Mmiller2001

I put 20 in, I've pulled 4 out dead, haven't seen the others! The tank may have been too new. Hopefully some make it!

Which flow meter?

My first guess is too little light. What kind of light do you have? Also, you are under dosing EG for such a large tank. It's not unheard of, but doing a siesta while injecting CO2 is unusual. Are you fighting algae? What's your GH and KH? How are you measuring CO2?

Looks real nice!

Thank you all very much. This is nothing more than a temporary set back and a path of learning. I will use this tank for a plant repository and a practice session for combating algae with hydrogen peroxide. Both @gjcarew and @Seattle_Aquarist, and others, have given me excellent advice on how to proceed combating this mess. I will update a few more times if the H202 treatments work. to be continued...

I was like, I've been doing it wrong all this time? 😆

My understanding is it's 2 degrees.

I'm ending this project here. There's just too many problems going on with the tank. I have learned an important lesson and that's inert substrates are better for me. Thank you all who followed.

If the water comes out 0 TDS, then it's pure water and a dechlorinator is not necessary.

Count the first drop. If the first drop changes the color, you have 1degree or lower. You can fill to 10ml and the reading would be in .5degrees.

https://rotalabutterfly.com/nutrient-calculator.php

Just get MgSO4 and CaSO4. You will use those two to build GH. For KH, you can use several different things. If you keep plants, I would use potassium carbonate (K2CO3). https://greenleafaquariums.com/products/magnesium-sulfate-mgso4-1lb-bag.html https://greenleafaquariums.com/products/calcium-sulfate-caso4-1lb-bag.html CellarScience - AD640LB Potassium Carbonate (lb) https://www.amazon.com/dp/B074D9BXRT/ref=cm_sw_r_apan_glt_i_DEK26WEGVH2149NAKHPD

I'm using up a bottle now. I found 2 bottles just laying around some weeks ago.

Take a known amount of 0 nitrate water and dose that water with fertilizer to a specific amount of NO3. Then test that water to see where your kit tests. Then remember the ofset if there is one. But honestly, it's always a "close enough" measure. If you use Easy Green, here's a chart. The larger the sample, the more accurate it should be.

It has crossed my mind. Possibly 😚 ...

No test kit is accurate until it's calibrated. And unless you are willing to calibrate them, just use them very loosely.

Something like this. https://www.aquariumadvice.com/forums/f20/diy-pond-snail-trap-126550.html

Picking them out, reduce feeding and trapping them are effective. They won't die in your pH, they are actually survivers. They don't blink an eye in my 4.85pH.

Most likely the root tabs leaching.

I would look at CO2art. They have complete kits with various diffuser options. They only thing lacking is a tank. Just wait if you need to save a few more dollars. It's definitely worth it to have a decent regulator and one with a warranty. https://www.co2art.us/collections/complete-kitshttps://www.co2art.us/collections/complete-kits

Tank water or reserve mineralized water?

It made me nervous too so it's my last resort. I bought a second filter which will take the tank to 8x turnover. I may have been under filtered during my initial ammonia spike when I swapped the substrates. You can read about it in my AGA journal. I'll be updating it soon.

Yes, 50% weekly. I haven't been able to solve my thread algae problem in my 40 yet either. I'm just about ready to start back outs on that tank. Difficult algae to clear so far.

I've gone back and forth with varying amounts of water changes and I've settled on going back to 50% water changes. So those and gravel vacuuming are the ways I reduce build up. I also pick out any floating leaves and prune any unhealthy looking leaves. I do use RO/DI water so water coming into the tank has no surprises. I was doing very deep gravel vacuuming, but per @Seattle_Aquaristadvice, I'm now trying very light gravel vacuuming. I've been noticing BBA where I use to vacuum deeply. So hopefully this solves this problem. I now just barely tap the surface with the vacuum. I also dose on the leaner side of EI (if there's such a thing) and I think I have eliminated green dust algae from the tank. Not that it causes organics, but it has had an overall positive effect.

10 day difference shot. I believe I've made my final decisions on plant reduction. More to come... Also, I think I'm going to add a moss wall! What a mess of plants currently!