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New aquascaper 900

Pour into a big drum and use prime then put a 1500 litre pump attached to tubing and pump the water from the drum into the tank.
 
You mentioned earlier that your lights are on for 8 hours so is the co2.

I assume the co2 comes on 1 hour before lights. You will need this on much earlier, perhaps as much as 4 hours before lights.

You want the drop checker to be a nice lime green so you have max co2 for the plants to use at lights on.
 
I had two cardinals die this morning. I tested my water and ammonia and nitrites zero but nitrates around 100mg/l.
My tank is quite well stocked with fish. I need to add more plants but I dose 8ml of TMC complete daily and change 50% water weekly sometimes more often.
The nitrate reading this morning was after a 50% water change last night. The nitrate reading out my tap is around 18mg/l.
My tank is 7 weeks old. My tubing is looking a big gunky so need to clean them and give the filter a clean soon - have an FX4.
I don't want to go the RO route as it is expensive.

Do I just stop adding nitrates phosphates and just dose TMC light as I have a decent fish stocking level and nitrates out the tap water are quite high.

Not sure why the nitrates would be reading that high though.
 
Hi all,
I had two cardinals die this morning. I tested my water and ammonia and nitrites zero but nitrates around 100mg/l. My tank is quite well stocked with fish. I need to add more plants
I think you urgently need some <"floating plants">, they have access to aerial CO2 and can make use of all forms of fixed nitrogen (NH3/NO2/NO3), they will also diffuse light level reaching your submerged plants.

Plants are very effective at reducing nitrogen levels, <"plant/microbe bio-filtration is widely used in waste water treatment">, but aquarists often under-estimate the ability of plants to improve water quality.

n-cycle-gif.gif

I think you are probably some-where on the graph above, it is for non-planted tanks that are "cycling", but your combination of relatively few plants, a short set-up period, fertilizer addition and largish bio-load probably makes it relevant. Have a look at <"New to this.....">, it is quite a long thread, but there is a lot in there that may be useful to you.

I always have <"spare floating plants">, PM me if you want some.
The nitrate reading out my tap is around 18mg/l.
Not sure why the nitrates would be reading that high though.
You can get accurate NO3 figures from your water supplier, they have professional analytical kit. Most of the tap water in the S. of the UK has at least ~20ppm NO3. Have a look at @alto's post's, they are a scientist and uses protocols that allow him to <"get accurate results for nitrate testing">.

Personally I'm not a great fan of hobby kits, or water testing. It isn't that I don't want to know what water parameters are, I do, but I think that for the average hobbiest using a combination of plant and fish health is a better approach.

cheers Darrel
 
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Thanks Darrel. Am I correct in saying that if my nitrates from my tap are high and I have a decent stocking level, that I should just use TNC Lite and stop dosing nitrates and phosphates?
 
Hi all,
Thanks Darrel. Am I correct in saying that if my nitrates from my tap are high and I have a decent stocking level, that I should just use TNC Lite and stop dosing nitrates and phosphates?
Personally I would <"carry on using the TNC">, but with lean dosing, until you get some sort of balance.

Plants require all the <"essential nutrients">, just in <"widely differing amounts">. For example your water company isn't legally required to tell you how much phosphate (PO4---) there is in your tap water and there is some possibility that it might have been <"stripped out during water treatment">.

I'm not a CO2 user, or aquascaper, I just use the health (growth and colour) of a floating plant (originally Lemna minor "Duckweed", but Now Amazon Frogbit (<"Limnobium laevigatum">) as an indication of when to feed the plants.

It needs to be a floating plant to take CO2 availability out of the equation.

Have a look at <"Duckweed index says...">.

cheers Darrel
 
I have a few panda corys and dont seem to mix the gravels too much. I have 13 ottos, 13 amano, 6 nerite snails and 25 cherry shrimp.
 
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