[Please Help.]

Not familiar w/ RO/DI water, so I'm just going off what I know from friends/research! However, I do think that you to remineralize RO/DI water or combine it with a little bit of your tap water so it gets some necessary minerals back. Someone can correct me if I'm wrong on that, but that's what I recall.

If kH truly is 0, then the pH is gonna fluctuate a lot. I would get a kH and gH test to verify the kH is actually 0, because I know test strips like Tetra's don't measure it super accurately. If kH truly is a problem, then there's multiple solutions to help raise it like crushed coral and different buffers.

[Fert suggestions]

Beautiful selection of plants, I love the way your tank looks! For ferts, I've heard good things about Aquarium Co-op's Easy Green and NilocG's Thrive line!

I was recommended (by a friend) and use Thrive, but so far, I'm a little neutral on it. The composition of it is great and really helped my plants with some deficiencies from when I started out with Flourish. However, my biggest gripe is I personally have to pump it into a cup of water and swish it around before putting it in my tank. I was originally pumping it straight into the tank and it would make my nitrates 40+ ppm according to my test kit. Diluting it with aquarium water has helped a lot with preventing too much nitrates. Despite my complaints, I do like it and I don't have to dose super often due to only having a 10 gallon and a mixed needs plant load (dwarf hair grass, various Anubis, buce, 1 huge bundle of java fern, bacopa and dwarf aquarium lily). 

Definitely keep up with using root tabs, especially with all those swords! I would get some extra suggestions and/or do some research on opinions. I haven't used EasyGreen, but I'm sure someone can share their experience with it. I like Thrive, but I wish I was able to try EasyGreen because I'm sure it would've been fine. 

[what state do you live in?]

On 10/5/2021 at 3:51 PM, H.K.Luterman said:

I'm in Madison, right outside of Huntsville here. I agree the nature is awesome, if only it wasn't so dang hot!

I'm familiar with Madison! I visited up there a while ago to check out Aquatic Cove when I was camping at Joe Wheeler (not into saltwater tanks, that was my half-brother's area of expertise, but it was still a wonderful experience)! I'm just 45 minutes out from Birmingham. I was enjoying that little cool spell we had, but then it got hot again on us. Hoping for cooler temps again!

[what state do you live in?]

Central Alabama. Not a fan of most of the state, but I love the nature here! Guntersville Lake and Smith Lake are a wonder to visit.