Would A Discus Planted Tank Be Suitable For The Ei Method?

[shawn-b]

I've been reading up on the EI method of fertilizing as I have a planted discus tank in which the plants survive but do not necessarily thrive.

I would love to see the plants become more of an impact, in the visual sense of looking at the tank, and as a way of eradicating the annoying traces of algae that I can't seem to shift. One voice tells me the algae is down to excessive phosphate (which was very high at one point, about 5ppm) this is now down to barely detectable on my test kits as is the nitrates and yet the info I have read about the EI seems to indicate that algae is a result of the imbalance of nutrients(?).

Anyway before I embark on this I would like some feedback on the well being of my fish, I don't want the plants to thrive at the expense of my fish.

At present I have

Rena 500litre tank; filtration-fluval 304 and rena filstar xp; lighting 2xpowerglo 2xaquaglo & 2x55w Triplus interpet compact T5's (staggered for a period of 10 hours per day to simulate dawn/dusk; CO2 injected @ 15ppm.
11 Discus, 17 rummynose tetras, 8 black phantom tetras, 6 SAE's, 2 bristlenose, 5 ottos, 6(ish) shrimps &lots of (not as many as some of you lot) plants.

I have been adding Nutrafin plant gro as per the directions on the bottle and have also just inserted some of their grow sticks under my sword plants.

Hope this is enough info for an answer to should I go ahead with the EI routine of fertilizing? or should I leave alone?

 

[Themuleous]

If you've been reading up on EI then you'll know much about the 'science' so I wont go into all the light, substrate, etc stuff.

But I will say that a discus tank is ideal for EI, the generally large tank means the water is generally very stable and that's half the battle with beating algae getting the water conditions stable.

BTW sounds like a lovely set up, discus always look best in a shoal.

Sam

 

[shawn-b]

The more I read about the EI method the more it seems to make sense, although as someone else mentioned on here somewhere it does seem to go against everything that I/we have read and been advised to to do.

I think I shall have to be brave and take the plunge as the tanks on here that use this method a truly stunning with great looking plants and healthy looking fish. Of to find the chemicals now...

Still have that little niggle about nitrates and fish health? Shall have to watch that one very carefully.

I 've read that I would need to raise the levels of nitrates and phosphate slowly is there anything else that I should be aware of before I start on this path to a great(?) looking tank with healthy plants and happy fishes?

Shall keep you posted...and probably be back with a few questions

 

[Dave Spencer]

Still have that little niggle about nitrates and fish health? Shall have to watch that one very carefully.

I 've read that I would need to raise the levels of nitrates and phosphate slowly is there anything else that I should be aware of before I start on this path to a great(?) looking tank with healthy plants and happy fishes?

Shall keep you posted...and probably be back with a few questions

EI has you running nitrates to a level of around 20ppm - 30ppm, so I am not sure what your levels are, but I have read that 100ppm can be tolerated by fish (I have no intention of testing this).

Increasing dosing gradually over a period of time is the method recommended using EI.

If you do try EI, make sure you plant heavily with fast growing stems. You will need a jungle at the beginning to fight off algae. Remember, in a set up that is algae heaven, it is a thriving mass of plants that will keep the algae at bay. Something like the jungly mess below. You can start to add slower growing plants of your choice later, when the battle is won.