Savanna Posted May 16, 2023 Share Posted May 16, 2023 I really need some help. I've been struggling with my kh. After a water change it's around 80ppm, but my nitrates are *maybe* 10. However, within an hour of adding easy green my KH crashes and begins crashing my pH as well. I've added a bit of crushed coral and that helped a little, but I don't know how to get my nitrates up for my plants without it crashing the KH and pH. My tank is beginning to be taken over by staghorn algae and I'm really not sure what to do Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tommy Vercetti Posted May 16, 2023 Share Posted May 16, 2023 Sounds like maybe dosing too much at one time. Maybe try spreading out the fertilizer dose over 1 week. Can you dose 2 or 3 times a week? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mmiller2001 Posted May 17, 2023 Share Posted May 17, 2023 Fertilizer doesn't crash anything. What substrate are you using? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Savanna Posted May 17, 2023 Author Share Posted May 17, 2023 On 5/16/2023 at 7:56 PM, Tommy Vercetti said: Sounds like maybe dosing too much at one time. Maybe try spreading out the fertilizer dose over 1 week. Can you dose 2 or 3 times a week? I've tried putting in two pumps (it's a 75g tank) and it still brought it down a decent amount On 5/16/2023 at 8:27 PM, Pepere said: Nitrate in itself is acidic. What are your nitrate levels before and after dosing with Easy Green? Around or a little less than 10ppm. It's hard to tell on the test strip, it's got a pink tinge to it but it's not quite at the 10 mark before. I've never been able to get it to 25 without my KH dropping almost to the "low" on the test strip Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Savanna Posted May 17, 2023 Author Share Posted May 17, 2023 On 5/16/2023 at 8:52 PM, Mmiller2001 said: Fertilizer doesn't crash anything. What substrate are you using? https://www.homedepot.com/p/Vigoro-0-5-cu-ft-Bagged-Pea-Gravel-Pebble-Landscape-Rock-54255/202523000 It goes down pretty much immediately after adding ferts. I can check it before dosing and within an hour afterwards and it goes down that fast. It *does* go down slightly over a week, but not anything like it does when I add fertilizer Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mmiller2001 Posted May 17, 2023 Share Posted May 17, 2023 On 5/16/2023 at 7:32 PM, Savanna said: https://www.homedepot.com/p/Vigoro-0-5-cu-ft-Bagged-Pea-Gravel-Pebble-Landscape-Rock-54255/202523000 It goes down pretty much immediately after adding ferts. I can check it before dosing and within an hour afterwards and it goes down that fast. It *does* go down slightly over a week, but not anything like it does when I add fertilizer I assure you, it's not the fertilizer. KH will drop very slowly with a pH below 7. I dump a ridiculous amount of fertilizer into a CO2 injected tank, as well as many other people, and KH drops at a very slow and expected rate. Either the testing is off or reading error. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
nabokovfan87 Posted May 17, 2023 Share Posted May 17, 2023 What are you using to test KH? I would highly recommend verifying / checking things with an API liquid KH/GH test kit and PH kit. Welcome to the forums. I hope we can figure this out! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Savanna Posted May 17, 2023 Author Share Posted May 17, 2023 On 5/17/2023 at 3:23 AM, nabokovfan87 said: What are you using to test KH? I would highly recommend verifying / checking things with an API liquid KH/GH test kit and PH kit. Welcome to the forums. I hope we can figure this out! The aquarium co-op test strips. They consistently read the same so if something is wrong with the strips it's the entire bottle that's bad Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JoeQ Posted May 17, 2023 Share Posted May 17, 2023 (edited) On 5/17/2023 at 5:31 AM, Savanna said: The aquarium co-op test strips. They consistently read the same so if something is wrong with the strips it's the entire bottle that's bad I don't think there isn't anything particularly 'wrong' with the strips. It's just strips in general are less accurate than liquid tests. I use both to compare, over time I noticed that 40ppm on the test strips was about 80ppm during the liquid test. I still use the strips for a quick test but I updated the chart where the lightest green now represents 80ppm instead of 40ppm Edited May 17, 2023 by JoeQ 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JoeQ Posted May 17, 2023 Share Posted May 17, 2023 Another thing that can help with getting consistent results is, it's very important to follow the same procedure each time you test.. A quick dip and then reading the test after 30s will produce vastly different results than a 3s dip and reading the results after a full minute. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Savanna Posted May 17, 2023 Author Share Posted May 17, 2023 On 5/17/2023 at 8:13 AM, JoeQ said: Another thing that can help with getting consistent results is, it's very important to follow the same procedure each time you test.. A quick dip and then reading the test after 30s will produce vastly different results than a 3s dip and reading the results after a full minute. I try to be as consistent as possible. I stay there by the strip and watch my watch until 60 seconds has gone by and then read it immediately. I'll probably stop on the way home and get a liquid test kit just to verify 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Savanna Posted May 18, 2023 Author Share Posted May 18, 2023 On 5/16/2023 at 10:53 PM, Mmiller2001 said: I assure you, it's not the fertilizer. KH will drop very slowly with a pH below 7. I dump a ridiculous amount of fertilizer into a CO2 injected tank, as well as many other people, and KH drops at a very slow and expected rate. Either the testing is off or reading error. Checked the tank when I got home today, KH was right at 80ppm, pH around 7.2. Nitrates were below ten, but not quite zero. I added two pumps of easy green (it's a 75g). Just checked it again maybe 3 hours later. Nitrates still aren't at 10, KH is between 0-40, pH is around 6.6. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
nabokovfan87 Posted May 18, 2023 Share Posted May 18, 2023 Are you dosing in CO2? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Savanna Posted May 18, 2023 Author Share Posted May 18, 2023 On 5/17/2023 at 8:09 PM, nabokovfan87 said: Are you dosing in CO2? Nope, just a low tech tank. The lilies and pogo have grown quite a bit since this was taken Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mmiller2001 Posted May 18, 2023 Share Posted May 18, 2023 On 5/17/2023 at 6:05 PM, Savanna said: Checked the tank when I got home today, KH was right at 80ppm, pH around 7.2. Nitrates were below ten, but not quite zero. I added two pumps of easy green (it's a 75g). Just checked it again maybe 3 hours later. Nitrates still aren't at 10, KH is between 0-40, pH is around 6.6. 2 pumps in a 75 is basically nothing. Something is throwing off the test. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mmiller2001 Posted May 18, 2023 Share Posted May 18, 2023 (edited) I believe 1 pump adds 3ppm NO3 to 10 gallons. You are adding 2 pumps into 70 gallons (roughly 70), that's less than 1ppm NO3 into the tank. That's not enough to alter anything. This explains also why you aren't seeing a NO3 increase. I would get a cheap API KH test and test KH and see if you get similar results. Edited May 18, 2023 by Mmiller2001 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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