cainechow Posted August 16, 2012 Report Share Posted August 16, 2012 I'm running a 10g tank with a 2.6g sump. I am trying out the PPS Pro method of fertilizing and wondering if I should be dosing for my planted volume (10g) or if I should be dosing for total water volume (12g). Maybe the extra 2g in the sump doesn't make that much difference? Now that I've written it down, it probably isn't that vital since every tank is so different that one program can't account for every tank. That being said, I'm fine with sub-optimal performance in the 80% range as long as I'm not fighting with algae. Any one with experience? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SuperGuppyGirl Posted August 16, 2012 Report Share Posted August 16, 2012 For myself im a beginner to plants and all my plants are low maintenance, so I dump flourish excel in every other day, I run T8 lights with alot of aeration, so when I add its to tank size, not sure if it helps... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
riverpirate Posted August 16, 2012 Report Share Posted August 16, 2012 To get your levels to the desired ppm you will have to dose to the total water volume as your dry ferts will dissolve into all the water. The point of Ei dosing is to have your ferts non limiting. I was running flourish products before and just started dosing dry ferts a little over two weeks ago. The growth that I have gotten since has made me a firm believer. Had a tank that was geting a lot of algae, start having the algae dissapear and growth take right off. My advice; dose hard. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jro Posted August 16, 2012 Report Share Posted August 16, 2012 Like the others said above, dose total volume. Make sure your 50% water changes are of total water volume too. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
cainechow Posted August 16, 2012 Author Report Share Posted August 16, 2012 Awesome. Thanks. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Serenity Posted August 16, 2012 Report Share Posted August 16, 2012 /agreed Always work from water volume. That being said I'll say it again. Always work from WATER volume. It is often a mistake that people dose according to the tank volume. You need to take into account anything that will displace water volume like your rock, any large equipment and substrate. I have a 75gal tank but after all rock/substrate/equipment/plants it only holds 55gals of water. If I dosed according to tank volume I would be wasting ferts and overdosing by 1/3. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
cainechow Posted August 16, 2012 Author Report Share Posted August 16, 2012 That is a really really good point. Substrate volume isn't insignificant. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Serenity Posted August 16, 2012 Report Share Posted August 16, 2012 I also find it helpful to make a little discrete mark on the side of the tank indicating the location for a 50% water volume wc. Again, some drain down to the halfway mark on the tank itself which leads to a wc larger then 50% With my tank if I went to the halfway point on the tank it would work out to a 70% wc. The effect is obviously amplified the larger you go so smaller tanks might not be affected as much but still something to note for planted tanks or otherwise. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
epiphany Posted August 16, 2012 Report Share Posted August 16, 2012 /agreed Always work from water volume. That being said I'll say it again. Always work from WATER volume. It is often a mistake that people dose according to the tank volume. You need to take into account anything that will displace water volume like your rock, any large equipment and substrate. I have a 75gal tank but after all rock/substrate/equipment/plants it only holds 55gals of water. If I dosed according to tank volume I would be wasting ferts and overdosing by 1/3. Without draining the tank and keeping track of how much water it takes to fill, there isn't really much of a way to find out the true volume is there? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
cainechow Posted August 16, 2012 Author Report Share Posted August 16, 2012 With EI it doesn't matter because you figure out the limits using experimentation. With PPS Pro which is a compromise system it would be more important. I suppose with the tank already filled it would indeed be difficult to know the true volume, but I'm sure we could make an educated guess and be better off than if we just assumed full tank load of water. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Serenity Posted August 20, 2012 Report Share Posted August 20, 2012 Unfortunately you would need to start with a tank drained as much as possible. I had to move my one tank downstairs which provided the opportunity to drain it empty and measure the fill and my other tank was a DSM so I was able to measure as I filled it for the first time. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jeremoose Posted August 20, 2012 Report Share Posted August 20, 2012 (edited) /agreed Always work from water volume. That being said I'll say it again. Always work from WATER volume. It is often a mistake that people dose according to the tank volume. You need to take into account anything that will displace water volume like your rock, any large equipment and substrate. I have a 75gal tank but after all rock/substrate/equipment/plants it only holds 55gals of water. If I dosed according to tank volume I would be wasting ferts and overdosing by 1/3. Without draining the tank and keeping track of how much water it takes to fill, there isn't really much of a way to find out the true volume is there? Just measure from the top of the water line to the base of your substrate. It'll give you a much idea of the volume of water you have in your tank than the total volume the aquarium is rated for (if your purchase a 90g tank, it's not literally 90 gallons, it will be a couple gallons more or a couple gallons less, the companies just round out the numbers). To find the true volume of the water: (length x width x height) / 222 = volume of the water in gallons Edited August 20, 2012 by jeremoose Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jro Posted August 21, 2012 Report Share Posted August 21, 2012 Assuming you're doing your weekly 50-60% water changes, I don't really think we need to get crazy technical about 12.6 gallons of water. I personally would eyeball it. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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