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About what should my nitrate be at? I am dosing 1 1/2tsp every other day and a 50% water change once a week.
125g tall EI Dosing
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About 10 ppm should be good. You can half that for low light and double for high light.
Make sure you calibrate your test kit before you believe what it tells you. Some NO3 test kits are difficult to interpret.
Make sure you calibrate your test kit before you believe what it tells you. Some NO3 test kits are difficult to interpret.
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121 Posts
FSM I do the 1 1/2tsp cause I have 30g sump also.
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15,740 Posts
Basically you mix yourself reference solutions with known levels of your nutrient, and then see how the test kit responds.
I call it the bucket test.
Fill a bucket with 5 gal of distilled/RODI water, and add enough KNO3 to get to 5 ppm. Take a good sized sample (water bottles work great) and label it. Add KNO3 to get to 10, 15, 20 ppm and repeat the bottling.
Of course you need to figure out how much KNO3 to add, and a way to measure it.
Then you test the solutions with your kit, and compare to your tank water. If the kit shows you clear differences, and the colors match the reference card, then it's a great kit. If all colors sorta look the same, it's more of a common kit.
Keep in mind the premise of EI is to NOT have to do all this testing, and trust the powder and your 50% water changes. Only if you WANT to know the precise levels in your tank, you should make sure the kit is calibrated.
I call it the bucket test.
Fill a bucket with 5 gal of distilled/RODI water, and add enough KNO3 to get to 5 ppm. Take a good sized sample (water bottles work great) and label it. Add KNO3 to get to 10, 15, 20 ppm and repeat the bottling.
Of course you need to figure out how much KNO3 to add, and a way to measure it.
Then you test the solutions with your kit, and compare to your tank water. If the kit shows you clear differences, and the colors match the reference card, then it's a great kit. If all colors sorta look the same, it's more of a common kit.
Keep in mind the premise of EI is to NOT have to do all this testing, and trust the powder and your 50% water changes. Only if you WANT to know the precise levels in your tank, you should make sure the kit is calibrated.
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