i have a 30 gallon planted tank and for a while, i've had stable parameters of pH = 7, ammonia = 0, nitrites = 0, nitrates = 20. yesterday i dosed traces (plantex csm+b), today i dosed macros (NPK) using the EI method. i recently bought a new potassium test kit, so i figured i would test the water AFTER i added the macros just to see if the kit works. and since im testing for potassium, i might as well do the whole sha bang and test everything else. to my surprise, the pH = 6, ammonia = 0, nitrites = 0, nitrates = 40.
so upon seeing this, i was wondering if the increas in nitrates would really cause a drastic drop in pH? i did a partial water change, pH = 6.2 and nitrates = 20, so things seem to have gotten better. does anyone else have this problem when they're dosing nitrates? i know what some people might say... "nitrates of 20 is good enough, why would u want to dose more". well i figured since potassium was at zero, and i added potassium, then nitrates would become the limiting factor so i upped it a little bit. i guess this is where that "balancing the nutrients" thing comes in. but the wild swing in pH got me really worried.
so upon seeing this, i was wondering if the increas in nitrates would really cause a drastic drop in pH? i did a partial water change, pH = 6.2 and nitrates = 20, so things seem to have gotten better. does anyone else have this problem when they're dosing nitrates? i know what some people might say... "nitrates of 20 is good enough, why would u want to dose more". well i figured since potassium was at zero, and i added potassium, then nitrates would become the limiting factor so i upped it a little bit. i guess this is where that "balancing the nutrients" thing comes in. but the wild swing in pH got me really worried.
