How are my levels?

[Squealor]

I'm new to this and keep trying to fiddle to get things right with the plants...

Ammonia: 0
Nitrite: 0
Nitrate: 5 (should this be higher?)
pH: 7.0
KH: 3.4
GH: 4.5
CO2: 10
Fe: 0 (dosed after test)
PO4: off charts (did 30% water change after test; most likely from water change not being done yet?)
Lighting: PC 110 watts
2 Nutrafin CO2 systems

 

[ashdavid]

Nitrate a little higher would not do any harm if you keep everything in balance but I think your level will be fine. If you Po4 is high try to get it down a little, but it is hard to tell without a number. What ferts are dosing at the moment? Also just a note, you are using Co2 and IME you might do better with a little more light, maybe around 160w to 200w. Then you could raise the Co2 level to about 15 to 25ppm.

 

[djlen]

Yes, 'off the charts' doesn't give us much to go on.
Take a sample of tap water....set it on the kitchen counter for a couple of hours and test it for N, P, pH and get back to us with the results.
You have a bit over 2 wpg so dosing extra nutrients may not be very necessary. You want to go easy on dosing because extras in the water table that go unused by the plants will be used by algae. Especially extra Fe. I would not dose any extra Fe at this time.
You need to find the cause of the high P levels. That's the reason for the request that you test your tap. What kind of test kits are you using?

Len

 

[JosephMCorbett]

I would say work on your Co2 first. You want your Co2 between 15ppm-30ppm. At the beginning of the photoperiod you want no more than 30ppm and at the end of the photoperiod no less than 15ppm. Try to keep Co2 as stable as possible within that range. Next, your Nitrates are fine at 5ppm, but with a high PO4 concentration, you could raise it. Like others have said, you have to figure out what your PO4 is and then work on lowering it. Seachem Purigen in the filter works good in a planted tank to remove disolved organics. Are you using any Ph buffers? Some of them add allot of phosphorus. Anyway, you want your PO4 to be between .4-1 ppm. With a ratio of between 10-1 and 20-1 with NO3 (Nitrates). As far as the Fe test, throw it away. It's useless. If you are dosing traces as per the recommendation on the label, most likely you don't need to add Fe anyway...especially at 2wpg. Here are some algae busting, plant flourishing levels to shoot for:

Lights: At least 2wpg 12hrs/day
Co2: Between 15-30ppm
NO3: 5-20ppm
PO4: .4-1ppm
K: 20ppm

J

 

[beviking]

Yeah, balance is the key. First, I would do as Len suggests with the tap. Definitely find out where the high PO4 is coming from.

Back to balance. At your light level, you could up the CO2 to 15ppm (is that possible with Nutrifin system?) and keep NO3 at 5ppm, try to get PO4 down to .5-1ppm. Go easy on Iron and micros too. From there you can go up...increase lighting, CO2, nutrients respectively.

Just out of curiosity...how are your plants?