falling nitrates, should I dose more ferts?

[CT_]

So in my new tank last week I was fighting the beginnings of every algae out there.  I lowered my photo period and now things seem to at least not be out of control.  I'm not waking up to see 10" strands or new thread algae or significant increases in green spot. 

But Last night I checked my chemistry and I'm down to 5 nitrate (was about 20 last week) and I got my phosphate test yesterday and had 0 phosphate.  From reading it seems like I should aim for "some" phosphate (I've read anywhere from 0.25 to 5 online).  I dosed one pump (in about 12 gallons of water in my 15g tank) easy green because that same like the least i could do.

I think I'm going to feed a tad more to my fish. 

Any suggestion on how to use easy green here though?  The directions sort of conflict.  It says one pump/week/10g but it also say dose unit you hit 20ppm nitrate from easy green: "20ppm and 50ppm of nitrates in your aquarium from dosing Easy Green "  The "from easy green" part implies you should be dosing 20-50 on top of whatever you already have which sounds excessive, and even in my case to get up to 20ppm total that's 5 pumps/10g which is 5x the first part of the dosing directions.

 

edit: here's a bit more info on stocking

plant wise I have

1 java fern

bacopa caroliniana culture with maybe a month growth

monte carlo culture with no growth, still settling in i think

5 valisnaria (2 plants turned into 5 in the first week and stabilized) all on the small side still.

about 1/2 square foot of floaters

9-11 cardinal tetras (I put in 11 but have no clue where 2 of them are now, i've looked!)

3 guppies

3 otos

10-20 Neo shrimp

1 nerite

 

Edited March 10, 2021 by CT_

[Brandy]

The simple answer, without going down a rabbit hole, is yes. Dose more. 

I think the idea is that you do need to be dosing weekly, because Easy Green is more than just nitrates, so if you had a wildly overstocked tank and you had off the charts nitrates you would need to water change first. But under normal load, if you have 2 anubias you will need a pump/10g/wk....and if you have 40 anubias, you will need a lot more, and if you have floaters more yet...

Just shoot for a consistent 20ppm, and start there.

[PlaneFishGuy]

@Brandy I am in a similar situation where I feel like I am dosing about 2x the recommended dose of EasyGreen and struggling to get above 5ppm of Nitrates. Im doing one pump every 1-2 days for a 10 gallon setup.  Im following the API test instructions exactly as written. Plants are staying healthy but growth (to include algae) has been almost halted four about a week. 

Is there a lag time between dosing and seeing test results? Should I does  EasyGreen  / test / repeat until I hit the 20 ppm in a single sitting or ramp this up over several days? 

 

Background: 

14.5 Gallon (dosing as a 10 due to substrate) - Tank is four weeks old - One water change in week 2.   Eco-complete substrate - cycled with filter media and gravel vac water from another tank. 

Fluval Nano 3.0 light (8-10 hours a day) - I Could be more consistent here but sometimes cant resist turning the lights back on to look at the tank. 

3x Bacopa Caroliniana bunches, 4x bunches of Glossostigma, 3 micro swords, Java Fern, 2x bunches of Ludwigia Natans Super Red. 

No fish / shrimp yet 

Water Parameters (stable for about 3 weeks) 

pH - 7.6

NO2 - 0

NO3 - 5ppm (probably lower if test was more accurate)  

NH - 0

KH - 5

GH - 7

[Brandy]

On 3/14/2021 at 9:29 AM, PlaneFishGuy said:

@Brandy I am in a similar situation where I feel like I am dosing about 2x the recommended dose of EasyGreen and struggling to get above 5ppm of Nitrates. Im doing one pump every 1-2 days for a 10 gallon setup.  Im following the API test instructions exactly as written. Plants are staying healthy but growth (to include algae) has been almost halted four about a week. 

Is there a lag time between dosing and seeing test results? Should I does  EasyGreen  / test / repeat until I hit the 20 ppm in a single sitting or ramp this up over several days? 

I do not notice a lag. I would expect to see a high level of nitrate within an hour of dosing, then see it taper off over days. If you doubt your test kit at all, remove a single cup of tank water, put a full dose in, stir, and test that. If that cup doesn't have off the charts nitrate, something is wrong with your test.