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A lot of Questions (GH/Phosphate/Nitrate,Dry Ferts)

1244 Views 5 Replies 5 Participants Last post by  Hoppy
Hello Everyone,

I've been a lurker around here for sometime. Anyways, I've been having a lot of trouble with plants lately. Especially since I've moved.

My tank is a 72 Bow Front, Seachem Black Flourish Sand, 260watts of Power Compacts(2 10k & 2 6700k bulbs they are on at 130w from 2-3pm and then 260w from 3-10pm then back to 130w from 10-11pm), and I got a pressurized co2 setup. Which currently is hooked up to a ebay diffuser and my regulator is set at 11psi, with about 1.5 BPS. My tank is also pretty well stocked with some small and medium fish, a pair of angels, a severum, and a ton of tetras.

My Tap Water has changed. At my current home, my water test's with a ph of about 6.4, amm: 0, nitrite: 0, nitrate: 0, kh and gh are also both registering as 0-1. I don't think my GH test kit works since it always shows 0 even after adding the equilibrium and the colors on the GH test kit suck.

So I'm pretty sure my water is basically dead and lacking almost all nutrients which took me about a year of living here and struggling with my tank to figure it out.

Now,
I picked up a bottle of Seachem Equilibrium 2 days ago, put in enough to get the GH up to about 5ish. Added some baking soda and got my KH up to between 5-6.

Since adding the Equilibrium, my tank has had a slight haze and a large amount of particles moving around. Did a 25% WC Today.

I've been struggling with plants of all types, they all seem to waste away, I've been dosing flourish comprehensive & potassium & a tad of the phosphorus one. I've been trying to get a hold of some dry ferts but I ordered from Rex Grigg, and 3 weeks later never heard from him and filed a paypal claim. Where else can I order? and what would be the best for me to order?

I have mostly swords and did have cabomba and some other basic plants all which have over the past few months since purchased just wasted away. My swords seem to turn yellow in the leaves and get brittle and start dieing off. I'm guessing my tank is lacking something critical even my algae growth is bar none besides a bit of green algae that grows on the glass, used to get a lot of black beard on the filter pipes and some plants (seems to slowed or stopped)

My Phosphate test reads a 0 (I used to read off the charts when I used to use Neutral Regulator back in the day when I first started with the planted tank)

Nitrate is a 0 but shouldn't the fish waste be enough nitrate wise? or should I be dosing. If someone can help me figure out these Fertilizer issues I'm guessing I'd be growing stuff like crazy.

So to sum it up,

I need help buying the right ferts, getting a GH test kit that actually works, figuring out what ferts I should dose and figuring out what my phosphate and nitrate should be at.

Thanks in advance to anyone willing to help.
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I would start here and recommend EI dosing. Equilibrium does give your water a slight haze but that shouldn't last long. What kind of filtration do you have running on your tank? How are you checking your co2 levels? Do you have a drop checker? 1.5bps really isn't allot for a tank that size. esp using a defuser like that. Many Many more questions but I am at work. I'm sure others will have some input too.

Clint
That sounds like a lot of light. Likely flourish is not giving you nearly enough macronutrients. You can get dry fertilizers from aquariumfertilizers.com. You may want to look at CO2 injection if you arent doing it already. Fish waste will only provide adequate nutrients to slow growing plants in a low light set up, and that's only likely to be the case if the tank is heavily stocked with fish.
Thanks for the advice so far theres a eheim pro 2 2026 and a eheim 2215 classic running on the tank. Ill get some dry ferts ordered this afternoon. The tank is still a bit hazy but is improving. I have another gh test kit coming also. Ive been awaiting on my new ebay drop checker since i cracked the last one i got 4dkh solution for it also when it comes.
With what sounds like pretty high lights and limited CO2 and nutrients, I wonder if that haze isn't an algae bloom?

edit: just to check, maybe fill a white cup up with tank water and see if it has a greenish tint?
It is hard to guess how much light you get from PC light fixtures, but I think you have from very low to medium light. Very low if the fixture is one of those sold on Ebay a few years ago, where the reflectors were almost non-existent, but medium if your fixture has as good a reflector as the AH Supply reflectors, which is unlikely.

I think you should be dosing nitrates and phsophates, which will not harm anything, and may be the problem the plants have.
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