Hi,
First post here but a long time reader. I was hoping to get some advice for my 29 gallon tank. I have been dosing EI for 2 months now. 3x / week 1/4tsp KNO3, 1/16 tsp KH2PO4, 1/16 tsp KS2O4. 3x /wk plantex. 50% on Sunday with RO water 1/2 tsp GH boost. The standard dosing for 20-40gal. My vitals are:
ph: 6-4 - 6.6
Ammonia: 0
Nitrite: 0
Nitrate: 0
kh: 4
gh: 5
tds: 200
phosphates: 2-5 ppm (was 10+ two weeks ago)
med/high light for 8 hours and pressurized CO2.
As you can see my issue is that I have 0 nitrate. I have been concerned that I can't seem to retain any nitrate in my tank. I also had high phosphate readings (10ppm+) and decided to cut back on KH2P04 which seems to have got the level down significantly this week. Last week just as an experiment I also tried dosing 1/4 tsp KNO3 every day. Testing a few times over the week I was still not seeing much nitrate with my API kit. Today after my water test I thought I should check my test kit. I made some solutions with KNO3 and tested them with my test kit. I was getting positive readings. If I am dosing 1/4 tsp daily and not maintaining nitrate would it be advisable to keep increasing the dose until I am maintaining some level?
I have been battling some hair (perhaps staghorn) algae for the last few weeks. Nothing major, but I am noticing it on the edges of older leaves of hygrophila compacta and my Hygro Angustifolia. I remove the leaves and a couple days later I see new algae growth on the same plants. Is it possible that this algae growth could be from low nitrate or/and my extremely high phosphate I had recently? I understand that it is probably CO2, but my CO2 has been pretty consistent at this level for the past 2-3 weeks along with my light intensity and photo period lowered. I am wondering if my fluctuating nutrients trying to dial in on a correct level could be causing it.
Thanks for any advice.
First post here but a long time reader. I was hoping to get some advice for my 29 gallon tank. I have been dosing EI for 2 months now. 3x / week 1/4tsp KNO3, 1/16 tsp KH2PO4, 1/16 tsp KS2O4. 3x /wk plantex. 50% on Sunday with RO water 1/2 tsp GH boost. The standard dosing for 20-40gal. My vitals are:
ph: 6-4 - 6.6
Ammonia: 0
Nitrite: 0
Nitrate: 0
kh: 4
gh: 5
tds: 200
phosphates: 2-5 ppm (was 10+ two weeks ago)
med/high light for 8 hours and pressurized CO2.
As you can see my issue is that I have 0 nitrate. I have been concerned that I can't seem to retain any nitrate in my tank. I also had high phosphate readings (10ppm+) and decided to cut back on KH2P04 which seems to have got the level down significantly this week. Last week just as an experiment I also tried dosing 1/4 tsp KNO3 every day. Testing a few times over the week I was still not seeing much nitrate with my API kit. Today after my water test I thought I should check my test kit. I made some solutions with KNO3 and tested them with my test kit. I was getting positive readings. If I am dosing 1/4 tsp daily and not maintaining nitrate would it be advisable to keep increasing the dose until I am maintaining some level?
I have been battling some hair (perhaps staghorn) algae for the last few weeks. Nothing major, but I am noticing it on the edges of older leaves of hygrophila compacta and my Hygro Angustifolia. I remove the leaves and a couple days later I see new algae growth on the same plants. Is it possible that this algae growth could be from low nitrate or/and my extremely high phosphate I had recently? I understand that it is probably CO2, but my CO2 has been pretty consistent at this level for the past 2-3 weeks along with my light intensity and photo period lowered. I am wondering if my fluctuating nutrients trying to dial in on a correct level could be causing it.
Thanks for any advice.