co2 66.5ppm

[zig]

found this...you gotta love google

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The very one nodding-dino good find...........both you and jimbooo should read up on it, read that page for a start and try and get an idea of whats its about, i dont know about the part of no test kits required, particularily in the beginning i used them all the time, everyday, but now i dont use them so much.

In a nutshell with the EI method of doseing your tank with fertilisers, you use dry chemicals to make up your fertilisers, and this saves you a lot of money particularily if you intend to stay in this hobby.

Basically what you need is

KNO3 Potassium Nitrate

KH2PO4 Potassium Phosphate

K2SO4 Potassium Sulphate (this one you neednt really worry about, the jury is still out on this, i use it, but its very difficult to get hold of in the UK)

The above supply your Macronutrients ( some people also need to dose extra iron or FE, it depends on your water, personally i dont as yet)

You dose the above to achieve certain levels (which you will test for)

You are trying to achieve (below is what i aim for, the idea is that you must never run out of these macronutrients, they must be in an abundance, and if kept in abundance, you should have an algae free tank, now i must stress that you are running a highlight tank and are useing co2 at minumim 30ppm)

Nitrates 10ppm (no3)

Phosphate 1-2ppm (po4)

Potassium 15-20ppm (k)

These are the target levels that i try to achieve in my tank

In addition to the above you also need Micronutrients and these are easily attainable through any decent liquid fertiliser Kent Botanic grow would be a good one.

So you really only dose a few things, the main ones to worry about are

Nitrates
Phosphate
Trace elements (Kent botanic grow)

You also do a 50% water change each week to reset your tank, so as none of these levels get to high, and then you start doseing again to bring the levels back up again.

So my doseing schedule would look like this, others are slightly different.

Day1 50% water change, add Nitrate to bring level up to 10ppm, dose Phosphate 1ppm, i add k potassium others dont, add 10ppm k

Day2 Add trace elements 10m/l

Day 3 Top up my Nitrate usually add 3-4ppm

Day4 Add trace elements and top up my phosphate

Day5 Top up Nitrate

Day6 Add trace elements top up Phosphate

And basically another water change and start over again, my doseing schedule is just off the top of my head but its something similar to that, each tank will be slightly different depending on the local water supply, some local water supplies will have high nitrate or phosphate levels allready, and you should test for this in the beginning.

I hope this doesnt sound very complicated, it is a steep learning curve in the beginning, but once you get into the swing of it, it becomes very easy, and the beauty of it is that when things go wrong in your tank you can easily identify the problem and correct it through the appropriate doseing.

The main difficulty is getting the chemicals in the first place, i had a lot of difficulty over here getting them in the beginning, but persistance and lots of phonecalls paid off in the end, im sure the other UK members will let you know where they got there supplies of chemicals.

Anyway ive absolutly no regrets going with this method its working great so far.

I hope the above doesnt put you off, it really isnt that complicated when you get your head around it.

But dont forget co2 is a must with this method.

 

[nodding_dino]

great post zig! Will do some proper reading up!

 

[jimbooo]

great stuff guys thanks very much. all printed off and on the way home to educate myself.

 

[George Farmer]

I too have heard of high levels of CO2 being used long-term with no apparent ill effect.

One interesting point is that levels of over 40ppm are supposed to hamper the enzyme production in algae - so I can see why it is becoming more popular to "overdose" CO2.

Fish become narcotised (deeply sedated) and hypoxic (low in oxygen) in hypercarbic (with high CO2) waters. What the actual levels of O2 and CO2 are I don't know, although I have heard 60ppm is the absolute maximum before narcosis becomes detrimental. Carbon dioxide intoxication of fish results in lethargy, rolling over in the water despite apparently well oxygenated water.

There are many differing experiences with CO2 levels but basically if your fish appear healthy and active then I wouldn't worry too much. However, personally I would be inclined to stick to around 35ppm max. as the long-term effects of high CO2 concentrations are still not fully understood to my knowledge.

Another quick point to remember is how accurate are our kits?

 

[jimbooo]

right, read the article (thanks nodding dino)

i'm not sure if the whole range of ferts are necessary for me as nitrate and phosphate are already at the right level in my tank without any additives.

i'm gonna try it with the kent liquid ferts (grow, micro, fe and K) to see what happens. same theory, 50% water change and dosing the whole 40G rather than the "water change" water volume.

this may be interesting - fingers crossed.

stage 1 done (massive water change yeaterday and full ferts as above)

 

[iggy01]

Another quick point to remember is how accurate are our kits?

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That's an excellent point!

I think that's why I'm a bit sceptical when people claim to have CO2 at 80 mg/l.