Question About Mineral and Fertilizer Additives

[jonathan03]

In my area, the water has a high ph. I am wondering if there is anything that I don't need to worry about checking and adding. Here is what the tap water is like:

http://www.cincinnati-oh.gov/water/downloads/water_pdf9090.pdf

ph: 8.7
Ca: 34
Nitrate: 1.07
Fe: <.05
Sulfate: 69
Total hardness (CaCO3): 116
Magnesium: 8
Phospahtes (PO4-P): .15

(all units are mg/L)
(data from page 19 under miller plant)

I do water changes of 30% weekly to my tank. It will soon be heavily planted. I currently have a medium selection of plants but they are growing fast and I'm adding new ones. I have rotala and bacopa which are fast growing plants. Especially the rotala.

My question is, are there any chemicals that I should not even worry about adding? I don't want to buy the test kit and additives if I don't need it.

From what I have read, it seems that I can forget about adding magnesium, sulfate and calcium. It seems that these values are high enough in the tap water.

The phosphates, nitrates, and iron seem low. The water company doesn't say anything about potassium so I would assume that its low. So if I am correct, I should be monitoring the phosphates, nitrates, iron and potassium? And all other materials are high enough in the tap water?

Thanks for the help.

 

[beviking]

Most ppl don't monitor Potassium. They just dose it, either via KNO3 in which they get the nitrate and potassium, or KCl, K2SO4. If you're going high light and CO2, you may experience some nutrient deficiencies. Just follow the guidlines in the fertilizer sticky at the top of the forum and watch for deficiencies. Deficiency chart here...
http://www.csd.net/~cgadd/aqua/art_plant_nutrient.htm
Then you can suppliment with whichever is deficient. I think most monitor Nitrate (NO3), Phosphate (PO4), and Iron (Fe) along with pH, ammonia (NH4), Nitrite (NO2), and carbon dioxide (CO2) .