why cant i have clear water

[m-man]

i had bad GW, so i blackout the tank for 4 days, and the water is clear again and i do a Water change, i dose to the correct levels of K P and No3, come home 24 hours later and GW again, i dont know what im doing wrong?

96W CF, 46 gallon

K 20ppm
P 1 ppm
NO3 5ppm
KH 2 degrees
ph 6.2 (a suprise , never dropped this low, did a diff. co2 mix left in on at night too)
co2 38 ppm!, and too think i was having problems getting over 4ppm earlier.

 

[Wizzard~Of~Ozz]

Your nitrates are low, also your Co2 @ 38?? I think the ph is being affected by something else.. DIY Co2 on a 46Gal should not be that effective.

 

[m-man]

i know, well i put in more yeast this time and im getting about 3 bubbles a sec..
should the nitrates be at 10, but even though there low, there there, you know what i mean, i would only think there would be a problem if nitrate goes to 0

 

[src]

Low levels of any nutrient are harder to extract/use effectively. That slows down the plant growth, and the use of other nutrients in the water. This allows the Algae to use the remaining nutrients to thrive.

Think of 5 ppm of nitrate as "background radiation". You will almost never see 0 on a planted tank with fish in it - there's always something decomposing to provide nitrate. 10 ppm is borderline, because the plants will probably use it up before your next dosing (if you fertilize). I would shoot for 20 ppm Nitrate and 2 ppm Phosphate.

The thing you really need to do is find out how quickly your plants are removing the nutrients from the water. Dose to a known level, then test every day (or even twice a day), tracking how fast the levels of each nutrient drop. When you hit 10 ppm Nitrate or 1 ppm Phosphate, redose to bring both to 20/2. Track this for at least a week, more if possible, to get a good idea of just how much and when you need to fertilize.

 

[Wizzard~Of~Ozz]

src is correct, 5ppm is just too low for the light level.

Typically, no nitrates is associated with cyno bacteria, high phospahtes relative to nitrates is GW.

 

[m-man]

ok thanks guys...ill make some changes and see how it goes..

 

[Lonewolfblue]

I have to agree also, increase your nitrates. Also, are you planning on another blackout to restart your tank?

 

[m-man]

i wasn't planning it, i was going to see if i could recover, as it is not that bad after 24 hours, if not then i will have to do a blackout

 

[Lonewolfblue]

Cool. Maybe just 1 or 2 large PWC's back to back will get you ahead enough and then start dosing.

Also, with increasing the dosing levels, may want to bump the potassium up as well, especially at the lighting level and CO2 being added. Will help the plants process the nitrates and phosphates. And extra potassium has no algae issues.

 

[m-man]

i have it at 20ppm,, you think it should be higher?

 

[Lonewolfblue]

That should be good. See how it goes with 20ppm.

 

[m-man]

..also is my csm+b mix right, i used a calc online http://justanothertank.com/calcs.php

i put 2 tsb in 480mls which is .007ppm, according to the calc, and i dose 15ml, which is suppose to give me .1ppm Fe, in my 46 gallon tank

 

[Lonewolfblue]

If they are teaspoons, yes. If tablespoons, you are way over. I think your tsb is supposed to be tsp, correct?

If the plants are looking good and no iron deficiencies, then you are fine. If not, then you might want to up it to .2ppm.

 

[m-man]

yeah sorry tsp, ok