[khoile]

Hi,

Will EI method work with daily water change in small amount instead of one large 50% water change per week?

I plan to change ~5 gallon perday at night rather than doing it all in the weekend. Just wondering if that would effect EI.

Thanks.

 

[plantbrain]

No, this is due to the dilution factor of the remaining water.

For example: if you you change say 90%, or 9 gallon of a 10 gallon tank once every 9 days, vs 1 gallon for 10 days, you will have much more of the original water in the smaller water change tank with higher frequency.

The total volume is remove with larger % changes.
Most aquarist are smart and clever enough to figure out how to make their water changes, whether they are 10 % daily or 80 % 2 x a week or 50% weekly without even touching a bucket. Use a python or a DIY version hose, add a hard plumb drain and refill, set up a solenoid and automated system.

Plenty of folks can place their tanks near the water sources also, not doing so is not wise.

This makes a hose drain/fill far easier and less laborious over time, anyone with sense realizes that and if you put the tank at the other end of the house etc, well, you know the trade off there, a longer hose.

Hard plumbed drain/refill makes a great deal of sense if you plan on having the tank in the same spot for a few years. Turn a valve to drain, turn another to fill. No work at all.

Even if you paid your self 5$ hr, you'd pay the plumber less after a few months/year. Improved fish health and reduced algae also are part of that deal. So the cost and effectively nice looking tank/fish more than make up for it.

The automated systems I've seen and set up generally do about 2 hours of low exchange water changes, some placement for the drain and refill can reduce the mixing. Generally about 20-30% are changed daily, this is about a little more than 50% weekly in equivalent exchanges and works fairly well at that rate.

You also lose some of the fertilizer you add if you do daily changes, but they tend to be cheap.

It's also a lot of work to do it daily. Most have one day/few hours a week tot end things, so this works out well for many folk's routines.

But 50% weekly water change is merely an example dilution factor for EI that's simple and the math is easy. It works well for most all cases.

You can play around with less, more etc, we all do at some point anyway.

Regards,
Tom Barr

 

[khoile]

Dose amount for newly setup 75G tank

Thanks Tom,

Good to know, well I was thinking of having my automatic water change setup to do nightly small water changes. I don't plan to do water change manually with a bucket (eww!!!). Actually, the only reason I'm in the fish hobby is thanks to python.

What do you suggest my dosing should be for a newly setup 75G tank, probaly with moderate planting?

I could configure my light to be:
1. 2.88 wpg
2. 6.60 wpg
3. 9.50 wpg

I'm going to upgrade to a taller (110G tall maybe) tank in the near future, but for now I'm stuck with the 75G.

All this is in planning phase, the tank is now mainly just fish only.

Thanks.

 

[plantbrain]

2.8 w/gal of PC lighting will grow ANY and every plant you ever desire, adding more just means more work, more hassle and more problems.

I used 330w on a 75, I backed off to 220 which was more than enough.

3 x54 w T5 would be great/better.

I'd set the auto water changer for about 2 hours drain time, and set it up so that very little mixes with new in coming water. Few set ups over fill, if something goes wrong, it's typically not refilling the tank, so set things up to happen in the morning etc or right before you get home, that way if the tank is low, you can refill it and re set things back up.

Add the Tee for drain on the out put side of the return.
This will prevent any clogging of the drain.
Right upstream from this drain, add the fill or add the fill into the tank as far away from the suction side of the filter(this is likely a better method).


Regards,
Tom Barr

 

[Betowess]

Thanks Tom,

Good to know, well I was thinking of having my automatic water change setup to do nightly small water changes. I don't plan to do water change manually with a bucket (eww!!!). Actually, the only reason I'm in the fish hobby is thanks to python.

What do you suggest my dosing should be for a newly setup 75G tank, probaly with moderate planting?

I could configure my light to be:
1. 2.88 wpg
2. 6.60 wpg
3. 9.50 wpg

I'm going to upgrade to a taller (110G tall maybe) tank in the near future, but for now I'm stuck with the 75G.

All this is in planning phase, the tank is now mainly just fish only.

Thanks.

There is a program Scolley sent me which figures the volume of water needed to take out if doing smaller daily changes. I ended up opting for a bit over 60% per week (12% per night X 5 nights) and everything was OK. But some don't pull as much out of a larger tank as some with smaller tanks. I ended up doing a once per week 50% change, but have the fill staggered over 4 hours so my heaters can keep up with the WC. I like it better this way and don't have to hear the nightly change on that tank and feel comfortable knowing the tank is re-set. But I haven't switched my other big tank over yet. And I dose the same EI on both and they seem pretty much OK.

If you want, pm me and I can send you that program. I'm pretty sure I still have it. Its an Excel program someone smarter than I came up with.