Nitrate Levels after using Easy Green

[Jim Fox]

I have a 50 gallon freshwater aquarium that has been established for 15 years and recently decided to move from the plastic plants to live plants.  I bought several Java and Anubias from the Aquarium Coop along with a bottle of the Easy Green.  The plants have been in the aquarium for 6-8 weeks and the plants appear to be doing pretty well.  The fish seem to really enjoy swimming through the live plants especially the Java Ferns.  The Java Fern Windelov has started to show signs of hair algae on the ends of the plants.  The fish have been nibbling at it and I cut back the length of the lights from 14 hours to around 10 hours and that seems to be keeping it at bay.  It has not shown up on the other plants either.  I checked for nitrates and they were running between 25 and 50 with 0 Nitrites.  I use a Fluval filter with biological treatment and filtration and have not lost a fish in over a year.  What should the nitrates be running when I am also adding 5 pumps of Easy Green per week for my 50 gallon aquarium?  Should I add less Easy Green to reduce the nitrates?  Appreciate any advice for this newby.

[Roko]

I would add less easy green if you have just few slow growing plants, like one pump per week  and if you see any deficiency start adding two pumps etc.

I don't have informations about lighting but you could cut it more time wise or lower intensity. 

Picture is bad so it could be staghorn or some other type of hair algae or new baby plants, it usually looks like on picture down when java fern grows new baby plants. If it's algae you could treat directly on algae with "liquid co2" product.

Just for information java fern and anubias shouldn't be buried in substrat to be more precise rizome should be out best is to tie it to wood.

Edited January 12, 2021 by Roko

[Will Billy]

I believe, and someone can correct me if im wrong, but Easy Green works better when you have at least 15-20 ppm or more in nitrates. The fertilizer encourages plant growth that will absorb more nitrates from your water column. As mentioned above you have slow growing plants, which will utilize less fertilizer, as well as nitrates compared to a fast growing plant. 20 ppm is the “recommended” level of nitrates with 40 ppm considered to be the high limit. (Being honest i have kept fish and plants at 80 ppm with no detriment). With regard to your lighting i would recommend about 8 to 10 hours tops. While under light and photosynthesis is taking place, your plants are absorbing CO2 and releasing oxygen. It is important to note that live plants sorta require a sleep mode too. By turning your lights off the go into this “sleep” cycle and release any unused CO2 and replenish chlorophyll ( the green pigment used for photosynthesis) in preparation for the next coming day. 

[Jim Fox]

I appreciate the feedback.  I will drop the lights back a few more hours and reduce the amount of Easy Green to 1-2 pumps per week.  I also usually do a 15% water change every 10-14 days as well.  As for the plants, I have used super glue and have attached them to the wood and rocks.  Initially, I tried planting them but then just glued them so the rhizomes are above the substrate.  My plecos tended to uproot them anyway and now they just get scooted around a little bit.  I will be planning on adding more plants soon as this has created an entirely new dimension to this great hobby.