My water parameters

[mitche8359]

I just got done testing my water for nitrate and GH. I could use some help at determining where I stand.

The nitrate lever was at 40ppm and the GH was at 8 or 9.

The booklet that came with the test kit listed GH of 3 for plants. Can live plants handle a GH of 8 or 9?

[m.lemay]

The nitrate level is high but not horrible. If you get some plants in there and do a 30% water change every couple of days the nitrates should come down. That is if the nitrates aren't coming from the tap water. Test your tap water for nitrates and Gh and Kh and whatever else you can test for. It's important to know what your tap water is so you can know where the stuff in your tank is coming from.

GH of 8-9 is fine for plants. Some of these plant books were written 5 years ago or more and the hobby has gotten much more enlightened since then.

Get a Kh test. Crucial for determining CO2 levels in your tank and buffering capacity of the water.

Do you have your tank specs listed somewhere? It would help tremendously, so that we can steer you in the right direction.

Marcel

[m.lemay]

My bad !! I just saw your tank specs. How many plants do you have in that 55. Would you say its heavily planted, lightly planted? I noticed your photoperiod at 8 hours and why the 1 hour in the morning. Plants need a solid 10-12 hours of light.
It takes about 2hours just for the plants to start kicking into gear for photosynthesis after the lights come on. The one hour in the morning seems like it could be confusing for the plants and the fish. If you could get just a little more light into that tank to get it to 3 wpg you'll be well on your way to having a beautiful tank.

[Buck]

I wish I could borrow some of your Nitrates ...
That is the only problem I have is 0 or close to 0 ntrates...
Stump Remover,need to get,have to have, plants are begging for No3

Nitrates Wanted... call 1-800-Givem2Buck :hehe:

[m.lemay]

Buck, Heres all the chemicals you need.
KNO3 for nitrates, K2SO4 for pottasium, They also have pottasium phosphate for phosphates. They don't have a good trace supplement for planted tanks yet. I ordered KNO3 and K2SO4 and I've been using them for about 2 weeks and the difference is phenomenal. I've been using fleet enema for phosphate.

Marcel

[Buck]

Now thats an awesome price ! Thanks Marcel

[SNPiccolo5]

I agree, it is a good place to start, and I have to order some soon! Right now I am going to get the K2SO4 and KNO3, but am going to wait before adding phosphates...

-Tim

[mitche8359]

It's important to know what your tap water is so you can know where the stuff in your tank is coming from.

Get a Kh test.

I agree. I had a pH level of 7.6 in my tank and thought it was the limestone that I had in the tank. Measured the tap water and found that it was 7.6. Doh!

I have that Kh test. The toddler won't give me the time to run the test. I'll test it today and also tap water and post the results.

Would you say its heavily planted, lightly planted? I noticed your photoperiod at 8 hours and why the 1 hour in the morning. Plants need a solid 10-12 hours of light.

I'd say it was lightly planted. I only have three anubias, two clumps of moneywort, two clumps of java moss, and those acorus plants. I plan on adding more, just need to finish looking for the plants. Trying to stay true to the SA theme is proving a pain to a small degree.

I read one article that suggested turning the lights on for about 45 minutes in the morning to get the algea in the tank geared up to start photosynthesising. The algae uses up a lot of energy to start photosynthesis, so at the point where it's getting back a return, the lights go off, making the algae expend more energy than it generated. I'll try anything once, so I set that cycle up. I'm not saying that it works, but but the algae has definitely been affected by something. I'll increase the night light to 10 hours since its been recommended several times. I reduced the light to 8 hours on suggestion of another board to control algae.

I wish I could borrow some of your Nitrates

Send me your postal and I'll ship em out to ya. :hehe: Don't worry about returning em.

[m.lemay]

Things are a little different in a planted tank than a fish-only tank. That 1 hour photoperiod also takes energy away from the plants which compete with algae. Plant your tank heavy and your algae problems will be slim indeed. It may go thru a small algae outbreak in the early stages but once the plants become established (2-3 weeks) algae should die off, if you get any at all.

[SNPiccolo5]

Yeah, Lemay is right. The algae definitely waste their energy, but so do the plants. In a planted tank, the guard against algae is the plants, so you wouldn't need the 1 hour in the morning....

-Tim

[mitche8359]

Well as a test, I'll get rid of the morning light and see if the algea starts coming back. I added two hours to the evening cycle.

I had a chance to test the tap water and the Kh of the tank.

Tank Kh: 3

Tap water:
Gh: 7
Kh: 3
NO3: 30
pH - 7.6

[SNPiccolo5]

Is that right that your tap water has 30 NO3?! If your tap water has nitrate that can't be good, and no wonder your tank before had high nitrates! I bet Buck will have you shipping him your water now, or hook up a pump to the tap... lol!

The high nitrates in your tap is a very large excuse to increase your CO2 and lighting so you get some fast growth! You should never have to worry about buying any KNO3 if 30 ppm is your constant reading from the tap!

-Tim

[mitche8359]

Yeah, the tap reading is right. I tested twice. More light and then more co2. gotcha.

[Buck]

:hehe:

[madpiano]

My tap water is high in Nitrates as well, so I am trying my luck on Duckweed now...But my fish are eating it....

I may have to put it in a jar on the windowsil and just add to the tank when ever I got enough