MWilk Posted Saturday at 09:40 PM Share Posted Saturday at 09:40 PM I keep seeing recommendations for something like a 3:1 Ca:Mg, but my city’s water reports having more like a 0.8:1. I am not sure I trust it, as my water tests very, very hard, but wity a calcium test I’m consistently coming up with that same ~30-35 ppm calcium in my tank. I suppose next I need an accurate phosphate and a more accurate GH measurement than test strips will give me, but my plants are suffering. Any recommendations? My other tank, I’ll be honest, I haven’t even tested. The plants there are fine, but it is different plants. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Lynaea Posted Sunday at 02:30 AM Share Posted Sunday at 02:30 AM There are products that will raise GH like Seachem Equilibrium or plain old crushed coral, but readers will really need more information to give good advice: What size tank? Stocking? Low tech or CO2? What are the other parameters? And a picture really is worth a thousand words 😊 Good luck! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MWilk Posted Sunday at 02:45 AM Author Share Posted Sunday at 02:45 AM (edited) This is the tank in question, just a 20 long. Specifically, the scarlet temple in the back right is barely growing, and starting to die off at the bottom of one stem. The golden nesaea pedicellata is doing okay, not great. Hydro salicifolia in the left rear is okay, fairly algae free but very slow again. The anubias nana dropped a leaf yesterday. My GH is about as high as it can get, and calcium tests at 30 ppm. this tank is unheated, 70-72F, has the 24” co-op light on at 60% from sunup to sundown. A full covering of red root floaters on the top of the water. Nitrates 20-30 ppm. Blindly dosing iron and potassium weekly. I have added equilibrium a few weeks ago to try to raise calcium but it contains magnesium as well, though at least in a decent ratio. Does 41 ppm magnesium not seem outright absurd for tap water? I added several pictures, the dwarf sag is new, don’t mind it. Edited Sunday at 02:49 AM by MWilk Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Seattle_Aquarist Posted Sunday at 02:40 PM Share Posted Sunday at 02:40 PM On 9/14/2024 at 2:40 PM, MWilk said: I keep seeing recommendations for something like a 3:1 Ca:Mg, but my city’s water reports having more like a 0.8:1. I am not sure I trust it, as my water tests very, very hard, but wity a calcium test I’m consistently coming up with that same ~30-35 ppm calcium in my tank. I suppose next I need an accurate phosphate and a more accurate GH measurement than test strips will give me, but my plants are suffering. Any recommendations? My other tank, I’ll be honest, I haven’t even tested. The plants there are fine, but it is different plants. Hi @MWilk, A couple of things, first of all the ratio itself of calcium to magnesium (Ca:Mg) has nothing to do with the hardness of the water. It does tell us the relationship of calcium and magnesium in the test sample. I'm guessing since we don't have the titles for the vertical columns but it appears according to the report you provided that your water supply ranges between 32 and 46 ppm of calcium (Ca) and 41 ppm to 52 ppm of magnesium. BTW, mg/L is the same as ppm so your test kit is pretty darn accurate. Although calcium and magnesium aren't the only minerals that effect hardness they are typically the primary components of hardness. Based upon that it appears over the test period, (possibly one year?) the water hardness caused by calcium and magnesium ranged roughly from 4.0 to 5.5 dGH. Although not "soft" certainly not "hard" which I typically starts at 10.0 - 12.0 dGH and above. If you could provide some information about the tank (size, light, photoperiod) and pictures of the whole tank and specifically the plants that are "suffering" along with water more complete water parameters such as pH, dKH, dGH, and nitrate ppm possibly we could provide some clues as to what the issue may be. Hope this helps! -Roy 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JoeQ Posted Sunday at 03:34 PM Share Posted Sunday at 03:34 PM Calcium & Magnesium (along with sulfer) are considered secondary nutrients. I'd be first interested in your macro (Npk) dosing. These are nutrients needed in large quantities, if these nutrients aren't available calcium & magnesium aren't even being consumed. That is what I see, a macro shortage. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MWilk Posted Sunday at 04:33 PM Author Share Posted Sunday at 04:33 PM On 9/15/2024 at 10:34 AM, JoeQ said: Calcium & Magnesium (along with sulfer) are considered secondary nutrients. I'd be first interested in your macro (Npk) dosing. These are nutrients needed in large quantities, if these nutrients aren't available calcium & magnesium aren't even being consumed. That is what I see, a macro shortage. That was my first thought too, I may still not be doing enough. 2 pumps of easy green 2 times a week, keeping nitrates above 20. The floaters absorb a ton of it. I don’t have any way to test it, so I squirt a little easy iron and a capful of seachem potassium in there because that’s what I do in my other 20 that is doing very well. The thing that started me looking at calcium at all was my snails, I use this tank for mystery snail breeding and they’re not making it past the hatch in sufficient numbers. I also got a very pretty rabbit snail for another tank and want to make sure the calcium stays high enough for their long term health. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JoeQ Posted Sunday at 05:01 PM Share Posted Sunday at 05:01 PM On 9/15/2024 at 12:33 PM, MWilk said: That was my first thought too, I may still not be doing enough. 2 pumps of easy green 2 times a week, keeping nitrates above 20. The floaters absorb a ton of it. I don’t have any way to test it, so I squirt a little easy iron and a capful of seachem potassium in there because that’s what I do in my other 20 that is doing very well. The thing that started me looking at calcium at all was my snails, I use this tank for mystery snail breeding and they’re not making it past the hatch in sufficient numbers. I also got a very pretty rabbit snail for another tank and want to make sure the calcium stays high enough for their long term health. Floaters do suck up a ton of nutrients but the thing is without phosphates (and potassium I would think) the plants do not eat. It does not matter how many nitrates are available! The reason to monitor nitrates is to signal a water change is needed. How you test to see if there is enough plant food in the water is to look at your plants! In the case of floaters, if they are exploding in numbers they are well fed. If they are declining feed more! At 2 pumps, 2 times a week (and floaters) I'd imagine you are starving your plants. Personally I'd be dosing EG daily at the 1 pump per 10gallon ratio and see what happens. As far as snails I have no expirence with mystery or rabbit snails. I do love me some rams horn & nerite snails tho. Lately I've had a nerite dieoff tho and my rams horn wasn't happy. Turns out my KH was low, I started dosing potassium bicarbonate to get my kh up (slowly) and presto! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MWilk Posted Sunday at 05:18 PM Author Share Posted Sunday at 05:18 PM My live bearer tank receives regular doses of equilibrium and the ramshorns do well in there. I’m just baffled by the numbers given by our water treatment facility with magnesium being so high. I figure there must be something about the relationship that I don’t understand. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JoeQ Posted Sunday at 05:28 PM Share Posted Sunday at 05:28 PM (edited) There is a cal:mag test kit by a company named Monitor on Amazon. The test isn't great but it's good enough to get the ball park estimate of your in~tank ratio. Edited Sunday at 05:28 PM by JoeQ Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MWilk Posted Sunday at 05:29 PM Author Share Posted Sunday at 05:29 PM Is there some component of hardness that is unexplainable? If GH is 180ppm, and Ca is 30ppm, what is the rest if not magnesium? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JoeQ Posted Sunday at 05:51 PM Share Posted Sunday at 05:51 PM On 9/15/2024 at 1:29 PM, MWilk said: Is there some component of hardness that is unexplainable? If GH is 180ppm, and Ca is 30ppm, what is the rest if not magnesium? Not exactly sure but this link might be useful to you. https://www.shrimplyexplained.com/tools/calcium-to-magnesium-ratio-calculator-shrimp-keepers/ Scroll down, the calculator is at the bottom with an explanation of the maths. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MWilk Posted Sunday at 06:49 PM Author Share Posted Sunday at 06:49 PM Just finished liquid testing for GH/KH/PO4/pH/Ca 8dGH/4dKH/1.0/7.4/30 that calculated out to a 1.9:1 Ca:Mg and now I understand why, they go by weight not ppm. Thank you for the link. Now I’m just going to dose up Easy Green heavily for a month and see how it goes. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JoeQ Posted Sunday at 07:12 PM Share Posted Sunday at 07:12 PM On 9/15/2024 at 2:49 PM, MWilk said: Just finished liquid testing for GH/KH/PO4/pH/Ca 8dGH/4dKH/1.0/7.4/30 that calculated out to a 1.9:1 Ca:Mg and now I understand why, they go by weight not ppm. Thank you for the link. Now I’m just going to dose up Easy Green heavily for a month and see how it goes. You're welcome, glad I could help, I also recommend a large weekly water change to rebalance your nutrients. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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