# 55 Planted tank. Not sure what im missing. Please help.



## AheartlessFish (Mar 18, 2008)

Hey guys ive been following one of the dosing schedules on this website and im not sure what im doing wrong...

75 gal, 265 watts of 6700k for 10hrs a day, co2 injected @ 2-3 bps straight into powerhead (trying it comparing to dissolving it in a gravel suction attached to fluval output...think i had better results with the attachment instead of powerhead disbursement.)

temperature: 81, Ph: 6.4-6.6 (fish dont seem to mind at all) however this might be my plant issue.

Dosing schedule: 1/2 tsp KNO3, 1/4 tsp CSM+B every other day, 1/4 tsp KH2PO4 + 1/4 tsp K2SO4 in
between the every other days...50% water change on weekend.

Nitrates are always above 10ppm (usually 20-40) via api liquid test kit, the other stuff i cant measure.

Tank is heavily stocked (in my opinion at least) with plants and fish.
no snails, kinda sucks cause i got puffers that love them.

My observations are some plants are growing but the older leaves are weakening/dying off but the newer leaves are bright green. My dwarf sags arnt doing too hot, they're browing/yelloing off...the tiger lilly seems to be doing the best however some leaves are dying off but new ones always grow...
Jungle val grows like mad, seems like if i trim these the trimmed leaves start dying off as well.
Wisteria grows the fastest, however some leaves are browning, and if i look below the leaves i can see the veins (magnesium dificiency?) the sword in there use to be the strongest growing plant however they're dying at the tips. Javamoss carpet seems to be a javamoss nothing special going on with it.

any help/comments would be splendid.


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## AheartlessFish (Mar 18, 2008)

Edit: i got rid of the lillys and the jungle vals...maybe more light will get through now.


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## darkoon (Jun 7, 2010)

i would say you CO2 is probably not enough, crank it up slowly, keep an eye on your fish, don't gas them.


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## madmario (Jun 28, 2011)

It looks gorgeous. 

Any advice on keeping happy discus? Everyone I've ever talked to says the key is frequent large water changes, which has discouraged me from keeping them.


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## ray-the-pilot (May 14, 2008)

AheartlessFish said:


> Dosing schedule: 1/2 tsp KNO3, 1/4 tsp CSM+B every other day, 1/4 tsp KH2PO4 + 1/4 tsp K2SO4 in
> between the every other days...50% water change on weekend.
> 
> Nitrates are always above 10ppm (usually 20-40) via api liquid test kit, the other stuff i cant measure.


Could be fish damage. What kind of fish do you have in the tank. Also,CSM+B is too high cut it back to 1/8 tsp. High boron is toxic to plants so it is imperative when using boron that you do weekly water changes. I would also ditch the excess K from K2SO4. Get a drop counter so you can measure the actual amount of CO2 in your tank. 20-40 ppm nitrates is a bit high and is indicating not too strong plant growth. I tend to agree that the floating plant coverage is cutting down on light. Trimming this back should help to increase lower plant growth and reduce excess NO3. 
How long has your tank been up? It doesn't look too bad. Could be you just need to live with it for a few weeks.


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## AheartlessFish (Mar 18, 2008)

been living with it for about 1 month...the plants were exploding in my 20 gallon to the point where everything thrived and i had to upgrade instead of trim down...i had everything ready for a 55 so i figure i swap it over.

i have the azoo drop checker but it always indicates yellow...(other colors are blue and green) is that too much co2? earlier guy in this post said crank up the co2...i dont have a problem with that but because of the azoo indicator reading yellow i assume it means i have too much co2.

As for the dosages i forgot, i cut back on it to 1/8 csm+b, 1/4 kno3 then i dose the Kh2po4 1/8 on and k2so4 on the other days...

ill try to rid out the k2so4 like u said and see how that goes.

As for the discus question they do require every day water changes for best health. I use to hold them in a 20 gallon and do 80% water changes every other day, but right now im just holding them in the 55 cause i think a discus in an empty tank is lame. But then again im probably mis-treating them by doing 50% water changes once a week when they should get top notch.


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## ray-the-pilot (May 14, 2008)

AheartlessFish said:


> i have the azoo drop checker but it always indicates yellow...(other colors are blue and green) is that too much co2? earlier guy in this post said crank up the co2...i dont have a problem with that but because of the azoo indicator reading yellow i assume it means i have too much co2.


The only thing I can think of is that you are not using 4 deg kH water in your drop checker. If your drop checker kH is low that would result in a yellow color even if your CO2 is low. If your DC is yellow and your fish are ok that says that your DC is off but a lot of people claim that CO2 at that level is OK?

Plug along, most problems work out themselves after a few months!


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## AheartlessFish (Mar 18, 2008)

yea i dont know how to measure DH or GH or KH whatever it is...

usually my waters hard if that matters...(not soft)


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## farrenator (Dec 21, 2008)

See this post for how to make your own drop checker solution.

http://www.plantedtank.net/forums/planted-tank-faq/107303-diy-co2-newbie-setup.html


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## HeyPK (Jan 23, 2004)

Magnesium deficiency is similar to potassium deficiency in that both deficiencies have die-back of the older leaves from the edges and tips inwards towards the midrib. In Mg deficiency the midrib and other major veins stay green while the tissue between the veins becomes pale and then dies. In potassium deficiency the green does not persist as strongly in the veins. It is very unlikely you have potassium deficiency because of your use of KNO3, K2SO4 and KH2PO4. You might, however try dosing with a small amount of MgSO4 if the other things you are trying don't help.


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## AheartlessFish (Mar 18, 2008)

what is a small dose of mgso4?

should i do the same dosage as my csm+b?


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## HeyPK (Jan 23, 2004)

Try about 1/4 teaspoon of the MgSO4 every other day, along with your 50% water change on the weekend. I also think your CSM+B dose is higher than it needs to be.


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## AheartlessFish (Mar 18, 2008)

sounds good let me try it out ^^


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