[Puddles]

I have a tank with dwarf hairgrass, micro chain sword, java ferns, spiral sword (vesuvius?), and Staurogyne repens 'Tropica'. I've been using a 3/4 dose of excel and using flourish comprehensive as my fertilizer. I have 4 t5 48" bulbs over the tank, which is probably too much I know. I'd prefer to use dry ferts, as they are much cheaper. What is a good fertilizer mix for this batch of plants? And what is an effective dosing method? I'd rather do 2 25% water changes per week rather than 1 50% weekly. Is this sufficient for EI method? Thanks


I plan to have some shrimp in this tank, so copper is a no go.

 

[Darkblade48]

I have a tank with dwarf hairgrass, micro chain sword, java ferns, spiral sword (vesuvius?), and Staurogyne repens 'Tropica'. I've been using a 3/4 dose of excel and using flourish comprehensive as my fertilizer. I have 4 t5 48" bulbs over the tank, which is probably too much I know. I'd prefer to use dry ferts, as they are much cheaper. What is a good fertilizer mix for this batch of plants? And what is an effective dosing method? I'd rather do 2 25% water changes per week rather than 1 50% weekly. Is this sufficient for EI method? Thanks


I plan to have some shrimp in this tank, so copper is a no go.

With that kind of lighting, you will probably need CO2 as well, if you aren't already injecting it.

For dry fertilizers, you will need at the very least:

potassium nitrate
potassium dihydrogen phosphate
a trace mix (such as CSM+B)

Depending on your water parameters, you may also want GH booster (generally a mix of calcium, magnesium and potassium sulfate).

For your question regarding EI dosing and water changes, perhaps Tom Barr could chime in....you might also find some information over at the Barr Report.

Finally, all trace mixes have copper. The Flourish comprehensive you are using now has copper.

Shrimp require copper to live as well.

It is the dose that makes the poison. The levels at which we are dosing will not harm shrimp.