Satirica

I am considering switching one tank to PPS from EI. Changing 70 gallons of water a week is getting a tad old. Where I used to live a benefit of changing water is that my water was highly mineralized and I didn't need to add trace elements if I simply did a 50% water change.

Having read all the PPS stickys, the technical thread and the "discussion" thread, I have a couple of questions. I know all tanks are different, and all "starting points" are different so I'm asking about general timeframes, not specifics.

1. About how long should I expect to be in the initial loop back phase of PPS? My plan is to take the current EI tank and do a 50 - 70% water change then start from there.

2. How often do people find they need to test NO3 and PO4 levels after they have arrived at the optimum dosing regime? Bi weekly? Monthly? Testing doesn't bother me (I was a chemist for 20 years), I'm just looking for a general idea here.

3. I have been repeatedly assured that failure to remove mulm from the substrate will ultimately cause toxicity problems to develop over the long term. I assumed this was true, and vacuum about 1/2 the tank with each water change. I take it from the number of people who have been using PPS for a period of 1 or more years that this is not true. Is that correct? How often do people vacuum substrate wtih this method?

Thanks in advance.

Edward

Hi
All plants require almost the same conditions. When these conditions are met we have a nice clean looking aquarium. The differences are in the delivery systems, in the way we supply it. We can either use the sledge hammer approach simplified so much we have to rely on luck, hypnosis and weekly cleanings or we can use the proper amounts of the essential ingredients.

Some aquariums work and some don’t. There can be many reasons why. First is to know tap water parameters and substrate solubility. This usually reveals where the problem is. Testing is always helpful on the beginning and later becomes less and less important. The PPS without water changes dosing Table is so accurate I’ve been using it in several aquariums without even testing any parameters for months.

Mulm and sediment does not cause toxicity. I had a 90 gallon aquarium running without any filtration for about 3+ years without water changes. The substrate was inert white silica quartz. The sediment was low and continuously removed by microorganisms. Good power heads and filters will take care of excessive accumulation if needed.

Water changes are neither forbidden nor mandatory. It is everybody’s choice. Complete water changes, partial water changes, vacuuming, cleaning and automatic flow through changes are all irrelevant to the PPS dosing system. As long as daily dosage is provided aquarium is in good hands.



Thank you
Edward

russell

you guys helped me with pps all the way, but i just am not as big of a fan anymore. i don't follow a dosing schedule per say any more, but i do water changes which i feel to be very necessairy, but that's just me. when you are doing water changes constantly you can just throw ferts at the plants and they will like it.

jamesB

I have been in the initial loop for about a 1.5 months. But my tank was in devoid of almost all ferts before I started, as well as having extremely hard water.

I expect that I will continue to test on a weekly basis, I like the idea knowing how the biomass is using the ferts.

I have never vacuumed my PPS tank. I have little to no build-up on the substrate, this may be because of the shrimp and lite light fish load; however.

Hopefully, others will respond as I am interested in how they answer your questions.

james

Satirica

Thanks for the answers. I'm going to start when I get back from vacation.

dennis

Logically, vacuuming the substrate and water changes should depend on fish load, plant load and feed habits. IMO, a clean tank is a happier tank. I find that I get the worst algae outbreaks associated with a disturbance and release of a lot of organic material into the water column. Whether it is due to a decrease in O2, increase in NH4, more available food, disturbance of dormant algae spores, etc I don't know. "Unhealthy" tanks always seem dirtier too so maybe there is a correlation there. I personally feel that excessive organic waste in the aquarium is the biggest contributer to the onset of algae battles.

Obviously, there are a lot of factors at play and every tank is unique.

I'm a little confused though. I thought part of the idea for PPS and no water change was to allow those alleochemicals to build up and keep the algae away?

Edward

Dennis,
What if there was only one known fish food available. And it was so dumb, after every week we had chunks of uneaten meat floating around, rotting and causing algae. We had to do weekly 50% water changes, pump huge amounts of CO2 and clean the glass. Fish grew and algae was small. Wouldn’t you ask for a better system? Yes, and this is why PPS was created. It is more complete and accurate system. This system does not need water changes and is algae free. Because it doesn’t need water changes, natural plant produced allelochemicals restrain algae. Maybe there are more reasons why, we don’t know yet.

In my experience, the best way to kill algae is to clean the aquarium, create flow with filtration and stop doing water changes. In few weeks time most algae starts melting and disappearing. When algae is gone we can do water changes.



Thank you
Edward