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EI Dosing, High NO3 PO4?

2K views 8 replies 5 participants last post by  Trickerie 
#1 · (Edited)
Ive been dosing a modified EI dosing scheme for 10 days now, based on usually high amounts of nitrate and phosphate. Heres the schedule:

Dirt substrate, 25G Tank/Weekly:
2xCSM+B 1/8tsp
1xCSM+B 1/16 tsp
3xKNO3 1/8 tsp
3xK2HPO4 1/32 tsp
1xGH Booster with water change 1/2 tsp

Today, after a 75% weekly water change last night, my nitrates were still between 40-80ppm, and phosphate between 5-10ppm. So, the problem is, what should I do? Forgo dosing the KNO3 and K2HPO4 all together, and perhaps supplement KSO4 for K instead? I think I may have poisoned my golden apple snails, as both in that tank went from extremely active, to not moving for 2 days. Ugh.

Or perhaps 1/16 KNO3, and 1/64 K2HPO4?

Please advise :)
 
#2 · (Edited)
40-80ppm NO3 after a 75% wc.:icon_eek: 160-320ppm before the wc?

160ppm of NO3 in 25 gallons is 15200mg of NO3 or ~24714mg KNO3. I think that's 4.5 tsp, and you are only dosing 3/8 tsp.
20ppm of PO4 is 1900mg PO4 or ~3480mg K2HPO4. Which should be 1/2tsp, and again you are only dosing 3/32 tsp.
:icon_conf

Is the tank really overstocked, have something died or maybe the dirt is releasing a lot of ferts? What kind of dirt and how old is the tank?
 
#3 ·
Yeah, thats my predicament :| Im not sure why Im getting so many nitrates and phosphates. I mean, the tank is a bit overstocked, but not so much as to cause these huge nitrate and phosphate levels. The dirt I'm using is some cheap stuff from walmart. I've scoured the tank, nothing dead. I did some more large water changes today to get these levels in workable range, and will stop my KNO3 and K2HPO4 dosing for now, but will continue CSM+B and gh booster.
 
#8 ·
Could you be overfeeding the fish by quite a bit? Fish food can rot and breakdown to nitrates and phosphates. If your tap water is low in both, and you have a well planted tank, with the plants growing well, there shouldn't much buildup of any of the fertilizer components. If there is, it has to come from something, and overfeeding is just one possibility. If you have any common snails in the tank, their population should be booming if you are overfeeding that much.
 
#9 ·
I've been thinking about too much food as well. The problem seems to be wasted food. Im currently feeding NLS pellets, but most of the pellets seem to just sink past the fish before they can eat them. Even if I only put a small amount, a lot still get by them. Im going to try a bag of repashy, and try to control the feeding more. I'll hang a food ball from string in the water column and see how that goes. I drop 2 wafers for my cories, and they eat them up pretty quick. However, I think the NLS pellets that are being missed arent being scavenged quick enough.
 
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