I'm 2 weeks into my new tank and, through a ton of research and reading of threads on this forum, I think I'm starting to get it but would appreciate some more experienced views.
Here are my test results as of today,
Temperature: 26c
Ammonia, NH4: 0
Nitrate, NO3: 50
Nitrite, NO2: 0.5
pH: 6.5
Alkalinity, KH: 8
Phosphate, PO4: 3
General Hardness, GH: 10
I've been doing mini water changes of 10-20% every day the last 2 weeks while tackling the initial nitrate cycle. (I half-seeded the tank from the start by using some used substrate. Essentially I started with zero ammonia in the first week and high nitrite. Now I'm getting constant high nitrate and my ammonia and nitrites are low which is to be expected. But my nitrate levels aren't going down to the desired 10-20ppm level.
I did a 50% water change 3 days ago as per EI dosing (which I started 10 days ago), but my nitrates were back at 50 ppm the next day. The day after, 50 ppm again so i did a 20% water change last night however I'm back at 50 ppm this evening? (so I did a 10% water change tonight)
Questions,
Is my ph too low or am I okay? (I have DIY co2 which is always on)
Are my nitrates rising faster than normal? If so, what should I be looking at as the cause? Should I keep doing 50% water changes to get it down and forgo my EI dosing schedule?
My phosphate level is high at 3. It was at 3 three days ago before the 50% water change. I know this can lead to algae but so far I haven't seen anything but a little bit of diatom on my stone.
Sidenote, my primary goal is to grow a carpet of dwarf hair grass. The recommend params dhg are 5-7 kh and 9-13 gh.
Any insight would be appreciate. Thank you!
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