a little help, please

J

jb-ny

Si vis pacem, para bellum
Jan 5, 2009
190
0
0
Buffalo NY
i am currently in the middle of trying my second planted tank. this time low-tech
i have a 30 gallon long, 1.8wpg T8 9.5 hours day, penguin 200, and sponge filter 78 degrees.about 25% water change weekly
the problem is my nitrates is at zero, I have 9 cardinal tetras a GBR and 5 runt apistos that are left over from my last batch.
are my lights on to long? need more fish? change of water maintenance schedule?

thanks for any help you can give me,

jb
 
I try to keep my lights on 8 hours a day, but as long as you aren't having algae problems, you're good. If you start getting a ton of algae or green water, cut back. Otherwise, don't mess with it.
Are you dosing ferts?
If you want MORE nitrates, getting more stock would certainly do it. Maybe some bottom dwellers, like corys or kuhlis.
One good idea would be some guppies. You could get males and females, and the babies will be great food for the cichlids. Guppies are great at producing waste! :D
I wouldn't change your maintenance schedule. You need to keep that up, can't slack on that stuff.
 
I've had some algae outbreaks from letting nitrates get too low I think. Dry ferts seem to be the way to go. Start slow though, it doesn't sound like you're having problems. I got some stump remover from Lowe's, it's potassium nitrate BUT check the label carefully, the HD stuff wasn't the same. Or order some from aquariumfertilizer.com (not sure on addy)
 
What kind of test kit (liquid or strip)? I'm still a newbie but zero nitrates sounds odd to me.

Strips are very inaccurate and can often give a false result.


Also is the tank cycled? If the tank is not cycled then that could be why you have zero nitrates.
 
Mine were 0 a few times with API liquid tests, not that many really fast growing plants either. I think with a light stocking level & even a medium amount of plants it's not that hard to get 0 nitrates or very low. People with lots of plants often have to dose nitrates & other ferts.
 
I had an issue with BGA in my first planted tank with zero nitrates. I was dosing and had a DIY Co2.
This time I wanted to go strictly low tech. I used a liquid test, I did add some Kent's Plant Pro and got the Nitrates to .10.
I will be adding some more fish as I do not want to rely on dosing.

Thanks for help.
jb
 
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