How to add Nitrates

[phanmc]

20ppm of nitrate isn't too high.

I also recommend buying some CSM+B for the micro nutrients from aquariumfertilizers.com, plants need that as well.

 

[Riiz]

Or Seachem's Flourish

 

[maxthedog123]

I do have Flourish but I don't dose it that often. Perhaps I should.

 

[Riiz]

My nitrates are at 20 right now. Ever since I replaced the bulbs in my light fixture a couple of months BBA has been a huge problem. I've tried adding in some nitrates but I haven't yet tried Excel.

Is a nitrate level of 20 too high?

Do you inject CO2? Light levels might be too high.

 

[maxthedog123]

I was doing the high tech thing and got tired of trimming plants 2x/week. I quit the CO2 about 4-5 months ago. My lights are 108w (1x 6700K and 1x 10000k) over 55g.

I did move my flag fish to another aquarium about 8 weeks ago and I lost one of my 2 otos, so maybe that is a contributing factor as well.

I've been slower on water changes as well to avoid taking nitrates way down and to avoid swings in CO2 levels.

I've been thinking about paring way back on my Ludwigia in favor of letting the H. polysperma take over. One hand they can take up a lot of nitrate, on the other hand the BBA never seems to get much of a hold on the H. polysperma.