wisteria, the nitrate sucker?

[ashleynicole]

Edit- this is my 29 gallon planted. Stocked with 2 angels, 6 neon tetras, 1 bristlenose pleco, 3 cories, 4 otos, 1 bolivian ram. Oh and a few ghost shrimp and 1 Apple snail.
So today I was checking my water parameters like I usually do before my water changed, I added wysteria about 3 days ago and my last water change was about 6 or 7 days ago.
Ammonia 0
Nitrite 0
Nitrate 0

The last few weeks my nitrates have been about 10-20 ppm.

So my question is, is the wysteria sucking up all the nitrates? And if so, will my other plants get enough nutrition?
I have seachem root tabs, dose seachem flourish 1-2 times a week., seachem excel about 3 x a week .
I just added a school of 6 neon tetras 3 days ago, the same day I added the wisteria. I think I'm going to up the school to 10 to increase the biolaod a little bit. I know it seems as though my tank is fully stocked. But tetras school tightly I don't think adding more would interfere with the angels space too much.
I just want my plants to get enough nutrition. Will increasing the bioload help or should I be dosing something else?
Other plants are crypts, dwarf sag, anubias, java fern, aponogeton . All of them seem to be doing well, the dwarf sag is sending out shoots and has some new plants, the crypts have about 2 new leaves each week, I just want to make sure the wisteria isn't hogging all the good stuff, or should I not be worried at all?

 

[ashleynicole]

Anyone have any suggestions? Basically I want to know if it would be suggested to dose seachem nitrogen or increase my bioload a bit? I'm about to make a big order on drfosterandsmith so I don't have to pay shipping so I was thinking of ordering the nitrogen.

 

[mfdrookie516]

Well, I wouldn't increase your bioload, as it sounds like you were at your limit before. If you're not getting a testing error, some nitrogen would be useful. Rather than wasting your money on water (since that's what you're paying for mostly with the flourish nitrogen), you can buy a pound of KNO3 for $4 that'll last you a couple years from aquariumfertilizer.com.

 

[tarpon]

You have that many fish in a 29 with 2 angels?
Sounds like a disaster waiting to happen.

Edit- i reread and realized most are bottom dwellers.

 

[ashleynicole]

I did the test 3 times to be sure. The nitrate isn't exactly zero, I would say trace as it is a slight Orange tint but not as dark as the 5ppm indicator. I tested the two 5 gallon betta tanks as well and their nitrate levels are also trace and they were reading 5 ppm before I added a small piece of wisteria to each.

And its a fairly new test kit that I've been using to test paramaters a few times a week.

 

[mfdrookie516]

Wisteria, when given what it wants, will grow like crazy. Nitrates are usually the way to tell if it's happy.

 

[ashleynicole]

You have that many fish in a 29 with 2 angels?
Sounds like a disaster waiting to happen

Before you judge, the angels are juveniles and I am going to watch them closely as they grow. I do have a 55 gallon tank in my garage and could easily set it up if I needed to. Although a tank in the garage isn't much fun, who would see it?

I know tetras can become angel food, however these are jumbo neons and seem to be a decent size.
Everything else is bottom feeders. The corys, otos, ram and bristlenose pleco .

I wasn't going to add angels until one of the rams died, then I changed my mind. I was looking to rehome the ram. But he is actually doing ok with the angels.

I know people who breed angels in 20 gallon talls with similar tank mates that I have.

This thread isn't really about my tank stock, but why do you rush in to say that this is a disaster waiting to happen? Maybe to an inexperienced person, but I am not new to aquaria. I know what to watch out for and I am not afraid of water changes. Not to mention that this is going to be a densly planted tank which is obviously more than enough to handle the current biological load.

 

[tarpon]

Woah, youre a genius

 

[ashleynicole]

Wisteria, when given what it wants, will grow like crazy. Nitrates are usually the way to tell if it's happy.

I am looking into that aquariumfertilizer website, I've never used dry ferts before so I'm going to have to research it.

I know the wisteria will grow well. I'm more concerned about my other plants getting enough. Do you think I need to dose nitrogen at this point or just watch for a week or so and see how everything does?

 

[ashleynicole]

Woah, youre a genius

Is this sarcasm?

 

[tarpon]

A little bit. No need to get so offended. But i realize i was wrong and it wasnt even about your stock anyway. I shouldve sent you a polite pm about it.
I apologize

 

[ashleynicole]

A little bit. No need to get so offended. But i realize i was wrong and it wasnt even about your stock anyway. I shouldve sent you a polite pm about it.
I apologize

No worries, I wasn't really offended, just don't want people to think I don't know what I'm doing. I do tend to get defensive when people challenge me but that's just my nature.

 

[KatieJ]

I've got a crap ton of wisteria in my 5g and my nitrates are always fairly low - they have been ever since I got the tank heavily planted.. I'm thinking about buying some Flourish Nitrogen to help things settle down. The stuff grows fast; it wouldn't be a surprise if it was a nitrate sponge compared to other plants.

 

[ashleynicole]

Well I know the nitrogen will help the plants grow faster, but I don't really care about that. I only want to dose it if my other plants really need it. I am going to keep a very close eye on the plants and water parameters to make sure everything keeps growing at a steady rate.