Well, seems I am back .. amazing the amount of info that is out there now. Last time I had a box of water I was dabbling in reef tanks in the early 80's, and other than a magazine or two, and your LFS, you were on your own. Life intervened and it has been several decades but finally went out and got a 10 gallon kit as a gentle way back in. Decided to really try for a heavily planted tank and see what would happen.
Other than some algae directly under the light the tank seems to be coming along nicely. Plants have been in for 6 weeks, livestock (5 platies) for 4.
I have a question though (naturally!) .. My nitrates are ALWAYS at or just above 0ppm (not even a 5ppm on the test kit but slightly darker than the 0ppm color) and have been reading how optimal for plant growth is 5-20ppm or so. I just started using easy green and I use root tabs so not sure how much of an issue this will end up being. The back 2/3 of the tank uses Fluorite black sand as the substrate, and have read that this will absorb Nitrates.
I guess my question is . if the substrate is absorbing the Nitrates, is that enough, or should I work on trying to up the Nitrates in the water column for long term health of the plants.
Thanks!
