High nitrates in remodeled tank and which fert to use

[cptdavep]

Hi. I remodelled my tank a couple of weeks ago, adding new aquasoil amazonia and all new plants. My aquasoil leached loads of ammonia for the first few days which was a bit of a nightmare as I have only one tank and fish + shrimps to look after. Managed to deal with this via waterchanges and prime and Ammonia and Nitrite dropped to zero and have been there for well over a week now. But my Nitrate is up at 40ppm+ (same as my tap water) and hasn't budged. Before the remodel and with less plants it was always 10-20ppm so I'm guessing my aquasoil is still leaching ammonia but my mature filter is dealing with it and turning it to Nitrate.

So, question, what fert do I use? I have EasyLife ProFito which I used in my old set up as it was low-tech (new setup has more light and CO2) and I bought Tropica Nutrition+ as I know this is recommended for high-tech setups. I'm guessing I don't want to be using the Tropica until my Nitrates drop down, hopefully once the aquasoil starts behaving itself. So is it okay to stick to just the Profito till then?

Cheers

Dave

 

[gmartins]

Hi,

I would fertilize anyways. Tropica Nutrition+ has a lot more than nitrates alone. If you're not fertilising you'll get an unblanced fertilization -> algae.

High levels of nitrates could also be because your plants are using less (still adapting to new conditions).

Alternatively, you could have no nitrates at all. Check around forum. There is a general perception that these ordinary tests are not accurate at all.

For all the reasons above, I would fertilizing immediately.

Hope this helps.

GM

 

[hotweldfire]

Yep, see below:
http://www.ukaps.org/forum/viewtopic.php?f=11&t=16092&start=10