Hi everyone

I have been using the EI fert method for around 18 months in my non ADA AS tank. I have just set up a new 74G tank (1 week ago) with ADA AS Amazonia & wonder if I need to alter the amounts of ferts I add?

Any advice would be appreciated. Thanks in advance.

Works(EI) well, you can lean things up or leave it alone a buit more, less critical to dose consistently since you have a source of macro nutrients in the sediment as well.

But doing so to the water column places less demand and uptake from the ADA AS........so you get more out each method.

so they work well together and with our sometimes bad habits......

Regards,
Tom Barr

Hi & thanks for reply. My tank is 74G. So the EI dosages I would usually go with for this tank are:-

3/4 tsp KNO3 3x a week
3/16 tsp KH2PO4 3x a week
11ml solution or 1/4 tsp K2SO4 3x a week
15ml traces 3x a week

So it's ok to keep dosing at these levels in the ADA tank? Some people had told me I'd need to alter the schedule with an ADA tank, so I wasn't sure???

People tell you all sorts of mishmash anyway
Ignorance about a product line really brings it out
I ask them a simple question: have you actually tried it and had success?
If not, why not?

I never get a full honest answer.............curiously........
I do get answers like "Well, I do not care about any of that, all I know is that it works for me and ADA's results are good........."

That does not answer the question and suggest you must buy and purchase and accept all that ADA tells you, there's no learning there, there's no understanding as to why or is it really bad, or is it better?
They really do not know yet suggest fear as a reason rather than testing to see if the speculation is correct or not.

It's a Male bovine manure excuse.
Really, it is.

You can likely dose less, or none at all after some time to the water column, however, doing so does no harm which is the claim from the ADA side.

Plants can get all of their nutrients from the water column or the sediment..........
but a better idea is have them in both location, you get more out each location this way and if you mess up dosing the water column, at least you have a back up.
ADA adds traces and K+ etc to the water column, why are these so different vs N and P?

Regards,
Tom Barr

Thanks for the advice

BTW,
I am doing a full analysis for the ADA green brighty series of l;iquid fertilizers, once again testing rather than merely BSing folks, so they can DIY with common cheap and available ferts.

It'll be done for this month's BarrReport newsletter.

Regards,
Tom Barr

Ok, thanks. I'll keep an eye out for that - although I am already not using the ADA ferts & using my usual powders. BTW, in my new ADA tank I'm having trouble with a brown fluffy thread like algae.

Water changes 2-3x a week 50-70% for the first 1-2 months at least, standard procedure from ADA.

Otherwise things can go bad.

Regards,
Tom Barr

I agree. I had this exact same brownish fluffy stuff with my new aquasoil tank. I had to siphon it off my HC and I did 50% waterchanges almost every day for a week, then every other day for the next 4 weeks. After that, I am still doing a 50% water change every few days. (3-4) The fluffy stuff stopped coming back after a few weeks. I believe the high levels of organics in the water caused most of my problems in the very beginning. It really seemed that this "fluffy stuff" was made out of decomposing leaves and other scummy and gunky snot-like things sticking together in the flow of the water and forming waving strings that clumped together.

BTW I dosed EI from the very start...especially traces, P, and K because the AS was causing a lot of ammonia and nitrates (source of N), so there was less need to dose that. I know none of my algae problems were because of EI, but rather because of ammonia, organics, and CO2 not dialed in & stable. (Maybe too much light for such a new & unstable system) But many waterchanges helped me through this tricky period.

Good luck with the tank.

-Mike B-

Thanks, the water changes are helping. I also have reduced my lighting, as someone else told me a new tank should start off with only around 6.5hrs for the 1st few weeks, then slowly increase the lighting period.

Anyway, it is helping.

Thanks to all for advice