Adding Magnesium

[WhiteCloudSand]

Hey there! I haven’t been having very good success with keeping plants alive, particularly stems. This is moneywart I bought from Aquarium Co-op a few months ago. It hasn’t grown any new leaves that I can tell, but it looks like the little one next to the entrance of the cave is trying to.

I know my water is super deficient in potassium. I have been dosing Seachem’s potassium and Easy Green multiple times a week and I’m still getting new holes in the leaves of my Anubis, crypts, and dwarf aquarium lily. I’ve also read somewhere that leaves that are crinkled or rolled at the tip is caused by a deficiency, though I don’t know what that is.

I use to have the pale leaves with the dark veins until I started dosing easy green. My next issue is that my root-feeding plants can’t seem to take hold and grow much ether. I have vallisneria and multiple types of crypts. I know that crypts in particular are slow growers, but definitely not this slow. Also, I have been using the easy root tabs as well.

Before someone gets on me, my water comes from a well. It is super hard, over 300ppm. It has a high buffer (around 300ppm). PH is around 8.4. Nitrates come out of the tap around 50ppm. I don’t know any of the specific minerals that are in my water.

My questions are:

Is there anything that is completely obvious that I am missing when it comes to fertilizing?

What other deficiencies could I fix and what is the easiest way to do that?

Due to my high nitrate levels out of the tap, and poor plant growth, what would be a good water change and fertilizer routine for a 20 long with moderate stocking?

 

[WhiteCloudSand]

Also, I realized I forgot to change the title of this thread before I posted it. My bad.

[Jennifer V]

What are your nitrates in the tank? They ideally need to be at least 20 ppm for plant growth. Also, I may be wrong, but I think leaf curling can also be a sign of potassium deficiency. 

[WhiteCloudSand]

After using a liquid test kit it says they are around 80-90 ppm. I know this is a lot but as I said before it comes out of the tap at 50 ppm. 

[Schuyler]

I think it may be how high your pH and GH are.

I would try looking up plants that do well in hard water. Or an alternative could be looking into getting some RO or some peat moss to add to your filter. I personally haven't done what but I read on the box that it's supposed to help soften water and lower pH.

What does your water look like out of the tap? Is it that hard?

[WhiteCloudSand]

I suspected the poor plant growth might be due to how hard my water is. And yes. It is that hard out of the tap. I would try peat moss but I wonder if the buffer is to high that it would negate any effects of the peat. So, Is there an RO system that is quality but doesn’t completely break the bank?