Water parameters with plants help

[Kyle murfitt]

So I've got a 55 gallon and a 20 gallon. Both with vallisneria ( doing the best so far ) , sword plants , anubias , java fern , and bacopa. Plants are doing alright but really not booming. Dosing easy green and easy iron in both once a week . Lights. 55 gallon - two t5Ho 46" fluval planted 12000k bulbs. 20 gallon - fluval nano planted 

Parameters. (both tanks are the same with master test kit)

Ammonia. .25 or less ( have never seem it show true zero color so maybe I'm not doing it right )

Nitrates. 5ppm or less - test strips show higher 

Nitrite. 0

Ph. 7.4-7.8

 

Soo..are my nitrates to low and plants not getting food ? I know you don't want more than. 20-40ppm but master test kit has never showed me more 10ppm. 

Any other issues yall might think of please lmk. 

Edited September 3, 2021 by Kyle murfitt

[Mmiller2001]

I would dose more Easy Green. How long are the lights on?

[Kyle murfitt]

On 9/2/2021 at 8:13 PM, Mmiller2001 said:

I would dose more Easy Green. How long are the lights on?

Both on 11 hour cycles

[Mmiller2001]

I would drop to an 8 hour photo period and double the Easy Green dosing. See where that puts your nitrates. 

I would also add more plants. I would triple the plant load if you can. 

I'm unfamiliar with Easy Iron, but I would shot for .2 to .6ppm Fe per week if you are doing large weekly water changes. 

[ColBud]

I would change 1 thing at a time to see how that affects the system. It’s not a sprint but a marathon. Take your time the plants and tanks look healthy. 
I get frustrated with my plant growth but enjoy watching the evolution 

[CalmedByFish]

I actually try to keep nitrates at 20-30 instead of 20. If I understand right, they don't harm the animals below 40. Like someone else said, that'd be more Easy Green. 

Also, it often takes plants about 3 months before they do anything besides live. If you haven't had them long, it may partly be an issue of time.

[laritheloud]

On 9/2/2021 at 9:44 PM, CalmedByFish said:

I actually try to keep nitrates at 20-30 instead of 20. If I understand right, they don't harm the animals below 40. Like someone else said, that'd be more Easy Green. 

Also, it often takes plants about 3 months before they do anything besides live. If you haven't had them long, it may partly be an issue of time.

Absolutely all of this. Plants take awhile to settle in a tank. It's a game of patience.

If you start changing something, change one thing at a time and wait two weeks before changing something else. It'll give you enough time to start observing the effects of your one change. If you think you need a reduced photoperiod, change the lights and don't change anything else. See what happens. It's all trial and error until you find that sweet spot where you and the plants are happy, and then you adjust and give them more as they grow bigger and their nutrient demands increase.

Also, when your tank stabilizes to 0 amm 0 nitrite the plants will do better. They'll survive just fine (and even grow) through a cycling tank but they won't get 'happy' and really thrive until the tank is stable.

[Kyle murfitt]

On 9/2/2021 at 9:09 PM, laritheloud said:

Absolutely all of this. Plants take awhile to settle in a tank. It's a game of patience.

If you start changing something, change one thing at a time and wait two weeks before changing something else. It'll give you enough time to start observing the effects of your one change. If you think you need a reduced photoperiod, change the lights and don't change anything else. See what happens. It's all trial and error until you find that sweet spot where you and the plants are happy, and then you adjust and give them more as they grow bigger and their nutrient demands increase.

Also, when your tank stabilizes to 0 amm 0 nitrite the plants will do better. They'll survive just fine (and even grow) through a cycling tank but they won't get 'happy' and really thrive until the tank is stable.

Thank you for the info! The 55 gallon has been setup for almost 6 months and I believe is cycled , think im having user error with the master test kit. Test strips showing 0ppm ammonia. And the 20 gallon I used filter media and a seeded sponge filter during setup a little over a month ago. Think I just need to give the plants more time like yall said 

[laritheloud]

I think @CalmedByFish is right on the money with the three-month settling period. My tank really started to look 'good' and like the plants were growing and thriving at around that point. Before that, my husband would ask me why the plants looked so scraggly and if they'll ever look good 😅 He says the opposite now!

[Mmiller2001]

If your plants are doing nothing for 3 months, something is wrong.

[Hobbit]

Well, “nothing” is in the eye of the beholder with plants. When you’re new to plants it might not look like a plant is doing anything, when in reality it’s establishing roots, growing its submersed leaves, storing up nutrients, etc. You may not notice if it grows one new leaf out of 20. But once it gets established and the growth rate increases, you’ll definitely notice!

[Jennifer V]

@Kyle murfitt if it makes you feel any better, I've had swords in my tank for 9 months and they are only now starting to really explode with growth. They've grown through that time, but I'm just now starting to see obvious results. 

[Kyle murfitt]

On 9/7/2021 at 4:31 PM, Jennifer V said:

@Kyle murfitt if it makes you feel any better, I've had swords in my tank for 9 months and they are only now starting to really explode with growth. They've grown through that time, but I'm just now starting to see obvious results. 

It does make me feel better lol. Im probably trying way to hard and messing with the plants to much.