More Easy Green or Seachem nitrogen?

[iGoatFish]

I can't seem to get my nitrates above 0 

How should I rase my nitrates without kill my shrimp. Did that once☹️

Ezgreen .3mL and Seachem nitrogen .5 mL every day + others as needed

This is a heavly planted high light co2 six gallon so small mistakes with ferts kill live stock!

I just got my alge under control so just some minor spots.

Let me know if you like more info

Thanks!

iGoatFish

[darkG]

This is probably a dumb question, but why do you want higher nitrates?

[Koi]

As far as which fertilizer to use, pick your poison. But something to consider is that easy green has both the macro and micronutrients needed to grow plants. If you have other forms of phosphorous, potassium  and traces, you can use this in conjunction with nitrogen instead of easy green. I would aim for 10-20 ppm nitrate if you were using easy green to ensure you have plenty of other nutrients available in the tank.

I'm not sure if nitrates is the cause of the loss of your shrimp especially if you are getting primarily through a fertilizer. My tap water comes out at 40 ppm and my shrimp breed just fine. In such a small system co2 can be a bit tricky to keep steady. I would first look into making sure you are not overdosing co2 and making sure you have adequate oxygen levels. The latter is a littler harder to diagnose but if you see shrimp darting around your co2 could be too high. Do you have any kind of surface agitation in your tank?

54 minutes ago, darkG said:

This is probably a dumb question, but why do you want higher nitrates?

Nitrate (nitrogen) is one of the 3 main nutrients needed to grow plants.

[Mmiller2001]

With a CO² tank, I'd switch to dry fertilizers. This will allow more control over individual components.

[darkG]

2 hours ago, Koi said:

Nitrate (nitrogen) is one of the 3 main nutrients needed to grow plants.

Agreed. Aquatic plants prefer ammonium though, nitrate being more costly to assimilate (I think it is actually broken down to ammonium).

For all I know, it may still be beneficial to have some nitrates. (For example, can the bacteria outcompete the plants for ammonium?)

[iGoatFish]

Did I forget to mention I am using fulvul edge tank. So yes I have had a fun time learning how to use co2. A moment of silence please for all the reasons this tank is a bad idea to learn how to use co2 with. That being said I think KOI hit the nail was the head. Right about that time I was having some after lights out co2 build up. Wich I didn't notice till a week or so after the day the shimp died. 

After all that I think I'll be more aggressive with the Seachem nitro. 

Next question what is a safe amount of Seachem Nitrogen to dose in one shot? 

Or what is a safe amount to rase my nitrates in a given amount of time?

Thanks

[Koi]

Nice tank!

I mean really you can go pretty heavy handed with nitrogen and not see anything detrimental to your tank besides possibly losing the pinks in your tank. On one of my tanks I used to go somewhere around 5ppm every other day without issue and out of pure laziness I have another tank where I'll drop around 10ppm every week or two.

I'm assuming you want to keep the pinks in your tank and since you dose every other day try 1-2ppm. Test at the end of the week and see if nitrates even register. If not raise dosing up a little more. From the picture it seems like you got your dosing pretty dialed in so I don't even think you need/want me telling you how to dose but i'll leave it there in case.

 

2 hours ago, darkG said:

Agreed. Aquatic plants prefer ammonium though, nitrate being more costly to assimilate (I think it is actually broken down to ammonium).

For all I know, it may still be beneficial to have some nitrates. (For example, can the bacteria outcompete the plants for ammonium?)

Now I'm confused, why did you ask if you knew that haha. But I agree with everything you said. I think the issue for most people is fish don't create enough waste for fully planted tanks unless you overstock like a dummy(me). You know I've always wondered about that too, I don't know if it is the plants or the bacteria that to consumes it first. 

Edited March 16, 2021 by Koi

[iGoatFish]

4 hours ago, Mmiller2001 said:

Thanks Koi I'm going try your advice

 

[iGoatFish]

I just want to let all the newbie high tech aquarists. Don't use a Fluval Edge aquarium. In fact I would not get this tank again for any type aquarium.

[darkG]

9 hours ago, Koi said:

Now I'm confused, why did you ask if you knew that haha. But I agree with everything you said. I think the issue for most people is fish don't create enough waste for fully planted tanks unless you overstock like a dummy(me). You know I've always wondered about that too, I don't know if it is the plants or the bacteria that to consumes it first. 

Yeah, sorry about any confusion. I basically don't immediately see that low nitrates + plants need nitrogen -> add nitrates. But I'll make it its own thread (maybe), it runs off topic I think. 

🐾