new tank with sand

[mrnewbie]

Mrnewbie, I hope you found better prices...

yes i have im picking up the necessary stuff tommorow morning,like u i need to get the nitrates back up

 

[bruce]

can i use the pottasium nitrate (stump remover) to dose both the pottasium and nitrate requirments of the tank ?

Well I am sure that by adding potassium nitrate you will be adding both potassium and nitrates... but Nitrates should be the limiting factor when adding this chemical..

and to bring the potassium up to the desired level of 20ppm you can add potassium sulfate or potassium cholride (no-Salt)

Be careful when using stump removers.. make sure whatever you want to use it is pure potassium nitrate in powder form preferably

 

[bruce]

Thanks for your help Rose.. I have to admit I am no plant tank Guru YET I just set my first aquarium ever 2-3 months ago.. but my learning curve was shooting upwards those few months

As for adding the ferts slowly, you are right.. I was told that plants go into a stage of dormancy when they lack one of the nutrients, so it takes some time to revive them and get them going, I hope I can be patient this time..

as for my Algae problem, I know its due to 0 Nitrates so far.. I haven't checked the phospates yet.. I am going to get a kit tonight and check it out.. (I hope its not too high, I exploded my Python over the weekend I have to buy the valve spare part)

So Rose do you buy your ferts ready made or you get chemicals and mix? have you checked gregwatson.com?

I will keep you guys posted on my algae battle, I hope to finish it over this weekend...

 

[mrnewbie]

i cant seem to find a nitrate source in the Uk ,? does any1 know where i can order from ?

 

[bruce]

mrnewbie to email Greg Watson to see if he can ship internationally

gregwatson.com

 

[Rose]

Right now I use the Seachem line of plant ferts. I do however make my own nitrAte and potasium for my plants. The potasium helps turn the iron into a more useable form for the plants.

I do have a CO2 injection system on my tanks that is great. Add that to the mass amounts of ferts and what not I get a jungle in no time. I mainly use Flourish trace, Flourish iron, potasium, CO2 in my tanks. I have 110 watts on a 46g bow with Florite as my substrait. That and a lot of patience has finally won and I now have O2 bubbles on my plants in the afternoon. Fish have awesome color. When you get it all together and you look at your tank there's nothing more rewarding than that at night when it's just you and your tank.

Rose

 

[mrnewbie]

rose would this be suitable to make my own nitrate and pottasium goodies ?


http/www.gardenchemicals.co.uk/pdt_potas...siumnitrate.htm

 

[FishNiX]

so after adding the co2, im seeing a serious increase in pearling

all of the plants seem to have some bubbles being released although im hoping it will get to be even more.... the weird thing is i cant measure any co2 increase...perhpas the plants are using it as fast as the injector can make it...

cant wait to see waht happens when i add the other nutrients

 

[bruce]

Thats good man...

I think it should increase when you add the Nitrates and Phosphates... My Green Water is clearing up.. I just cut down the photoperiod to 8 hours, I guess that helped a lot.. I have not done any water changes and I have been feeding normally..

I also measured my Phosphates yesterday and it was about 0.25ppm or even less...

One more thing, do you have any carbon in your filter? if so take it out and that would help increase your Nitrates a bit

 

[mrnewbie]

i have ony a few plants atm in my tank but teh ones that r there r defiantly bubbling when i add a few more plants as soon as my LFS gets the ones i want in , i think i will then have to start adding the nitrates and pottasium as extras , for now though i dont need 2

 

[FishNiX]

hey-
great news that the water is clearing! i would still do water changes weekly, although i never see my nitrites or ammonia go above 0ppm knocks on wood so im not sure it matters all that much...

i always cut my filters open and dump the carbon...its no good for a planted tank. i did notice a very slight drop in ph this morning before the lights came on, but it was minor...maybe 7.7 to 7.6.

cheers!

 

[bruce]

Did you measure the KH of the water FishNix

 

[FishNiX]

yeah, it remained the same... 125.3 ppm

cheers!

 

[bruce]

according to your KH 125.3 which is equal to 7 degrees and with a PH of 7.6 you only have 5.275ppm of CO2 in your tank which is very low.

You need to add enough CO2 to get a PH reading of about 7.2-7

this will be equal to about 12-22ppm of CO2 which will be good for your tank

 

[FishNiX]

yup- you're right, i calculated a ph of about 7.1 to have a good level of CO2... but it must be carbonate buffered (not phosphate buffered...like if you used PH plus or PH minus stuff) and it has to be done using CO2 to make a difference... ie, if i just added something acidic, it would also lower the KH which wouldnt be helpful at all... anyways, maybe today will be even better! or perhaps its time for a second hagen co2 generator