Other High Light Dosing Options

[Mako Man111]

Besides the daily routine of EI, are there any other dosing options for high light tanks that don't involve daily ferts, maby something once or twice a week?

 

[Themuleous]

For high light tanks, I dont think there is a system that only doses once a week. Apart from EI the other main systems are by Seachem and ADA. The ADA one tends to be expensive, the Seachem one (as I understand it) requires a fair bit of testing. EI is by far the easiest and cheapest.

Sam

 

[Dave Spencer]

I dose daily using the EI method and it takes between 30s to 1min. Peolpe seem to look upon it as a chore when it isn`t. I have a calendar hanging up in the kitchen which is my reminder as to what I am supposed to be dosing that particular day. It really is that easy.

Dave.

 

[George Farmer]

If you have mainly root-feeding plants that aren't particularly demanding, you could get away with having a decent substrate loaded with nutrients i.e. ADA Power Sand and Aqua Soil. This will supply sufficient nutrients without the need to dose the water column daily.

If your tap water has NO3 and PO4, and is hard (enough GH - Mg and Ca) then this could also help.

Fish load and feeding will also help can also help to provide extra NP.

So basically, yes, you can "get away" with less dosing. But the plants still need feeding. Either they take it through the substrate or through the water. In your case, if you want less work with water dosing then you need to have a good substrate and stick to easier plants with good root structures.

In any high-light tank with CO2 I recommend changing at least a third of the water per week. More in smaller tanks or high fish load.

You'll need a good trace fert as well as likely extra K. I recommend Tropica AquaCare Nutrition or Seachem Flourish. Potassium sulphate (K2SO4) for extra K.

All this said EI is the simplest, cheapest and most effective way to feed plants in a high-light, CO2 tank. Even with a nutrient-rich substrate it is worthwhile and will result in less load on the substrate, so it will last longer.

Unfortunately, you want high-light, you need to put in the work, one way or another. There's no such thing as a free lunch!

 

[Mako Man111]

I dose daily using the EI method and it takes between 30s to 1min. Peolpe seem to look upon it as a chore when it isn`t. I have a calendar hanging up in the kitchen which is my reminder as to what I am supposed to be dosing that particular day. It really is that easy.

Dave.

Its not that I wouldn't be willing to take a minute out of my day to pop in some ferts, its that I travel a lot and would miss days.


I think I know what I'm going to do now though. I'm going to run a 'medium tech' if you want to called it that.


I will run my coralife 28 watt fixture on my 20 gallon giving me 1.4wpg, I will run DIY CO2 using the nutrafin canister and bubble ladder, and I will dose Seachem Flourish once or twice a week along with root tabs every couple month. It seems like a good compromise to me.

Thanks for the responses.