I was talking about some issues I have been fighting in my tank on another forum and thought I would post it here for feedback. I have Green Dust that I am currently fighting by cleaning with paper towels every water change, green spot and some thread algae. Most of the thread algae was eaten by a new fish addition to my tank (puntiu denisonii) though a bit remains. The green spot I have been removing mechanically or by pruning the plants but it never really goes away. I have seen a small amount of what may be BBA.
I have been trying to raise my NO3 level in my tank over the last two weeks and have had very little success. My test kit reads correctly when I used a test solution but my tank never tests above 5 ppm. I have raised my addition of ferts to 2 tsp of KNO3 3 times per week and yet see no real change when I test. My PO4 has ranged from 1-2ppm but since my kit only tests to 2ppm I am not sure if that is the limit. My CO2 from the KH & PH chart is in the 25ppm range. Is the BBA a counter point telling me I have too little CO2?
My 120 tank (3330W of light) is densely planted on one side with Bacopa & Ludwigia, a more open area in the middle with micro sword grass, becketti, and Red spot Ozelot and the remainind end is densely planted with Undulatus. Could the plant just be pulling all the nitrates from the water? Maybe the plants and the algae together leave no extra nitrates?
I do pretty large water changes (40-50%) each week and tend to top off with a quart of ro water every day or so now that the hot weather is here. Could the RO water be having an impact on the test readings?
Tom
I have been trying to raise my NO3 level in my tank over the last two weeks and have had very little success. My test kit reads correctly when I used a test solution but my tank never tests above 5 ppm. I have raised my addition of ferts to 2 tsp of KNO3 3 times per week and yet see no real change when I test. My PO4 has ranged from 1-2ppm but since my kit only tests to 2ppm I am not sure if that is the limit. My CO2 from the KH & PH chart is in the 25ppm range. Is the BBA a counter point telling me I have too little CO2?
My 120 tank (3330W of light) is densely planted on one side with Bacopa & Ludwigia, a more open area in the middle with micro sword grass, becketti, and Red spot Ozelot and the remainind end is densely planted with Undulatus. Could the plant just be pulling all the nitrates from the water? Maybe the plants and the algae together leave no extra nitrates?
I do pretty large water changes (40-50%) each week and tend to top off with a quart of ro water every day or so now that the hot weather is here. Could the RO water be having an impact on the test readings?
Tom