Something is seriously wrong with my plants..

[Jag1980]

I changed my dosing schedule to the IE dosing for 10-20 gallon sized tank and see what happens with that.

I trimmed my sickly looking Belem's and replanted them all in the front so I can keep a eye on them. A Seachem root tab has been added to the left side bunch in the middle of the group to see if that will have any affect on them.

 

[Riiz]

I haven't dosed my tank in about 5 days and my water has cleared up and my plants look much better.
Is there a specific fertilizer that might be causing problems for me that maybe I should cut down on from my dosing schedule?

Did you ever dose Iron and phophate at the same time. They'll form a precipitate and cloud up your water, but now seeing your original dosing schedule, that had to be the issue.

Plus which Iron supplement do you use, I ask because when I used Flourish Iron, it would always cloud my water up, because my water was a tad on the hard-side for mineral content.

 

[Jag1980]

Did you ever dose Iron and phophate at the same time. They'll form a precipitate and cloud up your water, but now seeing your original dosing schedule, that had to be the issue.

Plus which Iron supplement do you use, I ask because when I used Flourish Iron, it would always cloud my water up, because my water was a tad on the hard-side for mineral content.

Yes, I use to add a pinch of Iron every day when I dosed fertilizers in the tank. This reaction seems to cause my plants to die. Any ideas as to what happens to the water when this happens and why it kills my plants?
This sounds like what my problem is from the start.

I use all dry fertilizers, Iron Chelate 10%

 

[jmhart]

A "pinch" of iron is very inaccurate, and, with as little extra iron as I add to my tanks, a pinch is likely way to much.

For example, in my PPS-Pro trace mix solution, I add 40g of CSM+B and add an extra 1 gram of iron...probably about 4 "pinches". That solution lasts me 2 months dosing a 45g and 46g tank. So as you can see, very little extra iron.


For smaller tanks, I really find it easier and safer to mix up liquid solutions for dosing.

 

[Jag1980]

I see

I dosed 1/32 tps Iron which gives only 0.13 per dose on my Macro days
and 1/64th on my Micro days. I don't dose Iron anymore.
How do I know if I need to add iron or if I should dose a little iron?

I'm thinking if anything, I should just add a tiny bit to my CSM+B mix?
I don't like dosing liquids as I always seem to get a little on my fingers when putting the cap back on.. :silly:

Here's a strange problem..
I switched to dosing EI:

10- 20 Gallon Aquariums
+/- 1/8 tsp KN03 (N) 3x a week
+/- 1/32 tsp KH2P04 (P) 3x a week
+/- 1/32 K2S04
+/- 1/32 tsp (2ml) Trace Elements 3x a week
50% weekly water change

Before I started my schedule my Nitrate was at 10

Now after the 3rd day of dosing Nitrates, my Nitrate level is at about 50

This doesn't make sense to me.. I should be at about 20-25 Nitrates..
I added only 1 Seachem root tab in my substrate, would this cause this large of a amount of extra Nitrates in my tank?

My water is still very clear which is good.