[Chet]

I have been dosing for a couple of weeks and noticed the new growth on my swords is light green. Do I need to dose more micros or just only Iron or more macros?

 

[Edward]

What traces and how much are you dosing now? Aquarium size?

 

[Chet]

Plantex csm b. 55 gal

 

[Edward]

Hi Chet
The normal micros dose on 55 gallon aquarium should be 12 drops a day of solution #2. If you still see pale new growth then double the dose to 24 drops a day for a week or two.

 

[Chet]

What is the receipt you use for mixing micro solution? I am using green leaf aquarium micro fertilizers.

 

[Edward]

What is the receipt you use for mixing micro solution? I am using green leaf aquarium micro fertilizers.

I use Plant-Prod Chelated Micronutrient Mix which is almost the same as Plantex CSM+B, and the quantity is here. Difference is in chelating.

Plant-Prod Chelated Micronutrient Mix
EDTA (Ethylene diamine tetraacetate) 42%, (5% Fe, Mn, Zn, Cu)
DTPA (Diethylene triamine pentaacetate) 14%, (2% Fe)

Plantex CSM
EDTA (chelating agent) 65.4%, (7% Fe, Mn, Zn, Cu)

+B
is added by resellers.

.

 

[Chet]

I am confused? Green leaf aquarium had me mix 40grams in 500ml. I dose at a rate of 1ml of solution per 10gallons.

 

[Edward]

There were some improvements since then, nothing major. You can read more here if interested.

 

[Chet]

What should I do? Major water change? I think this explains my excessive algae and plants not doing great. Should I hold off on dosing micros for a week. My swords have pale new growth. Is this from too many micros.

 

[Edward]

No need to do a water change. It is actually good you have dosed micros like that. It proves the yellow growth is not lack of micronutrients. Don’t stop dosing micros, plants need daily supply.

Something is not right with macros. What do you know about tap parameters?

 

[Chet]

What should I test in the tap? Should I start dosing with drops with the high cons ingrate or mix fresh?

 

[Edward]

The solution can be used as is, nothing wrong with it. For the tap parameters we need KH, GH and Ca or Mg.

 

[Chet]

Gh 75
Kh 180

 

[Edward]

Gh 75
Kh 180

Assuming values are in ppm as CaCO3 equivalent, then
4 dGH
10 dKH

It is not usual to have so high KH with low GH. If you could find Ca or Mg level.

What is aquarium pH?

My tap is 180 ppm. My water change was done with tap water. I stopped dosing on last Thursday and the plants seem to be growing better with no algae on new growth. My tank was 257 ppm tonight.

Is there whole house water filter? When your tap TDS is 180 ppm as NaCl then aquarium should be maintain at no more then 180 + 50 = 230 ppm as NaCl.

I never replace evaporated water with tap

What do you use?

 

[Chet]

i have a water softner with a bypass valve. The only water that is soft is hot water to match tank temp. FYI when I looked at my micro bottle it had white solid settle out of it. My tank ph is 6.4 with ph controller. Drop check is light green. My TDS is 268. Should I do a water change? I am still double dosing excel to control bba. I just connected the ph controller this past Friday.

 

[Edward]

i have a water softner with a bypass valve. The only water that is soft is hot water to match tank temp. FYI when I looked at my micro bottle it had white solid settle out of it. My tank ph is 6.4 with ph controller. Drop check is light green. My TDS is 268. Should I do a water change? I am still double dosing excel to control bba. I just connected the ph controller this past Friday.

This is getting complicated.
You use larger portion raw tap mixed with smaller portion filtered via whole house “softener”. The ratio is dependent on temperature, so the water parameters are never the same. Not good. Can’t you fill something with raw tap water and heat it up electrically?

To make this working we need to know more details.

What do you use to regenerate the whole house “softener”, NaCl or KCl?
What is raw tap GH, KH, TDS ppm as NaCl?
Knowing raw tap Ca or Mg would help a lot.
What is “softened” water GH, KH, TDS?

Your plant problems are caused by mineral imbalance of Ca, Mg, K and Na.

If raw tap water, “softened” water and aquarium water don’t have the same KH then the CO2 controller will make it worse. The controller is regulating CO2 delivery referenced to pH. When KH fluctuate then pH and CO2 does as well. This is bad for plants.

The white precipitation in micro solution is not good, you may need to use RO or distilled water to mix it up and put little Excel in to control fungus.

 

[Chet]

Would RO water would solve this problem? I have an old RO unit some one gave me. I am going to order all new filters and a new RO cartridge.

 

[Chet]

I should have Filters by Thursday. I am going to remix the micros at the lower rate. I mixed the first batch with distilled water I cant figure out why it settled out 1 1/2 months later.

 

[Edward]

Would RO water would solve this problem? I have an old RO unit some one gave me. I am going to order all new filters and a new RO cartridge.

I use 100% RO with RO Essential Minerals.

 

[Chet]

How do I transition my tank to RO water?