Stupid Question on Nitrates and PWCs

dcutl002 · Jan 18, 2015

OK, I just built a Cerges style reactor for my CO2 system, cranked up the CO2 to 5-6 BPS over a period of a couple of weeks and the plants are sending up tiny streams of air bubbles (pearling). What I have noticed is that my Nitrates stay lower longer. My question is: when plants are pearling do they absorb more Nitrates from the water? Should I continue to do water changes even if the Nitrate reading is still negligible (yellow)? My water hardness GH here is off the charts so there should be plenty of minerals in the water.

CO2: GLA system with inline Cerges reactor
Lighting: Kessil A360WE Tuna Sun
Plants: Amazon Swords, Dwarf Hair Grass
Filtration: Eheim 2215
Tank: standard 55

Zapins · Jan 19, 2015

When plants are growing quickly they tend to use up more nitrates. They use nitrates for nitrogen, which is used to make proteins and parts of the plant. The higher the light and the higher the CO2 the faster they will use nitrate, and all the other nutrients as well.

The fact that the nitrates are very low means they may actually run out of the nutrients and start developing deficiencies. Old leaves will start dropping off or dying when deficiencies start. Eventually the plant may stop growing or die, depending on the nutrient it runs out of. This is why hobbyists add fertilizers regularly in one form or another.

dcutl002 · Jan 19, 2015

Thanks for answering. I am using substrate pellets from AquariumPlants.com and using SeaChem Flourish twice a week. The Dwarf Hairgrass is really green but my Amazon Swords are yellowing like you said, so I put a pellet by their roots. Hope that helps.

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Stupid Question on Nitrates and PWCs

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