[geezer]

I've been busy for a fair while, and water changes I now do once every two weeks instead of once every week.

I have a 95 gallon tank, and wondered on the second week should I carry on dry dosing as well? I follow the EI chart

 

[Zapins]

There is a bit of give and take with the EI. I don't think it will hurt doing water changes every second week.

You should keep on dosing, but be a bit more watchful of what is going on in the tank.

Perhaps you should consider a bit of a blend between EI and PPS. Try dose closer to what you think the plants will need, but still dose a little extra like EI. Overall the key to making it work is just be more watchful on tank conditions and react to them in a timely manner.

 

[Seattle_Aquarist]

Hi geezer,

An alternative may be to consider doing the PPS-Pro method. Water changes are suggested but not required. EI intentionally overdoses and then "resets" with the weekly water change. No weekly water change means longer periods of overdosed nutrients.

 

[geezer]

Hello both, thanks for your replies. I'm not familiar with PPS-Pro, is that still dry dosing or making your own solutions?

 

[Zapins]

PSS-Pro is basically adding just enough fertilizer to let the plants grow without adding extra nutrients. Essentially balancing all input of fertilizer will all use/output of nutrients. It requires frequent testing (or very good guesswork).

Since fertilizer levels are never in huge excess like in EI, you don't need to change the water as often because it doesn't have too much fertilizer in it.

Its a bit harder to do, since you need to balance things which takes time. But it works well once you get the hang of it.

 

[geezer]

I'm just reading about it now, I'll give it a try out in a few weeks most definitely.


There was a time when my tank pearled and it was beautiful, not so much these days. Had a lot of issues for a long while!