EI is not a great "mix and match" system. If we take only parts of it, then mix in parts of another method, we really are asking for troubles. While it is true that you don't absolutely need to do 50% water changes weekly, you should do big water changes almost weekly, even if those are 33% or 66% changes. Similarly, if we are dosing a half tsp of nitrates every other day, we need to be dosing about 1/8 tsp or more of phosphates every other day too. If we were to be sure we have enough CO2 (use a drop checker), use only as much light as we need, and dose per EI, we should be able to keep any algae problems under control, so why not just do all of that? (My excuse is that I tend to be too lazy, but I don't present myself as a role model.) |