# more no3?



## sephnroth (Jul 30, 2013)

i've been struggling with plants still, even quite hardy ones. I tested my no3 today and it was barely above 0 - perhaps a 1 or something. Other people report their planted tanks at around 20ppm?

My tank has lots of room for more fish i've just been not getting them until i'm settled with how it looks. But theres already a school of harlequins, one pearl gourami and a bn plec. Ammonia obviously 0 - I wondered perhaps if my plants will perk up when there is more fish and more waste being turned into no3?

I do dose ferts according to instructions on fert bottle. I also have a plant fert substrate under my sand, but thats quite new and im not sure any plants have dug their roots deep enough for it yet!

I'm thinking I should stop doing blind water changes on a regular schedule and instead test no3 weekly or fornightly and not do water changes unless its over 20? Maybe my water changes starve my plants!


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## coralbandit (Jul 29, 2012)

Look into dry ferts!
Even with my 180g stocked at 212%(according to AQ) I still never got "response" from plants like I do with dry ferts.
I change 50%+- every week.I'm doing my best with EI dosing(and I have injected co2).


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## sephnroth (Jul 30, 2013)

thanks as always coral - i'm reading into dry ferts now. It seems a bit daunting! I'm also struggling to find information, I keep finding people trying to sell me stuff instead of telling me what it is XD Is there like a.. all in one powder or something u measure and add to tank instead of liquid dosing?


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## sephnroth (Jul 30, 2013)

hey as an after thought, could pH be effecting my plants? I think i'm about a 7.8 - my api test kit colour card only goes up to 7.6 and it seems a bit (not alot) darker than the 7.6. I messaged my LFS earlier to ask what their tank pH was and they said all their tanks were between 7.5 and 8 except the discus tank which was 6.5 - so I guess my pH is "normal" for the area I live in. But I was just looking up subwassertang on ebay after seeing susankat's sale earlier and one listing said it was ok in a ph from 6 to 7.5 which made me wonder if my pH was effecting any other plant??


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## susankat (Nov 15, 2008)

The dry ferts are best and cheaper in the long run, and looks like you need to be dosing nitrogen which will be separate when using liquid


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## coralbandit (Jul 29, 2012)

PMDD Pre-Mix | Green Leaf Aquariums
These should do you fine and would be all you need.You mix the powder into water and add drops per gallon.


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## jrman83 (Jul 9, 2010)

I would go with Tom's link and then stop putting in your liquid fert. GLA doesn't offer directions, which is BS, but they are available out there on the net about how to do. You just need to get a bottle that you can put the stuff in.

You can use their directions...its the same stuff:
Planted Aquarium Fertilizer - , , , , Planted Aquarium Fertilizer - , ,

Just use the directions for the micro/macro mix.


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## sephnroth (Jul 30, 2013)

thanks for the advice everyone! I will try and find a place that sells the dry fert in the UK before I resort to importing, I always get hit with bad customs charges  All these dry ferts have such confusing *seemingly* nonsensical names like PMDD and XAWSDASDA (lol) that I do struggle to see exactly what I should be getting, but i'm sure I can find something!


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## coralbandit (Jul 29, 2012)

Here's one local to you;
Home page
hit the fertaliser link and go down to EI dosing.It has all necessary parts in 4 seperate bags.They are the same as the PPMD or the micro/macros I use.
Ei Starter Kit - Dry Chemicals - Fertilisers
^^^These would be the ones^^^


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## jrman83 (Jul 9, 2010)

PMDD - poor man's dosing drops


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## sephnroth (Jul 30, 2013)

coral thanks for hunting that down, very kind of you! and thanks jr for telling me what pmdd was xD

Now I have a good idea what to do next in my planted tank! Thanks!

One last question whilst I have this topic open (I will be doing research anyway but) - at the bottom of the ei starter kit page it tells you how to use and this includes a 25% weekly water change - when dosing dry ferts does the water change become extra crtical? because my params are so low atm sometimes I leave it an extra week!


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## jrman83 (Jul 9, 2010)

EI will cause the need for a 50% water change weekly and once you start dosing, you really can't avoid it. The estimative index idea is to overload the water column with nutrients so they are always available to the plants when they need it. Given that, the abundance of these nutrients can build if near daily dosing is maintained and the 50% water change will reset things at the end of the week.

What size tank and what light do you have? If your lighting level is in the lower region you should not have to add so much ferts. It doesn't mean that I would recommend you can change less water, but you may only need a smaller amount of ferts. I would go here to read about amounts to be dosed and forget the dosing plan from the site you are buying the ferts: _Dosing Regimes_


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## sephnroth (Jul 30, 2013)

the tank is 96 liters which I believe is 25.3 us gallons (according to google). Its long/wide standard rectangle shape.

The light is a "T8 - Full Spectrum" 6700k bulb. I do not have a reflector though but also there is no cover between the light and the water, it just shines directly in. It was on for 8+ hours a day but I was having serious algae problems so i've changed my socket timer to I think 6hrs


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## sephnroth (Jul 30, 2013)

here is a thought. whenever i've put shrimp in this tank they always die within 48hrs. despite seeing the occasional snail, snails have never really multiplied and spread in that tank either.

when I last posted about my shrimp last year we decided the tank, second hand, had probably been treated with copper in the past.

could copper have a negative effect on my plants as well?


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## blue water (Nov 1, 2010)

sephnroth said:


> thanks as always coral - i'm reading into dry ferts now. It seems a bit daunting! I'm also struggling to find information, I keep finding people trying to sell me stuff instead of telling me what it is XD Is there like a.. all in one powder or something u measure and add to tank instead of liquid dosing?


I have been using Pmdd as per corals suggestions for three weeks .Can't believe the growth on all my plants. Going to look at EI dry ferts ,I believe I can have more control over adjusting the needs of my plants. Thanks Coral for getting me on way for looking into dry ferts


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## coralbandit (Jul 29, 2012)

sephnroth said:


> here is a thought. whenever i've put shrimp in this tank they always die within 48hrs. despite seeing the occasional snail, snails have never really multiplied and spread in that tank either.
> 
> when I last posted about my shrimp last year we decided the tank, second hand, had probably been treated with copper in the past.
> 
> could copper have a negative effect on my plants as well?


Many have said copper never goes completely away.Seachem Cuprisorb is a resin designed to remove copper and copper only.Not real expensive and certainly would be worth the investment.Copper test kits are as much as the cuprisorb and are IMO one of the most diffacult to read test going.
Copper certainly could effect your plants.Get a bag of CUPRISORB and put it in your filter.I think it changes color when it is exhausted which would be the real indication that you did/do have copper still leaching.
Going away from copper ,as I understand some shrimp have zero tolerance for ammonia?(not even a little!)


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## sephnroth (Jul 30, 2013)

Ammonia readings are flat 0 right now and pretty certain same when i tried shrimp about 6month ago! The same shrimp are fine in all my other tanks and the shrimp that died turned a sort of coppery colour dunno if coincidence!


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