Water parameter values cheatsheet, but need your help

The friendliest place on the web for anyone with an interest in aquariums or fish keeping!
If you have answers, please help by responding to the unanswered posts.

frostby

Aquarium Advice Regular
Joined
Jun 9, 2006
Messages
94
Planted Tanks
High light vs Low light

I"ve been taking notes on what has been recommended conditions in ppm for high light tanks... here...

HIGH LIGHT 2.5W or more per gallon

Ammonia = 0
Nitrite = 0
CO2 = 20-30
Phosphates(P) 1-1.5 (1/10 of nitrate)
Nitrate(N) 10-15 (also 10x the phosphate level)
Potassium(K) 10-20 you can't have too much in most cases
Iron...0.1-0.2 (often included in trace dose)
Traces....?
PH,GH,KH, -doesn't really contribute/negate plant growth, except for monitoring CO2.
Weekly water changes, monthly totaling 50%

Now, what do we want for the low light planted community 2 watts or less?

Ammonia = 0
Nitrite = 0
Nitrate(N) 10-15
Potassium(K) 10-20
CO2 - not necessary, but any extra will still be beneficial
PH,GH,KH
Water changes = Weekly, to prevent excess waste/hardness(10-20%)?
Traces = Not required
Iron 0.1-0.2 (often included in trace dose)


Please help me fill in the blanks, I'll edit the list as the details get posted. I guess there's been plenty of posts for dealing with high light tanks, and several articles for both, but few(malkore's sticky helps) compare #'s

Is this also the most desirable to keep algae under control?
 
Iron is usually included with your traces. You want to dose enough trace to get approximately .1-.2 Fe. If you start to see iron or trace deficiencies then tweak it a little higher.

The goals for a low light tank are really pretty much the same. The difference is that the growth is usually so slow that your fish can produce sufficient levels of Nitrates and Phosphates for the plants. This just leaves you with dosing traces occationally as well as Potassium. Most often these are dosed once a week right after the water change. Some people have good sucess with water changes only once ever month or so, while others stick to the once a week water change.
 
Water changes always necessary! Sure the nitrates will get taken up by the plants, but there are other contaminiants and waste that can build up. If you top-off your evaporation loss with tap water, the hardness will skyrocket without water changes.

Some people use the Estimative Index method of dosing, which requires a weekly 50% water change. (Easy if you have a python, and gets rid of most of the water testing duties.)

EI
EI light

What do you want out of a low-light tank? If you want a low maintenance tank, then you can skip the suppliments unless you have an algae problem. If you just want to save on your electricity bill and keep low-light plants, you can get better growth out of them by supplimenting macros/micros at a lower rate than in a high-light tank.

If you only suppliment one thing, make it CO2. This will give the plants an advantage over the algae for the competition for the few nutrients in the tank.
 
-Updating...above...

This is getting good. I'm pulling the "water changes not needed more than monthly"

Dskidmore... You say CO2 is the best suppliment, can you elaborate on your CO2 suggestion for a LOW light tank, and for a given tank size. Do you still shoot for 30ppm on a low light setup?
 
CO2 is beneficial at any lighting level, just not necessary until you reach about medium high light. You would want to maintain the same levels as in a high light tank, otherwise you would risk inducing BBA due to low fluctuating levels. There have been some links to articles posted in other threads, I believe one is Wizard~Of~Ozz's link in the CO2 Sticky, that show that adding CO2 is actually more beneficial than adding enough light to bump you into the next lighting level. In many ways it's similar to EI in that you make sure that your plants have more than enough CO2 so that it doesn't become a limiting factor.
 
Purrbox, are you saying it's the low levels of CO2 that encourage BBA, or fluctuating levels of CO2? Is a steady none/low CO2, or a fluctuating 15-25ppm more likely to avoid bba?
 
It's the combination of the two that creates the problem. If you have high levels of CO2 that are above 30ppm and fluctuate you are unlikely to have problems with BBA. The same goes for if you have atmospheric CO2 levels that are very constant at 3ppm. DIY CO2 fluctuate by nature, and as a result when it doesn't provide sufficient levels will often induce BBA. By boosting your CO2 levels so that they are always above 30ppm even if they fluctuate, you avoid the problems.
 
CO2 in a low light tank makes a huge difference. I would recommend it for anyone growing anything if the object is to see it grow. I had 1.5 watts over my tank and tried to grow a red melon sword, it grew, a little, then added CO2 and it outgrew my tank in a matter of 6 weeks or so.
The bigger problem with large swings in CO2 production is large swings in pH unless you have a KH of, I think, 4 or higher. Mine is 10 naturally with no interference or additives, possibly from snail shells decomposing in gravel.
My weekly water changes are 50% every time because I have 10 gallon tanks, larger tanks and more plants, probably get away with 25-30% weekly.
GH, I don't know of a target level except it probably depends on what fish you have.
pH depends on your fishes needs, plant don't seem to mind most common pH levels although I have read some don't like soft water and some won't grow in hard water.
Traces are dosed to get .1-.3ppm iron. You still need the traces even if you dose iron seperately.
Potassium, as much as is needed to prevent deficiencies. If you dose K2SO4 I do not recommend dosing higher than you need to.
Last thing, if you have root feeders and high light, get root tabs, good ones although I hate to recommend Flourish. The search is on for a good quality tab at better prices.
 
fish_4_all said:
The search is on for a good quality tab at better prices.
Have you tried DIY tabs? 1 part PMDD dry fromula, 1 part clay powder, add water until pliable, make small tabs, allow to dry out.

I havn't actually done this myself yet, I ordered the ingredients then my life got busy.
 
I just haven't ordered the clay yet. When I make mire it will have more than traces in it though. Little NO3, PO4, and K2SO4 and MgSO4 just because I want to be able to dose a little less in the water column. That and almost every plant I want or have is a good root feeder except my java fern and HC.
 
Back
Top Bottom