My 75g (some ?'s)

[Bert2oo1]

Do you dose phosphates at all

What's your fert dosing routine?

 

[Tigerbarb12]

So does soil help long term?

 

[Tigerbarb12]

Recommended macro, and lately, half dose of micro

 

[Bert2oo1]

Recommended macro, and lately, half dose of micro

Stop dosing micro completely and dose full EI for macros. Kno3 and kh2po4 and mgso4 if you have soft water. I added crushed coral to my canister for calcium.

Do you dose GH booster at water changes at all?

 

[Tigerbarb12]

No gh booster

 

[Bert2oo1]

No gh booster

I fixed my issues with dosing mgso4 to EI at water change and the calcium in the filter and completely stopped micro's. I now dose liquid iron instead of micro's. Since starting micro's a week ago everything seems to be turning to crap again. I'm switching to soil like cal said so I never have to dose micro's again.

You will most likely see improvement if you completely stop micro's and buff the water with GH booster or mg and calcium.

I wouldn't dose micro's again untill you see deficiency (may be a long time)

 

[Tigerbarb12]

So i need to throw out plants, buy some soil, get some calcium to dose and start over with no micros. Should i not use tabs with soil?

 

[Tigerbarb12]

Also considering dosing each element individually

 

[Bert2oo1]

Also considering dosing each element individually

Yep no need for micro's at all or root tabs. Caliban will chime in with some good threads on soil I'd imagine or message them to you. You can get calcium sand (used for reef tanks) and mix that in with the soil so you won't need to dose it. I dose Epsom salts for the MG.

Have you had any fish deaths at all?

 

[Tigerbarb12]

I haven't tried fish since all the tiger barb deaths

 

[Caliban07]

If the plants are not recovering they need to go. I recommend soil because the organic matter and tannins protect against heavy metal toxicity as well as provide micros indefinitely. Depending on the soil they'll also be a decent amount of calcium and magnesium. You can add red clay to it for more iron and dolomite lime for additional Ca and Mg but these are optional.

Sand and root tabs may work but you don't know what's in there and what's missing and soil has a much better cation exchange. The best in fact so this means that when the nutrient release from the soil eventually slows down you can add osmocote capsules and the soil will bind the nutrients ready for plant uptake.

http://www.aquariumadvice.com/forums/f12/the-soil-substrate-explained-343789.html

https://www.ukaps.org/forum/threads...rted-planted-tank-a-how-to-guide.18943/page-5

Also soil is not just for low tech tanks as troys thread explains.