leafs melting for alternanthera reineckii roseafolia

[tug]

Activated carbon will remove organic molecules and will not remove the fertilizers you're adding. Your going to need to focus on improving the level of CO2 and your dosing will need to be adjusted. Start by lowering the drop checker. Place it closer to the bottom of your tank. You should also try checking your CO2 using a drop in the tank water's pH as mentioned earlier. Providing 35ppm of CO2 is one of the most challenging aspects of this hobby I can think of. A great deal of your focus will be improving CO2, so as not to kill your fish.

As for your fertilizers, they are much more strait forward. I might have to get back to you with any exact recommendations but I can tell you that Flourish Comprehensive and AF's MacroMicro mix are very similar mixes and neither will provide much in the way of nitrate (NO3) or phosphate (PO4). They are both well suited to low energy tanks, i.e., low light, etc. These tanks tend to use PMDD as their preferred method of dosing, often preferring nutrient rich soils to dosing large amounts of fertilizer. If your ready to dose EI let me know.

[Nikhilsk99]

After reading more, as you said I agree that I need to adjust the NPK ratios.

If you can please recommend a Dosing Regime for EI, I am ready to follow it and see if that helps.

Should I go buying dry fert or aquavitro? I was reading the dosing chart by aquavitro. http://www.aquavitro.com/downloads/aqua ... dosing.pdf

[tug]

For now, get your hands on any source of nitrogen and phosphate you can find at your lfs. Aquavitro products are more concentrated then the Flourish line but either will do. Use wet's nutrient calculator for EI dosing recommendations and dose twice a week. You will find the link in the bottom of my signature. While you're at the lfs pick up any root tabs they might have and place them under the Alternanthera. In a few days I will be home and can provide you with a few additional links discussing the various fertilizer options for trace and such.

You can continue using the trace mixes you are currently using. For now, dose 5mL of Flourish Comprehensive daily and continue dosing AF's fertilizer as you have been. Dose 1mL of your Flourish Iron/daily as well.

Please provide a link to your water quality report. I doubt you need to add any additional calcium or magnesium but lets see just what's in that water of yours.

Edit: Changed a 4 to a 5.

[Nikhilsk99]

Tug,
One quick question. This evening I purchased the Aquqvitro Nitrogen N and phosphorus P
The doage says 7ml twice a week for 250Gallons. so thats like 2.24ml per week for my 40 breeder.
So you think this should be good or I need to increase it.
I checked the water quality after adding 5ml each N & P
Nitrate 0 ppm
Phosphate 0 ppm

[tug]

Short answer; increase it.

8mL of AquaVitro Synthesis provides 7.5ppm of NO3 to your tank. To dose according to EI you need to add 8mL to your 40 gallon tank 2 to 4 times a week. So, twice a week is on the low side but in your case it should be fine until you get your CO2 bumping. To make life easy, dose 10mL 2 times a week. You can model the long term concentrations from dosing NO3 on the calculator I mentioned earlier.

10mL of AquaVitro Activate provides 1.3ppm of PO4 to your tank. To dose according to EI you need to add 10mL to your 40 gallon tank 2 to 4 times a week. So, twice a week is on the low side and CO2 is still your priority. How's that going by the way?

[tug]

I'm getting the EI dosing recommendations above from wet's nutrient calculator. Please, try it out. Let me know what you think. I find that it is good instructionally as well as just a calculator. The logic behind EI is based on typical uptake rates of a fully planted tank with non-limiting CO2 and the doses insure that nutrients never bottom out, i.e., never fall to 0ppm. Some hobbyists will test for nutrients and adjust EI to maintain a level of nutrients to their liking. I don't. Weekly water changes keep the nutrients from reaching levels that might cause problems and I've never seen any adverse reaction to any excess in my tanks. If anything your test shows that your plants are doing well and feeding as estimated for a high energy tank.

If Seachem recommended EI doses, you might not see it as the economical brand of choice. This is the same for all of the branded products for planted tanks. There dosing recommendations are "old school" and geared for low energy tanks. I find EI, with weekly water changes, the most compelling way to begin dosing. If you like, adjust it to fit your circumstances.

When deciding which fertilizer you want to use there are some minor differences between them and any comparison between brands is not strictly apples to apples, e.g., the AquaVitro Synthesis formula contains a percentage of N as Urea. This low level of added Urea is given credit for improved root development where as any potassium nitrate (KNO3), is not. KNO3 provides additional potassium and plants will use NO3. Fish will provide Urea - not provide the potassium needed. As long as I keep fish in the same tank, I dose KNO3 with little down side.

KH2PO4 and AquaVitro Activate are essentially the same thing. You can diy an equivalent formula by adding 2.5 teaspoons of KH2PO4 to 500mL of distilled water. For good measure you can also add 1 or 2 teaspoons of K2SO4 for added K+.

There are several available products that provide trace. An early comparison of some can be found here, http://www.theplantedtank.co.uk/traces.htm and you can also use wet's calculator to compare the level of nutrients provided by different fertilizers. I am not a big supporter of AF's MacroMicro Mix. I do use and recommend CSM+B for trace. I just prefer buying it separately instead of in a mix of stuff, some of which I don't need.

As I stated earlier, you are very unlikely to need any added calcium and while magnesium can be deficient in some drinking water. I doubt it is in your case. And, if it is, you can always pick up a bag of Epsom salt to dose Mg.

Dose EI to eliminate NPK and trace deficiency. More importantly, focus on improving your CO2 availability and providing proper O2 levels for your fish. Over time you may find that you will increase your fertilizer dose to 3 or even 4 times a week. You can even adjust the dose to add fertilizer daily,e.g., 3mL of AquaVitro Synthesis and 4mL of AquaVitro Activate would be considered EI daily doses. Just remember, maintaining non-limiting CO2 is the hard part, IME.

[tug]

So I was reading online that

"Large organic molecules cling to the carbon, and they are not released back into the water. Plant fertilizers are large molecule components, and will be removed by Granular Activated Carbon. This is NOT a desired result.

Upon further thought, activated carbon filters will remove urea, i.e., any molecule containing carbon.

[Cristy Keister]

Definitely remove the carbon. You don't want the filter to compete with your plants for nutrients.

[tug]

Right. lol
Flourish Nitrogen had more K+ in it. Started me on the wrong track.
My stuff's all nonorganic too. This AquaVitro Synthesis is half organic.
Nothing a good water change wouldn't do anyway, with those AC filters.

[Jim Miller]

For 40gal and above I don't see the value in liquid dosing unless using some sort of pump system. The amounts of NPK needed with EI are easily dispensed with fractional teaspoon measures of dry ingredients. Dry goods are easily available in bulk by mail cheaply. Aquariumfertilizers.com is who I use and is a GWAPA merchant.

http://www.gwapa.org/forum/viewforum.php?f=46

jim