Trickerie

Thanks for the info. I'll likely do ~25% water changes every 2 days until my KH stops being sucked dry. My tap KH is 3, the safe t sorb drains it to 0-1 pretty quickly. I want it to be at least 5-6 so I dose it back up.

One last question. How should I raise my GH? Its only 5 out of tap and 4 in tank after a few days. I recall 7 is ideal for a dirted tank.

AaronT

Your KH and GH sound perfect out of the tap. Once the safe t sorb stops buffering it you are good to go. You may find you'll need more Mg down the road, but your GH of 5 indicates more than enough Ca for plant's needs.

ianjones

most of what ive read attributes plant melt to fertilization/over-fertilization. particularly when using a product called "flourish excel" but im sure you could get the same results with certain detrimental amounts of most fertilization. ive also read that most potting soils and some pre-fertilized topsoils contain huge amounts of nitrogen because thats what outdoor/house plants like. with houseplants, yellowing/oranging of the leaves can usually be attributed to too much nitrogen.

given the aforementioned, im going to guess (i repeat, guess) that your problem is due to the potting soil you used. but..."dont panic" is going to be your best advice. read up on it and nitrogen in your plants. there are no problems, only challenges.

as i said before, mine is just a guess. i use unfertilized topsoil capped with aquarium gravel, natural sunlight, no CO2, no waterflow whatsoever, and i have 20-something different species of aquatic/bog/house plants growing and reproducing in my 75gal. by most people's standards, my aquarium cant even exist, so you might want to get some other opinions before overhauling your soil. keep us updated. im subscribing.

Trickerie

I know not dosing ferts is the reason we all dirt our tanks, but I'm wondering why my plants are showing deficiencies. For example, brown spots on the edges or older leaves decaying. From what I could tell, this is a phosphate deficiency. Is it possible that the soil I used simply didn't have some of the right ingredients? I still have the bag, should it all be listed?

Also, I heard mixed reports on adding red clay for iron. Is it still possible to add it now, in the form of spikes or balls perhaps?