Water problems?

Hi all!

I have some interesting results as of late in my water. A few weeks back I had a bout with some bba and killed it with excel overdose. I have recently added some cherry shrimp. Now I have been battling some thread algae. Very minor but still there. I have been testing lately too. I haven't for a couple months. But with the new addition of shrimp I have been testing water more frequently lately.

These are my results:

kh=4
gh=9
no3=10 to 20
po4=1 to 2

These results should put my co2 to the moon. I have been testing bottomed out on a Aquarium pharm. narrow range ph test. Only goes to 6. My kh gh test was old so I bought a new one along with a pinpoint ph monitor. I wanted the monitor so I could be more accurate and because I bottom out the liquid test and have had it drilled in my head not to trust them . I have lost a few fish in the last 2 months but have never really seen them gasping at the surface. I have seen corys go up to the surface a few times but turn back and go to the bottom. I also have harliquin rasboras and they sometimes appear to do freakish things but never gasp. Occasionally as if they are suddenly surprise by my presence one or two will fly accross the tank and nose dive into the glass or the bottom. The fish will then lay stunned for a few min. then recover. ?? Are these signs of co2 stress? I lost a couple blue rams and thought it might be to the drastic ph swings at water changes. They seemed to hate them.

The pinpoint monitor after calibration puts my ph at 5.78
I can't believe anything but the plants are alive.

I also have seen a couple weird signs in a few plants. My luwiga plaustris has had some adverse effects on some leaves. Losing a bit of color. Bacopa monneri has kinda become transparent on some leaves and rotted on the stems. Hygro cory has had a couple leafs get some rot on them but not to severe. Everything else seems to be growing like weeds! I thought this all leaned to a calcium or magnesium deficiency. I just got some seachem Equilibrium and thought I would try some to see if I can rule that out.

My dosing schedule is as follows
30gal with 96 watts

s-t-t =macros
1/4 tsp no3
po4 from solution @ approximately 1.3
pottasium= 1/4 tsp(only on day of wc ...sunday)

m-w-f micros
5ml csm solution


I know there are a lot of weird questions here. I apologize for this. I am quite tired right now and more stupid than normal. But any input about any of this would be appreciated.

I am in the process of bringin my ph up to possibly 6.4 I suppose.
Can to much co2 be detrimental to the plants?

riverrat

 

Re: Water problems?

Agreed! But would so much co2 be benificial to algae? I wouldn't thinks so.
Can anything skew a kh test so badly? I have to have a level of more than 100ppm co2. Just can't believe that. I have some tap water standing now and will test it tomarrow night. The above test was from the tank.

riverrat

 

Re: Water problems?

Thanks everyone!

I have just tested some tap I let set all night and found

ph 7.5
gh 6.5
kh 2.5


So I imagine I had a ph crash possibly. Not sure. I am planing on raising kh a bit with baking soda and adding seachem equilibrium to rule out ca mag problems. Hopefully getting this beast back on track.

Anyone have an idea how much baking soda it takes to raise gh 1dh in 25 gallons of water?

Thanks riverrat

 

Re: Water problems?

Thanks!


riverrat