TwoFace99

Hello, I just wanted to give a weekly update of my situation, as I try to correct the magnesium deficiency of my aquarium amongst other things: April 1st-April 8th, 2024 -Unfortunately, I managed to put a little too much Equilibrium in the tank and raised the GH to 15. However, when I tested the GH before my 50% WC yesterday, it was at 13dGH, so I’m assuming this is proof that my plants are actively consuming the added calcium and magnesium? -I trimmed off a lot of Water Wisteria/Crypt. plants (Tropica, Wendtii Green, and Lucens) of their leaves, as well as threw away a few Water Wisteria stems as they were no good/not recovering. -The Water Wisteria themselves have shown some healthy growth emerging from their center and some root formation (white-colored, not brown or black) closer to the stem top. -My Bucephalandra Black Pearl and Anubias Barteri/Golden Nana seem to be unaffected by the deficiencies that plagued my tank are still growing, but I did trim off a few leaves of the Black Pearl and Anubias Golden Nana. -Had to throw away one of my Banana plants as the tubers were now beginning to shed, and the plant itself had no roots or any more leaves, so it would have disintegrate anyway. -My nitrate levels actually dipped from 20ppm to 10ppm (before the water change/added Easy Green). Again, I’m assuming like the dip in GH, that my plants are more actively consuming the nutrients I’m feeding them. -Fish inhabitants are doing fine/ no change in behavior -No change in Phosphate levels (1.0mg/L) -Amazon Sword plants, in general, have shed a couple of the rough-looking leaves, and I clipped some off, but are doing good. However, one of my regular Sword plants is still growing short new leaves. I did stick in a root tab yesterday, so I’ll give it more time to recover. -Almost all of my Java Fern is gone (the plant most affected by my lack of knowledge concerning nutrient deficiencies). Many of the ones I threw out recently had a bunch of holes all over their leaves, while the bad batch before was pale/yellow/browning spots. The only Java Fern left are a decent patch glued onto one of my rocks that was largely unaffected, outside of a few. -Overall, I’m still waiting til the end of May to give my plants the recovery time they need, before I get rid of any more, which are mainly my Crypt plants, as I have a hard time telling if they are adjusting/growing new leaves, despite being a rosette plant like Swords.

Yea, that how most of my Java Fern spawned, yet only a patch of Java Fern remain that I have glued to one of my rocks.

Thank you very much again @Seattle_Aquarist 🙏

Hey @Seattle_Aquarist I hate to bother you again, but after the initial dosage, do I keep dosing the same/lowered amount of Equilibrium every water change or every month to keep a good supply of magnesium for my plants?

Thank you very much @Seattle_Aquarist, you and @Pepere have been a great help, and I’ll get back to you guys when I have updates on my aquarium plants. Enjoy the rest of your day.

That makes sense. However, my pH is pretty hard stuck at 7.8 (KH is consistently at 5-6dKH), and my GH for my tap water is higher than my aquarium water (12dGH compared to 10dGH), so do I still try to lower my PH/GH or just work with what I have with your plan? Lastly, do you have any good test kit recommendations for Calcium and/or Magnesium? I see that Fluval has test kits for Calcium as well as Iron.

@Seattle_Aquarist Also, I know you recommended Seachem Equilibrium, but since I am having only a Magnesium deficiency, would you advise in my case to get just magnesium salts like you or get Equilibrium to correct the Ca:Mg:K ratio of my aquarium, in addition to increasing magnesium content? Additionally, I didn’t really find any straightforward directions online, if I should keep dosing Equilibrium every water change or simply until the magnesium deficiency is no longer present in my aquarium (ex: My Water Wisteria no longer curl downward with no paleness to their coloring). Lastly, I didn’t know Magnesium was vital in the absorption of Phosphorus for plants. I hope that doesn’t mean my dosing of Phosphate was being wasted, since my plants were suffering from low Magnesium levels in the water.

I’m referring to my aquarium water being 10-11dGH with the Wonder Shell usage. Without the Wonder shell, it stays at 10dGH, but for how long, I never truly tested. My tap water itself is 12dGH (last time I tested was 8dGH). Additionally, I didn’t realize iron uptake by plants is reduced at higher pH levels. Interesting.

My mistake. I meant Aquarium Co-Op customer support. I live in Chicago where the water is very hard, instead of soft. They did suggest besides the obvious phosphate issue my plants were dealing with the next likely nutrient deficiencies could be either iron or magnesium. I did buy some Easy Iron this past Monday (6 squirts since the tank is a 55 gallon). As for Magnesium, that makes sense, since I just got done earlier removing some Water Wisteria leaves that were curling downward. My GH is currently at 10 dkGH. Are you asking me to raise my GH up 4 degrees with the usage of Equilibrium, and can I add the product directly to the tank, or must I perform a water change first? As for the diatom it is pretty much gone now, except for a few specks. I’m not sure if the plants were able to outcompete with the algae/diatom in the nutrient uptake with the phosphorus boost, but I’m not sure, but I’m not complaining either. Lol.

Water Wisteria for you can float or plant them in the substrate, and they aren’t sensitive to PH nor lightning levels. Water Wisteria grows very quickly and suck up nitrates pretty readily. Personally, I float Water Wisteria, as I like to provide shade for my plants below that are more susceptible to algae growth like my Swords/Java Fern, even though I have Reticulated SAEs and Panda Garra to personally deal with that, as well as shade for my fish themselves. Not to mention, the roots look pretty cool growing down when the Water Wisteria is floating.

That’s unfortunate as I was hoping that wasn’t going to be the answer with my Cyprtocorne Tropica and Java Fern. The Tropica plant, because it’s going to lose ALOT more leaves than I have trimmed off already, and some of the younger Java Fern (that has spawned from my original Java Fern) are already down to one or two leaves on their rhizomes. However, it makes sense.

Because a few months ago, my Banana plants’ leaves were coming out extremely gnarly and twisted with stunted growth, so I was advised by Aquarium Co-Op to use Wonder shells or other calcium-supplement products. Wonder shells definitely helped with the Banana plants, so I can’t argue the results.

Hello, since almost two weeks ago (March 16), I’ve been dosing Seachem flourish phosphorus to increase the phosphate levels of my aquarium (It is at 1.0 mg/L) on the advice of Aquarium Co-Op support. I did this course of action because my Water Wisteria and Java Fern were having both their old and new leaves turning yellow/pale with brown patches, with some of them turning almost completely brown or black, but it became widespread amongst my other plants (Swords/Crypts/Bucephalandra/etc). I even grabbed and started dosing Easy Iron off my LFS’ suggestion this past Monday. At the moment, I have pruned a lot of leaves off my plants that looked too far gone and threw away a couple of them. Some of them like my Water Wisteria and Java Fern still have leaves with a couple of brown patches, but nothing as bad as they used to look. Additionally, I noticed the diatom algae that used to be consistently present are almost nonexistent on the glass of the tank now (the Panda Garra I acquired on Monday possibly helped as well). My main concern now is whether or not the leaves of these plants in my photos attached can be saved, or should I cut my losses? My Cryptocorne Tropica, especially has been experiencing more blackening of its leaves since my phosphate/iron dosing. Water parameters: pH: 7.8 Ammonia: 0ppm Nitrite: 0ppm Nirate: 20ppm KH: 5dKH GH: 10dGH Phosphate level: 1.0mg/L Easy Green/Iron dosing (weekly), Wonder shells (calcium supplement), and Seachem Flourish Phosphate dosing (as needed).

Additionally, I just left out of my LFS (one of my Lake Kamaka Rainbowfish died today from bloating), and they suggested for my Hygrophila plants to gradually increase the light intensity to 100%, and dial back down the intensity, as needed, if the algae becomes too much of a hassle for my cleaner crew to handle. They suggested my other plants like Anubias, Amazon Sword, Java Fern, Bucephalandra, etc would be fine as long as the change is not all at once to stress the plants. The owner shown me some Hygrophila plants with 100% light intensity in smaller tanks as well. Since my tank is a 55gal with more height away from the plants.

Well, I just had one of my Lake Kamaka Rainbowfish passed away. I literally saw their body a few minutes ago after waking up. I have noticed bloating from that one Rainbowfish yesterday, and little to no desire to eat, but swimming normally otherwise. None of my other inhabitants are experiencing any illness or odd behavior like that one did. I called my LFS and they suggested using two boxes of Maracyn Two over the course of 10 days, since I have a 55 gallon tank. I notified them the only change I made recently was performing a 50% WC on Monday. I try to be as close as possible to the exact temperature rather than starting off higher and let the temperature die down to my 78.F setting. Any more suggestions on what to do are recommender and encouraged. Here are some photos of my tank currently. WARNING: Dead fish image below Water parameters: pH: 7.8 Ammonia: 0ppm Nirite: 0ppm Nirate: 40ppm (mostly from Easy Green dosage) kH: 5dKH GH: 10dGH (Wonder shell supplement) Inhabitants: 2 Marbled Angelfish 2 Pearl Gourami 9 Harlequin Rasboras 4(was 5) Lake Kamaka Rainbowfish Apistogramma Cacautouides Pair 2 Bolivian Rams 2 Reticulated SAEs 3 Amano Shrimp