should I be dosing

[mom2reds]

i have a 100 gallon modrately planted tank with 2 x 65 watt 10000k bulbs.
It has been up for almost 3 years, i have 6 black neons, 5red sarpea tetras, 6 von rio tetras, 3 black molies, 3 goramis, 1 flying fox and 1 cory cat, I will be adding more stock slowly. My water parameters are

Ammonia 0
nitrite 0
nitrate 0
Ph is 8

My question is should be dosing and if so how much
this is my tank as you can see I have some pin holes and some black algea on the leaves that wont rub of.

 

[timwag2001]

you should have some nitrate available for your plants. the three macro nutrients are nitrate, phosphate and potassium and are essentials for plants. if you bottom out on one of the macros you can spur algae growth. you prob dont have to go nuts with dosing because of the low light (do you have co2?) but they do have to be balanced.
your phosphate is pretty high.

i think that a good rule of thumb is 1ppm phosphate to 10ppm nitrate.

 

[HN1]

I would not start dosing yet. With adding stock, it's likely to provide the Nitrate.

 

[timwag2001]

correct me if i'm wrong but even with a little bit more nitrate, her P:N ratio would still be way off, causing algae. P needs to come down and N needs to go up.

do you have P coming out of your tap water

 

[HN1]

Is the PO4 level known?

 

[timwag2001]

lol. so i've had a few beers and thought she meant ph was phosphate.
you can blame budwieser for my oversight

 

[HN1]

LMAO!!! No worries... I'm working on that myself.

 

[mom2reds]

lol. so i've had a few beers and thought she meant ph was phosphate.
you can blame budwieser for my oversight

HA HA i was starting to get confused.

 

[mom2reds]

would it take a lot more stock to increase the nitrate level. I plan to add a few more goramies and if I can get them 6 to 12 rummynose tetras , some more cory cats, and a bn pleco or two

i have had plants in my tank for almost 2 years but i still feel like i know almost nothing about it. i am trying to talk my hubby into letting me get a Co2 system so that i can up my watts on my tank and grow nicer plants.

 

[HN1]

Not necessarily. Id add those slowly to avoid issues, but they will have varying impacts on the bioload / Nitrate level. i.e. 1 BN pleco will equal 6-12 rummies. What type of gouramies are you adding / do you have?

 

[mom2reds]

I have two peral gouramies and then I have a I think a red flame gouramies, I have been looking at the powder blue and then maybe some of the dawarf honey gouramies.

 

[HN1]

Keep in mind that the various dwarf varieties ("powder blue", "red flame", "neon blue", "super bright made up LFS common name") are all the same species (Colisa Lalia) and only males are readily available. They may not interact so well with one another and the supplies are riddled with health issues because of hormones used in the breeding facilities. Honey gouramis are a different species entirely (Trichogaster Chuna) and are extremely peaceful fish. Moonlight gourami (T. Microlepsis) are a larger and quite peaceful option as well.

 

[mom2reds]

Keep in mind that the various dwarf varieties ("powder blue", "red flame", "neon blue", "super bright made up LFS common name") are all the same species (Colisa Lalia) and only males are readily available. They may not interact so well with one another and the supplies are riddled with health issues because of hormones used in the breeding facilities. Honey gouramis are a different species entirely (Trichogaster Chuna) and are extremely peaceful fish. Moonlight gourami (T. Microlepsis) are a larger and quite peaceful option as well.

Thanks I did not know that, what about the peral gouramies. are there anyother fish that you would recomend that would go with these. No livebearers please been there done that. i was thinking about some rams.

 

[Innovator]

This may serve you well: Non CO2 methods - Aquarium Plants - Barr Report

 

[Joker741]

Gourami types.

Find fish (order by the alphabet (latin) - ascending: 1)

 

[HN1]

Thanks I did not know that, what about the peral gouramies. are there anyother fish that you would recomend that would go with these. No livebearers please been there done that. i was thinking about some rams.

With your current stocking, I'd probably round out the schools before adding a new type of fish. What fish interest you? With your tank size, I'm sure there are options.

 

[HN1]

Gourami types.

Find fish (order by the alphabet (latin) - ascending: 1)

Bunch more...

Gourami - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

 

[Joker741]

Show off

 

[mom2reds]

This may serve you well: Non CO2 methods - Aquarium Plants - Barr Report

thanks i will have to reread this in the am my brain is not retaining much at this hour for me.

 

[An t-iasg]

Pinpoint holes in the leaves can signal a potassium deficiency. You can dose potassium independently of nitrate and phosphate. N and P should be in a 10:1 ratio but K (potassium) can be dosed based on the size of your tank and you don't have to take the fish bioload into consideration. You would want to dose dry K - it would be cheaper for a big tank.

Planted Aquarium Fertilizer - Dry Fertilizers, Dry Fertilizers, Planted Aquarium Fertilizer - Potassium Sulfate, Potassium Sulfate,

Take a look around that website too - it's where a lot of us get our dry ferts. You may want to wait a bit to place an order to determine if you'll need the N also with your new stocking levels, and some P and micro ferts.