Almost no nitrate, need ideas.

[Coryluv]

I have a 29 gallon planted tank. Two weeks ago I added DIY CO2. I have a two, 2 liter bottle system. My drop checker has never gotten more than blue green. I still dose Excel every day.

In the past, with Excel only, my nitrate (API test) has nearly always tested between 5 to 10 ppm, with it going up to 20 in rare instances. Now it is nearly 0. It has the slightest of tints beyond the bright yellow of 0

I do a 20% water change once a week and want to continue to do so since I have 12 dGH (4 dKH) and have evaporation (I figure I lose a gallon a week).

My ferts are low tech. I use the label amounts of Flourish Comprehensive and Leaf Zone. I use root tabs for my swords.

I'm not sure where to go from here. So far I don't see symptoms of nitrogen deficiency, but I'm guessing that is a matter of time.

Any ideas about where I should go from here? Should I get a bottle of Seachem nitrogen and start dosing that? I want to stay low tech. I don't have the money to buy a round of dry ferts at the moment though I should in a few months.

 

[Crazyhermitcrab]

That sounds like a high tech tank to me

 

[Coryluv]

Lol, Crazyhermitcrab. Everything is relative. Maybe high tech in a Rube Goldberg kind of way.

To me high tech is a high light, CO2 in a tank with a regulator, solenoid, etc., and a known fert dosing regime like EI or PPS-pro.

My CO2 comes from yeast in pop bottles, my light is barely the low end of medium and my fert dosing regime is read the label on the bottle and hope for the best.

 

[Crazyhermitcrab]

Lol, Crazyhermitcrab. Everything is relative. Maybe high tech in a Rube Goldberg kind of way.

To me high tech is a high light, CO2 in a tank with a regulator, solenoid, etc., and a known fert dosing regime like EI or PPS-pro.

My CO2 comes from yeast in pop bottles, my light is barely the low end of medium and my fert dosing regime is read the label on the bottle and hope for the best.

For me high-tech is anything other than lights.

 

[Mebbid]

For me high-tech is anything other than lights.

In general high tech is considered adding pressurized CO2. Anything other than that is considered low tech

If you'e going through the trouble of DIY co2 why not make the switch over to dry ferts? They are far superior to the bottles of fert solution and a single pack will last you well over a year for around $20. A pack from Grene leaf aquariums will have everything you need including nitrate.

 

[Coryluv]

Thanks. Good idea. I plan on getting the dry ferts when I have the $30 for them from Greenleaf. It's a long boring story but I have to stretch every cent for the next couple of months. Can't make even that small investment at the moment.

In the meantime, what can I do considering the ferts I currently have in hand? I know it seems silly to spend $5 to $10 for a short term solution but that's the budget at the moment.

Anyone got extra fish poop? Evidently I need more than I have, lol.

 

[Mebbid]

Thanks. Good idea. I plan on getting the dry ferts when I have the $30 for them from Greenleaf. It's a long boring story but I have to stretch every cent for the next couple of months. Can't make even that small investment at the moment.

In the meantime, what can I do considering the ferts I currently have in hand? I know it seems silly to spend $5 to $10 for a short term solution but that's the budget at the moment.

Anyone got extra fish poop? Evidently I need more than I have, lol.

Just feed twice a day. Your fish will love you for it.

 

[Crazyhermitcrab]

Where can I get dry ferts

 

[Mebbid]

Where can I get dry ferts

Green Leaf Aquariums

 

[Fresh2o]

Thanks. Good idea. I plan on getting the dry ferts when I have the $30 for them from Greenleaf. It's a long boring story but I have to stretch every cent for the next couple of months. Can't make even that small investment at the moment.

In the meantime, what can I do considering the ferts I currently have in hand? I know it seems silly to spend $5 to $10 for a short term solution but that's the budget at the moment.

Anyone got extra fish poop? Evidently I need more than I have, lol.

How often do you vacuum the gravel? In my planted tank I did not vacuum the substrate (18 months) and nitrates stayed at 10-20 with regular PWCs. So, cutting back on vacuuming may help increase the nitrates.
I got this tip from this forum: When you do order the dry ferts from GLA, make sure that you order a third solution bottle. Typically your micro ferts would go in one bottle and the macro ferts would go the second bottle. You want to get a third bottle and put the nitrate (which normally goes into the macro bottle) in there. This way you can control the amount of nitrates to be dosed. This happened to be the case in my tank. Initially I added all ferts as prescribed and later found the nitrates in the 40-80 ppm range. Probably due to the lack of vacuuming which was because there was no open areas of substrate in the tank.

 

[Coryluv]

I stopped vacuuming my tank a couple of months ago, even the hovering over the sand vacuum. I occasionally pick up a large unsightly leaf at most. Whenever I plant a stem, add a root tab, etc, there is fine mulm that I see when the sand is disturbed. I do have some open sand, but not that much and my corys constantly patrol the surface.

My nitrates never have been that high, but this is ridiculous!

Thanks for the tip on the third bottle for the nitrate. That's awesome advice. I'm looking forward to getting my dry ferts in the near future.

 

[Fresh2o]

Can you list the plants in your tank again? I can't remember what you had in there. As long as the plants are not showing any bad signs you might be okay the way it is. I am thinking, despite what the drop checker is displaying, that the extra CO2 is being utilized and increasing the nitrate uptake by the plants. DIY CO2 made a big difference in my tank last year.

 

[Coryluv]

First here's a pic so you can get an idea of the plant load.

The plants are:

Echinodorus martii (or major)
Echinodorus bleheri compacta
Bacopa australis
Ludwigia repens
Telanthera reineckii cardinalis
Saggitaria sublata
Staurogyne repens

I think you are right about the CO2 increasing the plant growth and the nitrate uptake. I just did some trimming and I need to do some more.