Mixing Nutrients & Water Changes - Help! :)

[newplantguy]

Hi Guys,

I just re-did my tank and in an effort to get my new plants to grow rapidly and prevent algae from going crazy I am going to start a regular dosing regimime (like I should have done in the first place). I have two questions.

I am now using Seachem Potassium, Phosphorus, Nitrogen, Comprehensive & Excel. In an effort to keep my sanity I was thinking about mixing the appropriate dosages together and using an Eheim Liquidoser to do the work for me. Is there any problem with mixing all the nutrients together and administrating them that way?

Also, I am now using deionized water. I have heard that for a successful planted tank you need to do a 50% water change every week. Is this true or can I maybe do 25% every other week? I am using Seachem Equilibrium to reconstitute my water.

Any help would be fantastic. Thanks! Ryan

[g8wayg8r]

Most of the articles and posts I've read say to change 1/4 to 1/3 of your water every two weeks. I'm not sure how often that water change involves a light gravel vacuum.

[Buck]

The problem that arises with using a "mix-all" solution is that you may not need as much of one nutrient but need a bit more of another.
Micro's can be dosed that way but your macro's will normally vary a bit more. Nobody said planted tank maintenance would be easy... :lol:

The 50% water changes you read about are normally used to recalibrate your tank water for dosing fert's, it basically "resets" the levels of the nutrients.

[Buck]

25% every other week will normally lead to troubles... 25% a week is fine though depending on bio-load.

I do 25% a week with a 50 % every 3rd week or so...

[Momotaro]

I do 50% every week. Resets the aquarium, just like Buck said. I think that a water change to a fish is a lot like opening up the windows on a beautiful spring day to us!

Mike

[newplantguy]

Thanks guys! I will post pics when things grow in a bit

[Rex Grigg]

I have a question. You say you live near Seattle. What is your water like out of the tap? Why are you using DI water? I live in Portland and have to add hardness to my water due to it basically having none.

[newplantguy]

I live in Bothell and, you are correct, the tap water is very soft here. The thing I don’t like is not knowing what the water utility is adding to the tap water.. it smells like chlorine at times and I don’t know what else they are putting in there like fluoride, etc.

With this rebuild, I decided that I wanted to start with a clean slate using DI water and that way I can better control what nutrients are in my tank. I am hoping there will be less surprises that way.

Call me paranoid but I would just hate to have another algae outbreak.

Ryan

[Rex Grigg]

It looks like they use straight Chlorine to treat the water. To make sure call the water company and ask them. Then buy whatever water treatment you need to neutralize that chemical. I use Seachem Prime because it handles both Chlorine and Chloramines. Then save your money and just use tap water because once you remove the chemical treatment you water is actually very pure. In fact you will have to add hardness to it just like I do. See my FAQ for more info.