how does hardness affect my plants?
- Thread starter bluemeate
- Start date
It's better to be lacking co2 than to be lacking nitrates and co2. Algae will use any nutrients it can but plants need it to be balanced between N P and K. So lack of any of those will stop or slow tyhe plants but not the algae, regardless of the co2. My tank starts getting algae if the nitrates drop below 10 PPM
can someone help me out here? do i have near zero, very low levels of nitrates, or is 5ppm (the next incriment on my color chart) only a measure of a significiant amount of nitrate?
case in point, whats a normal level i should be striving for (granted i dont plan on adding co2 or spending lots of money on fertz)
yeah, my tank is open top and i always leave my window cracked open a hair id say i lose almost a gallon a day... and i only change about about half the amount of water i put in total... if not lesss
so heres my solution:
5 more serpae tetras, and 10 more black skirt tetras, go back to dual t8 and trade my nice dual t5ho light fixture for a closed top or $XX.XX towards my rent?
is there any certain specific chemicals/nutrients (that are cheap and easy to get) that you guys would specifically recommend me adding to my tank for some reason or another?
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Do bigger water changes, 50% weekly and get some nitrogen. I start to get hair algae when my nitrates get below 10 PPM and I try to keep them between 20 and 40 PPM. They are not very toxic so you don't need to worry. I have accidently gone as high as 80 PPM and didn't notice for a couple days and the fish were fine.
High nitrates in an unplanted tank are a sign of too little maintenance and the tank suffers because of the minerals and trace elements that get depleted in the water are not replaced. Also there are other pollutants in the water besides the nitrates that need to be removed, but we test for nitrates as a way of knowing when to change water. But when you are doing the maintenance and adding the nitrogen yourself it is a whole different matter. And the water changes are as important as the ferts because of the trace elements that fish and plants both use need replaced. Part of that balance thing that gets tougher with higher light.
High nitrates in an unplanted tank are a sign of too little maintenance and the tank suffers because of the minerals and trace elements that get depleted in the water are not replaced. Also there are other pollutants in the water besides the nitrates that need to be removed, but we test for nitrates as a way of knowing when to change water. But when you are doing the maintenance and adding the nitrogen yourself it is a whole different matter. And the water changes are as important as the ferts because of the trace elements that fish and plants both use need replaced. Part of that balance thing that gets tougher with higher light.
check my nitrates and ammonia for the first time in a month and it was 10ppm nitrogen and 1ppm amonia, dont think theyve ever been that high ever. in fact i think this is the first time ive ever had ammonia readings above 0.25ppm. probably due to half a cucumber i stuck in my tank last week... w/c time!
I agree that nutrients is the problem. NPK and micros are needed at some level, in every tank. Light and co2 drive them.
The actual pH of the tank has next to nothing to do with co2. I could start with ph 9 water and have a pH of 8 with lots of co2.... The co2/ph/kh relationship chart is only valid when the KH is based on carbonic acid only.
A 55g tank needs more than 3 root tabs....
If you feed cucumbers for plecos and the like, you should do a single slice at a time. And remove it after 36 hours or so if not eaten. I do this once or twice a week at most, and only a slice at a time.
Do a 50% water change and keep watching.
