tek T5HO retrofit into canopy 6x39watts. Lighting duration is 9 hours. I'm going from 3.6 WPG to ~1.9WPG. I left room in the canopy for two more 39watt T5's in the future if needed.
I dose EI wioth dry ferts at the top range based on my total water volume of 180gal. Macros 4x/week, micros 3x/week (plantex CSM+B). Drain sump for water changes Sat and Tues and add about a teaspoon of GH booster and add macros with each. WC is approx 30% twice weekly this way.