jcali10

Hello APC. I am too new at this. Maybe someone can relate to this experience. My 20 gallon tall, less than 2 months old. All was going well, plants growing like crazy, except for some high nitrate readings, which I addressed with frequent water changes, 5 gallons every 2nd or 3rd day. Then I decided to decrease my ferts, thinking I may have been dosing too high, because a 20 gallon tall doesn't hold 20 gallons of water.
My lush jungle looked like someone napolmed it. Leaves turned black on java fern, potamogeton gayii melted away, luckily, the other plants faired better.
So I went back to my original dosing regime below and things have stabilized.
I bought some dry ferts that I plan to switch to soon. Just haven't gotten around preparing the mixes.
Are these kind of results typical if you do not dose sufficiently? I can not imagine any other cause since the only change I made was a decrease in excel and the micros and macros I have been using. I was shocked at how quickly it happened.

20G tall with 2.4 WPG T5, AquaClear HOB, SMS Pro substrate
Dosing: 2ml excel daily
5ml Kent Freshwater Plant (micro) every other day
5ml Kent Pro Plant (macro) every other day
Fish: 12 H. Rasboras, 3 peppered cories, 2 otos, pair of cherry barbsPlants: Rotala Rotundifolia (indica), Compact Sword, Narrow Leaf Ludwigia
Potamogeton Gayii, green hygro, dwarf sags, Wisteria, and a Java Fern

Bill Weber

Welcome to the forum and the planted tank hobby.

Not being a Fert expert it sounds like you may be dosing a bit too much for a 20 gallon tank. Plants do not ingest Ferts like a Nathans hot dog eating contest. It is hard to imagine keeping all the ferts at a constant level with a 25% water change 2-3 times a week. This may be why you are riding a roller coaster.

Excel is a great product by my experience with is when you dose too much the plants can melt. My vals took a hit with too much excel. This happened to me while trying to get rid of some algae. Did you lose any fish when the plants melted?

Try to cut your dosing in half and see what happens.

jcali10

I never lost any fish. I became concerned for my fish when I started getting high nitrate readings a couple of weeks ago, of around 80 PPM. Thats when I started doing water changes. Plants and fish were doing fine.

Then later it occurred to me that the quantities of ferts and excel I was dosing was based on 20 gallons of water when my tank is probably only holding about 16 or 17 gallons due to the interior dimensions and the 3-4 inches of SMS Pro.

So I reduced the amount of ferts and excel and thats when I experienced a problem with my plants.

With the below doses I had good plant growth and very little algae.

Excel 2ml daily, Pro Plant 5ml every other day, F/W Plant 5ml every other day

Bert H

Some questions to consider: Did you ever calculate how much in ppm's you're actually adding in the macro mix of both the NO3 and PO4? Does your tap water contain any NO3 or PO4? Are your test kits calibrated?

You have moderate lighting. If you want to go the EI route (which is essentially what it seems you're doing), I would add 10ppm NO3 and 1-2ppm PO4 at water change, then half as much midweek. Add your micros on the other days.

tom_zg

please refer to this thread, perhaps you may get some helpful ideas on where you went wrong.

http://www.aquaticplantcentral.com/f...-rot-help.html

jcali10

Thank you Tom , thank you Bert, I really appreciate your comments and advise.

I never tested my test kit, API master liquid stuff, or my tapwater. I have a fish only tank that I am still getting normal readings on.
I have some dry ferts that I need to start using. I think it allow me to better control exactly what I am dosing. I will probably do that this weekend.
EI, I will have read up on that too.
And I will check out the link from Tom, thanks.

I need to have a little patience and come up with a new dosing regime. And get the DIY CO2 started. I have everything I need for that too.

A_Shea

My dosing regime on my 55 gallon:
Macro nutrients Monday, Wednesday, Friday
Micro nutrients Tuesday, Thursday, and then on Sunday after a 50% water change.
i do nothing on saturday but enjoy my tank. i run co2 also and about 4 watts per gallon of power compacts. i have been able to grow anything and every thing with this and have never had an algae problem, Ever

jcali10

A Shea, any special reason why the macros and micros are not dosed on the same day?

Bert H

When dosing EI style, you don't want to dose micros and macros same time because at least the iron will react with the phosphates and precipitate out of solution.