Advice for fertilizer schedule

[Supermassive]

On 2/3/2024 at 7:46 PM, Mmiller2001 said:

I’d try to lower that calcium though.

How come?

[Mmiller2001]

That’s pretty high for some plants. At least in relation to the tanks I follow. Softer water makes plant growth a bit easier and will open up a path to more difficult plants by making them easier. If that makes sense.

[Supermassive]

On 2/3/2024 at 8:00 PM, Mmiller2001 said:

That’s pretty high for some plants. At least in relation to the tanks I follow. Softer water makes plant growth a bit easier and will open up a path to more difficult plants by making them easier. If that makes sense.

I've heard that plants prefer hard water with lots of minerals and I've heard they prefer soft water. I'm not really sure what to think. I think I read  plants need 10-20ppm Ca. I also read if you have shrimp and snails then 30-50ppm is good. But that was just from a quick google.

Ill stop adding the GH booster. I wasn't really adding much though. Only around 5ppm worth of calcium.

[Mmiller2001]

On 2/3/2024 at 6:08 PM, Supermassive said:

I've heard that plants prefer hard water with lots of minerals and I've heard they prefer soft water. I'm not really sure what to think. I think I read  plants need 10-20ppm Ca. I also read if you have shrimp and snails then 30-50ppm is good. But that was just from a quick google.

Ill stop adding the GH booster. I wasn't really adding much though. Only around 5ppm worth of calcium.

A good majority of the plants we have access to prefer, or do better in softer water with low to no Karbonate Hardness. Don't take this as plants need what I'm saying, there are plenty of amazing tanks with super high GH. I'm saying things get easier and stubborn plants get easier in softer water.

[Supermassive]

On 2/3/2024 at 8:12 PM, Mmiller2001 said:

A good majority of the plants we have access to prefer, or do better in softer water with low to no Karbonate Hardness. Don't take this as plants need what I'm saying, there are plenty of amazing tanks with super high GH. I'm saying things get easier and stubborn plants get easier in softer water.

Okay, that's good to know. Thank you.

I don't plan on getting any difficult plants anytime soon. But I guess your saying if my plants are struggling a bit they would have an easier time in softer water. So yeah ill stop adding the GH booster.

Does Ca:Mg ratio actually matter or do you just want more Ca than Mg?

[Mmiller2001]

On 2/3/2024 at 6:19 PM, Supermassive said:

Does Ca:Mg ratio actually matter or do you just want more Ca than Mg?

Yes and no, 3:1 seems to be the sweet spot in my case. I've tried 4:1 and 2:1. 4:1 was better than 2:1 (my experience)

[Supermassive]

On 2/3/2024 at 8:22 PM, Mmiller2001 said:

Yes and no, 3:1 seems to be the sweet spot in my case. I've tried 4:1 and 2:1. 4:1 was better than 2:1 (my experience)

Okay I'll just go for the 4:1 and aim for 10ppm Mg

[Supermassive]

After setting up a Chihiros on my other tank I'm wondering if I should increase the light intensity for this tank. The Chihiros looks significantly brighter at about the same watts per gallon. The tanks are both at ~1 watt per gallon.

I'm not really sure where my lights should be. One source I'm reading says low light is 1-2w/g and another one is saying 2w/g minimum for a  planted tank. It seems like there isn't really a definitive answer but I am all the way on the low end of everything I'm reading.

Should I not touch the light for now and wait a few more weeks?

[Mmiller2001]

Watts per gallon is dead with the advent of led, you’ll just have to adjust and find your sweet spot.

[Supermassive]

On 2/5/2024 at 6:17 PM, Mmiller2001 said:

Watts per gallon is dead with the advent of led, you’ll just have to adjust and find your sweet spot.

Everything seemed to be growing pretty well before the algae showed up so ill leave it for now.

[Supermassive]

Whenever I trim the S.repens and replant it the newly planted portions never grow and they just turn pale and white and melt away never having made new growth. Also the runners from my quadricostatus start melting after they've been growing for 2-3 weeks. The middle of the more mature leaves become completely see through and there's no color.

[Supermassive]

I think the algae is slowing down but its hard for me to say for sure because this is my first time really dealing with algae.

For my ferts I've been dosing 2x easy green a week, about 0.25ppm flourish iron, 10ppm magnesium, and about 1ppm phosphorous. I've been doing that for 3 weeks and I've been adding extra phosphorous for 5 weeks.

I'm going to clean as much algae off my plants as I can today. Ill stick with what I'm doing for a couple more weeks but if the algae comes back just as bad I'll try something else.

I've read that excess iron can cause filamentous algae so I've been wondering, since the iron in easy green cant be easily absorbed by my plants at the ph in my tank, if all that iron is available to the algae.

[Supermassive]

The algae is definitely dying off now. I think it will clear up in the next 1-2 weeks at this rate. However my S.repens and quadricostatus are still struggling. Especially the S.repens. The new growth essentially hasn't grown at all in 3-4 weeks and the old leaves continue to deteriorate. Its like they are completely stunted and refuse to grow anymore.

I really think I need to be using root tabs. I'm not saying you need root tabs to grow those plants, or any plants. I'm just saying I need them personally because clearly I cant achieve perfect plant growing water conditions.

I just ordered tissue cultures of the S.repens and quadricostatus and another pot of S.repens. I'm going to add some root tabs when I get them and see how things go. I also ordered a rotala rotundifolia and hygrophila rosanervig for more plant mass.