I've used way more (brand name) root tabs than that at a time in my 60L tanks without problems... I stick with brand names now like Seachem, Tetra, API - and I'm the one who also experienced a tank crisis from root tabs before, although mine were also cheap, unbranded tabs bought on Amazon and added that then sent my nitrites sky high and caused a tank crisis... although I was fortunate not to experience a tank crash like poor
@Lcc86 did
With a name brand like API, you don't need to worry, especially with just two tabs. If you'd stuck two dozen in there and only plants were java ferns, sure, that's overkill! But name brand root tabs, sensibly used by sticking them under root feeding plants like crypts, swords, vallis etc are often helpful and needed, don't usually cause a problem!
My problem happened because I used some cheap unbranded stuff with unknown ingredients that broke down way too fast and released way too much of whatever it was into the water column. Lesson learned, I stick with name brands now, and say the same to others as a caution when it comes to using root tabs - to stick with name brands and hopefully not experience the same kind of issue I did when I cheaped out and didn't think about the potential consequences.
But I was also luckier than in this case, since the tank affected was one where I was using my hard tap water with hardwater fish, I already had a routine of large weekly water changes anyway, so removing the toxic root tab balls, large water changes, and adding Prime were 'easy' fixes in that it didn't cause any other wild swings in water chemistry.
@Lcc86 I'm so, so sorry this happened to you
I feel partly responsible, and feel awful that you've gone through it, and whether I played a part in that decision, since I said about how I did huge water changes when root tabs sent my nitrites sky high in your previous thread.
I saw others with much better chemistry knowledge than I have were talking in that thread too so I hadn't checked in again, then was offline for most of the week, came back to see this had unfolded.
I've never used RO myself, and always admit to being a chemistry dunce, didn't realise you were having to use RO and remineralise and all that, or the potential swings in pH you could be facing. Learning a lot from reading the responses by people like
@Essjay,
@TwoTankAmin ,
@Naughts @gwand and others. Unfortunately chemistry stuff also doesn't stick in my brain well!
So when I first learned about GH and stuff here, and found out my hard water was way too hard for my otocinclus, and RO wasn't possible for me then, but that I could use a mix of my tap water and rainwater (if uncontaminated, and I did get a GH and KH test kit and tested it much more often at first and while learning all this) to make my hard water softer, but without having to worry about RO and remineralising etc, so with a lot of guidance from chemistry whizzes like those guys (
@Essjay has kindly and patiently talked me through any chemistry issues I'm struggling to wrap my brain around since I joined!) I wound up doing, and still do, a 50/50 mix of tap to rainwater in my soft water tanks. Gradually adjusted it from straight tap water to a larger and larger mix of rainwater over a few weeks until I reached 50/50. Still on the higher end of the range for the fish I keep in that tank, but brings it into a safe range for them, and keeps it simple for me, because I know I'd mess it up if it got more complex than that!
@Lcc86 Please don't blame yourself, beat yourself up, or let this put you off the hobby. You were handling an intense situation the absolute best as you could, and clearly put a lot of work, time and love into your fish and tanks. I know that this is heart-breaking, and you're bound to feel badly about it. But just hope you don't beat yourself up for too long. Give yourself the break you'd give anyone else if this was someone else's thread and tank, you know? I know for sure I couldn't have figured out or handled it myself. Even after reading everything the others said, I can only really get a basic grasp on how it happened! This hobby is intense with the learning curve, none of us are or can be experts on every topic, and you were clearly going above and beyond in trying to do the best you can for your fish.
. I was informed in no uncertain terms that the amount should be for the volume of new water only, and where a tap/RO mix is used for the volume of new tap water only as water conditioner is not needed for RO water.
