New heavily planted 10 gallon aquarium questions

[Jennifer Torris]

Help! Very high KH, PH, alkalinity! But very soft water?

I have had this tank up and planted for four weeks now. Zero nitrates, nitrites, and zero ammonia. No limestone. The only thing added to the tank has been Easy Green liquid fertilizer. I have been “feeding” the tank Hakari micro bites every other day. The tank was seeded from existing tanks and the plants were from the other tanks as well. 

I am using the same water I use for all six of my tanks. (Filtered water from a water store) They all are at 50 hardness, 80 alkalinity and 40 carbonate. PH of 7. 

THIS TANK: 25 GH, 300 Alkalinity, 300 carbonate, 8 PH. 

What am I doing wrong? I started doing two gallon changes every other day with RO water a week ago. No change except the PH may have come down to 7.9.

I am just about to tear the whole thing down. I could really use some knowledge and advice! 

Edited September 13 by Jennifer Torris
added tags

[ange]

My immediate guess is that you're diluting the available nutrients too quickly for them to read on your test and also potentially starving your beneficial bacteria by changing water so frequently. Depending on how many Hikari pellets you're adding it's unlikely they're even in there long enough to contribute a meaningful amount of waste to your cycle. Since you have no fish in the tank I don't see an absolute need to do so many, or really any, water changes. It's also possible that your plants are consuming nitrates too quickly for them to appear on the test, however I would consider this unlikely given that (if directions are followed) Easy Green is dosed weekly while you are also changing water every other day. All of those nutrients from Easy Green are being siphoned out when you change the water.

Assuming that you have been testing your water before your water changes and adding Easy Green after your water changes, try testing your nitrates after you add Easy Green to see if that adds enough to give you a visible nitrate level while also performing fewer water changes each week. Water changes are more for the removal of excess nutrients and that is not the challenge that you're experiencing at the moment. Once there are more nitrogen compounds in your system the different species that colonize aquaria are able to feed and reproduce more readily.

When I set up new tanks these ways I'm usually stealing a few sponges or other media from established tanks, adding plants, filling with dechlorinated water, and leaving it alone. The maintenance period before fish tends to be top offs (RO) every day/every other day, weekly fertilizer (Thrive+ or Easy Green), and maaaaybe scraping algae from the glass. Since half of my tanks are remineralized RO it saves me money as well as time to minimize the amount of water removed.

[Lynaea]

Hi Jennifer,

Since there is no product called micro bites from Hikari I’m assuming you’re using This which states it has a special coating to hold in the nutrients.  My second guess is that because of this coating your tank isn’t actually cycling and that any nitrate the Easy Green is adding is being used by the plants. It’s also possible that your beneficial bacteria starved several weeks ago because of this coating which I assume, would significantly slow any ammonia production. 

I'm not sure what’s going on with your pH and hardness levels but my guess there is that those rocks aren’t entirely inert.  I’m also confused by your terminology, there are only two types of hardness, GH and KH, although some test strips also list total hardness. What does your strip actually say each measurement is of?

My advice would be to add a true ammonia source like those offered by Dr Tim’s or Fritz, at the very least try using finely crushed flake food and add some bacterial starter to get your cycle going. I wouldn’t worry about the pH and hardness until the cycle is completed. Since cycling bacteria use KH and lower pH the situation may resolve itself if you stop doing water changes and just let the tank cycle. 

Finally, to get us speaking the same language 🤗, these might be helpful: GH & KH, Fishless cycle

[HelplessNewbie]

I am half ssleep...did you mention what substrate you are using and what types of rocks/hardscape are in there?

[mynameisnobody]

Is that seiryu stone? If it is, then that’s the issue. 

[Jennifer Torris]

On 9/13/2024 at 3:30 AM, Lynaea said:

Hi Jennifer,

Since there is no product called micro bites from Hikari I’m assuming you’re using This which states it has a special coating to hold in the nutrients.  My second guess is that because of this coating your tank isn’t actually cycling and that any nitrate the Easy Green is adding is being used by the plants. It’s also possible that your beneficial bacteria starved several weeks ago because of this coating which I assume, would significantly slow any ammonia production. 

I'm not sure what’s going on with your pH and hardness levels but my guess there is that those rocks aren’t entirely inert.  I’m also confused by your terminology, there are only two types of hardness, GH and KH, although some test strips also list total hardness. What does your strip actually say each measurement is of?

My advice would be to add a true ammonia source like those offered by Dr Tim’s or Fritz, at the very least try using finely crushed flake food and add some bacterial starter to get your cycle going. I wouldn’t worry about the pH and hardness until the cycle is completed. Since cycling bacteria use KH and lower pH the situation may resolve itself if you stop doing water changes and just let the tank cycle. 

Finally, to get us speaking the same language 🤗, these might be helpful: GH & KH, Fishless cycle

Thank you so much! It is Hikari Micro Pellets. And I attached the test strips I’ve been using. I also have been using API master kit including ammonia testing. The “rock” I have in the tank is an aquarium safe resin. 

[MWilk]

Is that eco-complete substrate?

[Jennifer Torris]

On 9/13/2024 at 10:01 AM, mynameisnobody said:

Is that seiryu stone? If it is, then that’s the issue. 

The “stone” is actually an aquarium safe resin.  The substrates is a combo of Imagitarium black sand and gravel; pre rinsed 

[mynameisnobody]

Do you have this resin in other aquariums? 

[Jennifer Torris]

On 9/13/2024 at 2:37 PM, mynameisnobody said:

Do you have this resin in other aquariums? 

Yes I do. 

[mynameisnobody]

I have absolutely no idea. I would do an itemized list of everything in each aquarium. Everything. Odd man out would be the problem. Or build up of nutrients from somewhere.