Quick and easy fertz

I need to set up a planted tank and i would normally use the PMDD method for fertilizing the tank.
The thing is i am currently in a position that i cant do the necessary water changes that are needed to start a tank with PMDD. I can possibly do a couple of large water changes per week but that would be all.

I will add mulm under the Amazonian substrate to get the bacteria going.
I will use an established filter.
It will be high light, but i havent decided how much yet.
Co2 injection via an otomizer.
The tank will be about 100 Litres.

So folks i am looking for a way to fertilize the tank that dosent involve large water changes from the start. Or is this possible?
Also i am looking to get as quick a growth of HC Cuba as possible from the start. Any suggestions.

On a side note, with ideal conditions how long dose it take Christmas moss to grow from flat tied to mesh to about 1cm thick?

P.S. i have 3 tanks i need to do:ohmy:


Darren.

Quick and easy fertz, simple as ABC:laugh:

Heres a long reply but its easy enough. Dont worry about water changes Darren that wont really be a problem, 1 x 50% water change per week should be enough for you to start the tank. Adding the mulm under the substrate will help along with the mature filter this should shorten the startup phase and give the tank a good kickstart, these steps are always recommended. If the Aquasoil was new you would do more water changes per week but in this case its not nescessary.

I would keep the light to reasonable levels, 2.5-3WPG would be at the top end lighting wise using T5s or a bit more should be ok if you are using T8s. 8 hours of light per day is enough to grow any plant really so I would stick to that.

For fertilisation I would use EI method.

First off I would dose easycarbo along with the other regular fertilisers, HC really loves this stuff and usually grows a good bit quicker when this is added, the easycarbo will also ease the transition with a new tank and should help to smooth out any CO2 issues, obviously you are going to dose regular CO2 from the atomiser as well. Use about 2 bubbles per second with the atomiser preferably running through a spraybar into the tank, use about 1.8 PSI pressure on the regulator to get the atomiser working correctly. The spraybar will help give you good even distribution of ferts throughout the tank. Use a large external filter with the atomiser plumbed into the output tube going ito the tank, something like a Tetratec Ex1200 would be good, this should give you about 500-600 litre per hour turnover, however a bit more water circulation turnover would be good if you can manage it, 10x is usually the recommended target for flow for a highlight tank, but remember its really about even circulation rather than flow, the 10x is really only a guideline but something to bear in mind.




Make up the following strength stock solutions from powdered ferts for a 100L tank.


Potassium Phosphate PO4 add 15 grams to 100ml water - 1ml of this solution will add 1ppm phoshate to a 100L tank

Potassium nitrate KNO3 add 65 grams to 250ml water - 1ml of this solution will addd 1ppm nitrate to a 100L tank (shake like crazy, use tepid warm water to help dissolve the ferts)



So I would dose the following every 2 days or following a water change, the general idea is to dose every 2 days and on day 7 you do a 50% water thats your normal weekly regime with EI method.

For the easycarbo I would dose it every day @ 2ml or 4ml every 2 days, the other ferts you will dose every 2 days so it might be easier just to dose the easycarbo every 2 days as well @ 4ml.

Dose a decent a trace fertiliser (micros) something like Tropica plant nutrition, 1x10ml 3x per week.

Phosphate (PO4) dose 1ml of the stock solution 3x per week.

Nitrate (KNO3) dose 10ml of the stock solution 3x per week.

No need to dose potassium (K) seperatly because its included in the 2 stock solutions above at sufficient levels.

So in summary just four things to dose weekly

Easycarbo 2ml per day or 4ml every 2 days
Trace 10ml 3x per week
PO4 1ml 3x per week
KNO3 10ml 3x per week


Thats it really, the dosing regime is easy enough, its going to be pretty much impossible to avoid the brown diatom stage though but once things get growing add some Otocinclus to the tank to help clear them up.

Any problems Darren give me a call/pm or just add to the thread here. Best of luck!!

Forgot to add it usually takes about 3 weeks to get 1cm growth on moss from a startup position, ie. after tieing it onto rocks wood etc in a highlight tank.

zig wrote:

its going to be pretty much impossible to avoid the brown diatom stage though but once things get growing add some Otocinclus to the tank to help clear them up.

Any problems Darren give me a call/pm or just add to the thread here. Best of luck!!

Cheers Zig. I had read up on what looked like several different methods for EI. I know it is only an estimate dosing method but it got a bit confusing.

The GH from my tap is ridiculously low. Would you suggest adding a bit of GH to the tank?

Do you know the (micron) size of the brown diatom algae? If it is bigger than 1 micron i can filter some of it from the water.

As you know the time frame to get this tank ready is ridiculous, but i had planned to have this started a few weeks back, but between one thing and another it never happened.
I will give it my best shot to have it look half decent within a couple of weeks.

zig wrote:

Forgot to add it usually takes about 3 weeks to get 1cm growth on moss from a startup position, ie. after tieing it onto rocks wood etc in a highlight tank.

Good stuff. I had planned to do a back up tank with moss just in case the first one wasn't ready.
I have some moss pieces ready to start with.

platty252 wrote:

zig wrote:

its going to be pretty much impossible to avoid the brown diatom stage though but once things get growing add some Otocinclus to the tank to help clear them up.

Any problems Darren give me a call/pm or just add to the thread here. Best of luck!!

Cheers Zig. I had read up on what looked like several different methods for EI. I know it is only an estimate dosing method but it got a bit confusing.

The GH from my tap is ridiculously low. Would you suggest adding a bit of GH to the tank?

Do you know the (micron) size of the brown diatom algae? If it is bigger than 1 micron i can filter some of it from the water.

As you know the time frame to get this tank ready is ridiculous, but i had planned to have this started a few weeks back, but between one thing and another it never happened.
I will give it my best shot to have it look half decent within a couple of weeks.

My tap is also low GH and very low KH in particular but Personally I wouldnt bother with a GH booster, in this case I would try and keep it simple, concentrate on the CO2 levels/circulation issues this is where you will come a cropper more than likely if you start to experience problems, best to focus on those really. The EI dosing will provide all the nutrients that are required.

A GH booster will help in certain cases I have found but can also cause its own problems. It definitely helps me to grow certain plants better with a higher GH, grass type plants and crypts in particular, but it can also melt the crypts just as quick after a water change when you top up the GH booster, so it depends! For plants like HC it makes no difference as far as I can see to have very low GH. Add it if you want though Darren it wont do any harm at all, GH levels of about 4-5 are ideal/good for nearly every plant.

The brown diatom algae is like dust, micro size. It gets everywhere and covers everything, plants glass, equipment, everything. Wipe it off and it reappears next day. It usually kicks in at about 3 weeks and can last a couple or several weeks sometimes. Once over the hump though it disappears as quick as it came, just as you are curseing your bad luck and at your wits end it disappears, the addition of the otocinclus will help big time to clear it up but the algae will still run its course regardless.

For the moss only tank add pressurised CO2 for best results IME.

Thank guys for having this discussion here not on the phone:laugh: . Lot's of info!!!

Well said Xeon, even the plant killer that I am , could follow that. Excellent info.

Thanks.