Demystifying the Estimative Index

Yeah its very well put, looking forward to discussing it with you in more depth sometime...

 

Thanxs a mil Silicube!

Now it makes more sense to me as well...

Just mailed Warren Chem but they only sell in minimum 25 kg bag's it seems...
Have anyone else stumbled across a supplier, maybe in the Pretoria to Midrand
region? Or Joburg for that matter?

 

Hi Ruben!

Don't mind at all...! Thanxs for the info!

Truth is I haven't started re-doing the 3 footer yet. I'm still trying to gather
everything I'm going to need...
But I did put on the new canopy and that soon gave me a nice green pea soup
for all my efforts! So I'm only running 2 lights and trying to get rid of
the algae.

What I have done is set-up a hex tank with mineralized top soil(2,5cm) and
river sand(2,5cm).
http://gwapa.org/wordpress/articles/mineralized-soil-substrate/

Planted with 1 Amazon sword and lots of Lilaeopsis brasiliensis(broken into small clumps) around the sword.
2 x 26watt Compact fluorescent bulbs, running at 6 hours with a 3 hour
break in the middle.
A ruff calculation on the tank volume probably between 80 and 90 liters...
Tank water height is round about 45 cm.

This tank will be 3 weeks old this weekend. Got some brown algae but that
could probably be expected.

I'm waiting for this tank to cycle then I'll redo the 3 footer with the same
substrate and DIY CO2 with lots of plants...!

Don't want to high-jack your EI thread to much Ruben...!

Will then use the enema stuff till I can get my hands on the proper stuff!
Also read that instead of MgSO4(Magnesium sulfate), Epsom salt, that you should
rather use dolomite...that I have a lot of! 20kg's!!

Hope you had a good voting day!
Thanks again Ruben!

 

Hehe! As I've experienced lately it's just about the only way to go!

Yeah, I screwed that one up badly but would love to sort it out before I redo
the whole tank. Just in case it happens again.
Did try the 4-5 day black-out but it seems to have been in vain...
Lights is also 6 hours with a 3 hour gap. Apparently higher plant life
doesn't mind the gap but lower, algae, do...confuses them or something!

Daphnia would also work but for that I need to take out the fish!

I'm going to save up for pressurized CO2 system...want it badly! But in the meantime I thought playing around with the DIY will give me some experience...

For the life of me can't remember where I read about the dolomite or if they meant it's rather a substitute for the MgSO4...could have been on PMDD as well.
Will check if I can find it again...
You could probably shed some light if the one could be swopped for the other?

Is there a big difference in PMDD and EI?

So if I stick to the following I should be fine?
- K2SO4(Nature's choice "no salt" sodium free salt)
- KH2PO4(Lenolax)
- KNO3(Salt peter)
- MgSO4(Epsom salt)

Also going to test the tap water at the SABS here in Pretoria(Brooklyn). It's
probably a very good idea to know what is in your water...

 

WBS, where do you get the dolomite from?

 

Locating some of these products should be somewhat easy in SA..........other places can be rather tough, agricultural supply places are the cheapest, then with 25Kg, you can sell the rest off to other hobbyist

It is what we do here in the States.

CO2 and good lighting is the other harder things to source in various places.
We have been threatening to come to SA for a few years now.

Regards,
Tom Barr

 

Well, you folks have a shipping issue for brands and relatively small market near as I can tell? Maybe there's a huge group, I'm not sure. Australia has similar problems but they are close and have strong ties to Singapore and China.

Europe is isolated in some ways, and things cost more there.
USA lacks some stuff, but is has been doing better for the last 15 years slow and surely.
The UK has changed a lot and a few other locations as well.

Still, sourcing products is a challenge for your group.
CO2, good even lighting, dry ferts, nice aquariums/stands, hard scaping materials etc.

This is why your club and forum is so important. The group is far far stronger than the individual and much more likely to find and buy certain products, or locate a good local source for say, driftwood.

Regards,
Tom Barr

 

Hi Silikube,

Thanks for adding my fertilizer name to those that you have listed. The Afrikaans members of the forum refer to my ferts as "Dirk se Druppels" and the English members refer to them as "Dirk's secret drops" so I now refer to them as DSD fertilizers.

However, I would like to point out that my ferts do not just include a trace element mixture but that they are a complete set of fertilizers incorporating the full EI dosage principle. However, I have made the use a lot more simple.

It also needs to be mentioned that in most areas in South Africa the water is too soft for normal plant aquatic plant (as opposed to Europe and the USA where tap water is much harder) and Calcium and Magnesium need to be added to the water. Again I have included this with my fertilizers. In order to make it easier for the aquarist, I have also formulated my fertilizers so that you can use three options:

1. What I call the low tech option, which just adds Calcium, Magnesium and Potassium as well as traces. THis is for the average aquarist who wants good plant growth but does not want to go the intensive EI route.

2. What I call the medium tech option, which consists of the low tech option plus EI, in other words instead of adding dry fertilizers where you have the hassle of weighing off everything, you just dose a certain volume which contains exactly the same as what you have specified above.

3. The so-called high tech option which includes low and medium tech options, but then additionally has a fertilizer fluid which adds carbonate hardness so that you can use CO2 fertilization as well.

What I have also changed in these formulations is that where there were biochemical errors in the formulations that you have listed at the start of this thread (and there a number of errors) I have corrected these and use the corrected formulas in my fertilizers. For the record, I would just like to state that I am a professor of biochemistry at Stellenbosch University, as a result of which I have the professional background and experience for development of these fertilizers.

Finally, I would just like to state that my fertilizer solutions are not expensive, and that it means that you do not need to buy any chemicals at ridiculous prices. If you want to purchase my fertilizers, I supply them by mail order, and you can send me a PM with your private email address and then I can send you the relevant information.

Many thanks and kind regards,

Dirk Bellstedt

 

Re: DCD mixture and Fe chelate liquid.

Good evening Dirk,

I am well pleased to read about your successful DCD mixture.

I am a complete novice within the "Planted Tank" concept. Having said that I am having great success with several recommedations taken from reputed expets across the world.

I would however love to get your magic potion for my next tank.

Please be so kind as to give me your contact details so that I can visit with you some, tap some of your experience and buy your DCD blend and concentrated Fe additive.

You can also call me on 082 452 9052 when you have some time available.

Kind regards
ClaudeS

 

Dirk is not on here much, perhaps you will get a quicker response on the other forum, bud

 

I am on the EI index, but my plaster of paris make some clumbs in the bottel, must i change the Ca source or what?
Thanx