Need A Little Help With My Plants

[Ste_J]

I have a feeling that something is not quite right but I can't seem to work out what it is. If possible could somebody offer advice on what these plants are lacking?

Water testing seems to show No3 levels of 10ppm this is after dosing 5ppm on water change day [Sat] Po4 is constantly reading 1ppm with no dosing although I dont trust my Po4 test kit and have ordered a Nutrafin after reading that somebody round here uses one and finds it quite reliable.

No3 test kit by API
Po4 by Salifert

Not really got a regime at the moment so need to work that one out although if both test kits are right then the plants are not exactly lapping things up.

Anyway here are the pics and if somebody could spend 5mins to offer advice I would appriciate it







Sorry I forgot to add

56USG - 45USG actual volume
2.6 WPG
Having a nightmare getting my Co2 stable although aim for 30ppm as a general rule
Ph 6.7
Kh 5




Thanks

Ste

 

[RedShark]

Are you using the EI method?

 

[Ste_J]

Are you using the EI method?

Not fully at the moment as my readings are constant 10ppm No3 and 1ppm PO4, these readings can be the same throughout the week so come water change day I presume that I'd have a stack of NO3 in the tank that wasn't being used up.

 

[iggy01]

Are you dosing any potassium?

Also, what are you using for dosing traces and how much of this do you dose?

It may be a good idea to start a proper dosing routine like EI and stick with it for several weeks. This way you can be sure you are not missing any vital nutrients.

Good luck!

 

[Themuleous]

Hi,

Whats this EI method I keep hearing about?

Cheers

 

[Ste_J]

Pottasium has been a strange one as the tap reading gives 1ppm although I have minimal faith in my test kit, this level will stay consistant throughout the week. I have thought of dosing extra at the start of the week to see if it drops but not sure if this test kit is up to the job.

Think I have 2 things that I need to do here with the first being new potassium test kit and the second being added plants for the nutrient uptake.

Oh add to that start proper EI routine - I have held back on this so far as I didn't want a massive nutrient buildup.

Thanks for taking the time to reply folks I really appriciate it


Ste

Hi,

Whats this EI method I keep hearing about?

Cheers

Check out the Sticky

 

[George Farmer]

Pottasium has been a strange one as the tap reading gives 1ppm although I have minimal faith in my test kit

You have a potassium test kit?

Nutrafin's PO4 kit is good IME.

What micros are you dosing?

 

[Ste_J]

George I did see a post that you made referring to to the Nutrafin Po4 test kit so I have got one on order with my LFS - should have bought online but was originally told a couple of days, that was a week ago! Using a salifert Po4 test at the moment

As to dosing I have got some flourish trace that I have been dosing 10ml twice a week. No3 is only dosed at 5ppm once a week [tap reads 5ppm] and this gives 10ppm throughout the week.

I have a feeling that it is potassium related but until I have a decent test kit I didn't want to add more.

Cheers

Ste

 

[George Farmer]

No3 is only dosed at 5ppm once a week [tap reads 5ppm] and this gives 10ppm throughout the week.

I have a feeling that it is potassium related but until I have a decent test kit I didn't want to add more.

Your tank has a total of 10ppm NO3 added per week, yet it still reads 10ppm through the whole week? This indicates that your plants are not growing well at all - unless you have a very large bio-load? What fish do you have?

With your lighting and CO2 at seemingly ideal levels then it just doesn't add up for me.

What tubes are you using (make, model, quantity)? How old are they? What reflectors are you using?

What planting do you have (species and quantities)? An overall tank photo would help.

<potassium related> Possibly as you're not dosing enough KNO3 to provide enough K. I don't think there's a test kit for potassium though.

 

[Ste_J]

George

Your tank has a total of 10ppm NO3 added per week, yet it still reads 10ppm through the whole week? This indicates that your plants are not growing well at all - unless you have a very large bio-load? What fish do you have?

I have come to the same conclusion re the plants not doing too well - Stock consist of

1 Clown Loach - I know these can grow large but I just love em, did have 3 but lost 2 some time back and not replaced them yet
1 Black molly - This was an addition to my old tank for surface cleaning, don't get a film anymore and stuck with a fish I don't really like that much
1 Swordtail

A gang of platies - these guys are scary and going for mass domination. The breeding rate is on the increase as well in this new tank. Currently have between 10 - 15 of these and looking to get rid

1 Shrimp - Want to get more but dosing Excel to get rid of some nasty - treatment due to end in the next week, dosing 15ml per day

Stock was an accident and a not so lfs saw me coming when I first started with my old tank

What tubes are you using (make, model, quantity)? How old are they? What reflectors are you using?

2 x Interpet 55W daylight + and a 18W arcadia tropical - think this is the one [up in the attic so can confirm later]

Lighting has been a nightmare, I was originally running 3 x 55W daylight+ until my units started to melt etc etc hence the setup that I have now. Hopefully this will be resolved soon and I have requested that I get a double 36W and a double 55W in return

reflectors are the standard arcadia ones

What planting do you have (species and quantities)? An overall tank photo would help

This is where I truely show how new I am to all of this. When I changed over to my 56G I only added my java fern from my old tank, to this I added a 48" selection box from Java. More recently I have added the following


ELEOCHARIS PARRULUS (DWARF - MINI HAIR - GRASS)

5 ECHINODORUS -TENELLUS (DWARF CHAIN - SWORD)

Bunch GLOSSOSTIGMA

Bunch MARSILEA CRENATA (DWARF 4 LEAF)

5 SAGITTARIA -LILEOPTERUS (MICRO/CARPET - SAGITTARIA)

RICCIA - FLUITANS - currently floating in a smaller tank as the fish was taking advantage of floating greens




Layout has changed somewhat but the mass essentially has remained the same if not a little off balance - will post update later

I strongly suspect that this is an area that I need to work on especially since the uptake of nutrients is so slow


Ideally I'd love to rid the tank of platies which in turn should decrease the No3 levels being naturally produced. Whilst I smile at first when a see new fry it tends to be short lived and followed by a shudder. Will talk with LFS - should at least get some live food for the others in return!



Looking at the list of things above I think that I have highlighted a couple of things to myself

More plants needed to get things going

Better Po4 test kit
Possible 2nd No3 kit to act as ref
Devise a dosing routine that can be increased as new plants are introduced and stick to it!

I had started to sort out a routine but when I noticed that the levels were not decreasing by any amount it didn't seem to be making sense.

 

[Ste_J]

Pottasium has been a strange one as the tap reading gives 1ppm although I have minimal faith in my test kit

You have a potassium test kit?

Nutrafin's PO4 kit is good IME.

What micros are you dosing?

Sorry my head is all over at the moment I meant phosphate

 

[Ste_J]

Ok happened to find a Nutrafin Po4 test kit whilst I was out - Tap water itself is reading 5ppm. Best way to deal with this?

I'll retest the tank water in a bit to see what the new reading is and then was thinking of getting some Ro in the morning from the lfs to make sure that the test kit isn't seeing something that's not there - The salifert test kit doesn't give anywhere near that reading.


Also just checked the water report for my area




Thanks for your time so far

Ste