i suck at this (pics included)

[kagentx]

i've done almost everything, i'm still lost
my plants seem to die off on the bottom, and some of the leafs are bent... showing deformity. Those red spot algae is still developing. I'm cranking up my Co2 as high as possible, according to the kh/co2 chart it is 22ppm. My tank is a 50 gallon tank with a 96 power compact and a triple tube with only two 25 bulbs installed. The water sprite turns yellow but the new leafs are green. Some foreground plants seems to have their growth stunned (calcium?) and some plants have tiny holes (maybe snails). My Anacharis (Egeria densa) grows nicely on the top and 3 inches down the needle leafs are short or dying. I'm confused, i've done so much to trouble shoot problems... and my water seem to be ideal....

my water parameters is as follows:

kH: 3 dkH
gH: 6
pH 6.6
nitrate: 20ppm
phosphate: 1.5ppm

the only parameter that changes is my pH. It goes to 7.2 in the morning because i down the Co2 low at night. the plants don't seem to be intaking much nitrate or phosphate.

 

[kagentx]

more pics

my next solution was to upgrade my lights from ahsupply.com

my dosing schedule is as follows:

Day 1 after 50% water change
KN03 3/4 tsp ---- 13ppm
KH2p04 .10 tsp ---- 1.71ppm
K2S04 1 tsp ---- 18 ppm around
CaCO3 1 tsp ---- 2.5 ppm
Espom salt 1tsp ----- 2.5 ppm
Plantex plus boron + iron .25 tsp ---- .22 iron

Day 2
7 mL of Tropical master growth

Day 3
1/2 of original dosage for KNO3, KH2PO4, K2SO4 and Plantex

Day 4
same as day 2

Day 5
same as day 3

Day 6 + 7
rest

the first picture is actually plants that are growing under shade from the red rubin... it seems to be the best growth i have in the tank

 

[tetrin]

first of all, you don't suck!! all your plants look healthier than mine. especially, i envy your dwarf sag.

anyway, the only flaw i can find in your dosing schedule is that you are dosing plantex and KH2PO4 on the same day. i think the it's not recommended because there's some precipitation (i'm not sure though) due to the phosphates.

keep your chin up...it can only get better .

 

[czcz]

Plants don't seem to uptake much PO4 and NO3 from tests? Yellow leaves on old growth indicate that you may need more than ~6ppm NO3 every other day.

At 3wpg, you could use a little more CO2, to 30ppm.

In addition to percipitate from Fe chelate and PO4, dosing Plantex + Extra Fe and TMG means you have a lot of traces in the water column. Why do you dose two trace mixes?

(Dosing KH2PO4 and Plantex several hours apart are enough to avoid percipitate, per my modest tests, fwiw.)

CaCO3 should be raising your KH. Is this reflected in 3dKH?

GH of 6 means you likely don't need Mg or Ca. Dosing so much K may lead to problem with Ca uptake according to some, but I have not personally observed this. Still, you're dosing over 25ppm in day 1. I suggest not dosing K2SO4 on Day 3 or 5, and letting potassium come from KNO3 and KH2PO4.

I think you should just tweak your dosing a little, observe, and make sure CO2 isn't a limiting nutrient as wattage and nutes are in abundance.

 

[travis simonson]

I'm with czcz all the way. You are dosing traces every day (Plantex one day, TMG the next) which may be too much, not necessarily for your plants, but possibly for your fish (too much total Fe). What are your NO3 and PO4 levels at the end of the week right before your water change?

Like tetrin said, your plants don't look that bad at all. It looks like you're still having some troubles with a BBA-type of algae on some plants. Keeping CO2 levels steadily in the 25-30 ppm range will help the plants outcompete the algae but you should remove any heavily affected leaves to prevent it from maintaining a foothold in your tank.

Don't give up yet, you're very close to getting things leveled out

 

[kagentx]

thanks everyone, i'm going to keep trying and going to post more when i have results. hopefully i'll end my skid.