Mmiller2001

If you have tropical fish, 0KH is not a problem, nor is fluctuating pH. A fluctuating KH and/ or GH would be a problem. That said, if you want to increase KH, I would highly recommend potassium carbonate, but you can use baking soda. Just be aware the salt, from baking soda, will build up and has no real benefit to the tank. Just shoot for 1 or 2KH and call it a day and monitor it weekly. Fish flashing is a cause for concern and flukes are most likely the cause. Are these new fish, or were new fish added recently? I've never seen a fish flash from a specific pH or pH swing. Maybe, a quickly rising GH would cause flashing, but i haven't seen that either. It's possible, but I would imagine other indicators would show from osmotic stress. Raising GH is pretty easy. You, ideally, want a 2:1 CA:Mg ratio. The wonder shell may only have Ca in it? Seachem sells 2 products, Equilibrium and Alkaline Buffer. Those would both increase GH Ca/Mg and KH and is probably the simplest solution. Probably worth some research if you're bored. As far as all testing. Personally, I just use them to determine direction. Are nitrates rising or lowering, and so on.... I've just learned to trust my dosing.

Its probably a combination of low light and nutrient imbalance. I would go with a more dedicated light designed to grow plants and evaluate your fertilization regiment.

Blasphemy! 😁

Is this the light that came with the tank?

I'm not sure, I think hydor has a line of nano power heads. Never used any though.

100% Sounds like something else is going on. Are you getting the 70-90ppm from your tank water or from the tap water?

It should help, as long as it's not blasting the plants. I had a similar problem, mulm build up and small particles suspended in the water column. At that time, I was at 3x turnover. I increased to 6-7x turn over and problem solved.

If you are not changing a significant amount of water percentage; I think you will have no problem with fish. By significant, 70 to 80%. If you are worried, fill a bucket and let it sit for 24 hours. A good chunk of CO2 will gas off.

Have you increased fertilization in relation to plant load?

The particles in the tank is from not having enough flow to pick up the detritus/ mulm and move it to the filter. Increasing flow/ circulation in the tank should solve this problem; just be sure to not cause too much circulation that would overly "blast" your fish and plants.

Here's a great resource for CO2 tanks. https://www.2hraquarist.com/

You 100% want surface agitation and a good amount of it. You want to gas off CO2 at a good rate as well as allow as much O2 into the system. By gassing off CO2, you can increase CO2 injection; thereby hitting target CO2ppm quicker and not have dips in CO2 once plants begin nutrient uptake. Surface skimming is recommended as well, this will increase gaseous exchange.

Doh! Sting Ray's are Finnex. Are you talking about the V2 Stingrays? They should be fine for entry level.

I'm not familiar with that medication, so I can't advise you. Do you know anyone local who has used it?

Thank you. I'm trying to convince my wife to let me remove the lily so I can fit other plants in, but she won't let me! 😆

You could go either route, one long one or 2 shorter ones. You probably want lights in the 6500K range and a good PAR at around 18 inches. Your tank is 21 inches high? A decent par would be 40 or so at 18 inches. Higher would be better. See if you can find the PAR of those Sting Ray's. Look at the Finnix line of light's, they are pretty good for the price.

I like to spread it out. But you can dose all up front. If you want to spread it out, just divide the numbers by the amount of days you want to dose.

What is the purpose of your light? To grow plants or just light the tank?

Before you do that, read this article. https://aquariumscience.org/index.php/10-2-4-epistylis/

Here's some good reads for you. This one covers another falsehood that is so often used. Turns out, nitrification still happens in low pH. But what's really cool, is the absolutely jaw dropping, stunning tanks at the bottom of the article. Many at 1 and 0 KH. https://www.2hraquarist.com/blogs/ph-kh-gh-tds/is-low-ph-in-tanks-due-to-aquasoils-softwater-a-concern This one explains why your wrong about KH and how aquarists should think about pH. https://www.2hraquarist.com/blogs/ph-kh-gh-tds/ph-explained Hope this helps.

This is my swing in a 75 and 40 gallon tank. That I cause on purpose. These tanks both have a 1.5KH. I'm thinking about lowering my KH to 1.

It's very rational. You stated that having a KH below 3 is going to have serious consequences. You've based this notion on decades old information passed downed through the internet and constantly quoted as fact, but it isn't true. I and thousands of aquarists have a KH below 3 and have no problems..at all. The notion that fluctuating pH kills fish is false. This horse has been beaten to death and proven over and over. It's not your fault, it's just a negative of the internet. Information doesn't get updated regularly. There's new science, with plenty of experimentation that disprove these old notions.

My Nitrates are constantly 30ppm and my pH swings from 7.3 to 5.9 every single day. I'm just not sure what you are referring to.

Really? My KH is 1.5dGH, what bad things am I missing? This tank, has a 0KH, what bad things are you referring to?

Nitrate to phosphate. So if 10ppm N dosed, have 1ppm P dosed. That's a lower ratio, but is pretty safe for non CO2 tanks. I'm dosing 15ppm N to 3ppm P per week. Honestly, I'm a dry fertilizer person. It's just easy to use and cheap. That said, Seachem has an excellent line of products, but it's expensive. I wish the Co-Op would separate there's for those of us that want to delve a bit deeper into plant optimization. Another thing to consider, once you start to dial in things, Micro nutrients are going to matter more. Just something to think about. I was looking at NilocG Thrive the other day. The have a pretty good ratio all in one fertilizer. Covers the Micros too. But again, expensive. This is a very lean fertilization regiment. This is per week. I think this would work well with 25 to 40% water changes. However, I advocate 50% changes. 7 ppm NO3 0.7 ppm PO4 9 ppm K, 0.35 ppm Fe