# 10 Gallon not pearling



## Garhan (Jun 8, 2005)

Hello all, I am not sure if this post should go here, but I have a problem with a 10 gallon planted tank. My fert program is PPS and all parameters are at good levels,except for P04. The tank has 38 watts of light over it. DIY C02,150 Aquaclear filter. 14 Cardinal tetras.3 Otto's. I have been fighting a P04 level that is usually very high. Even out of the tap, or at least it seems to be. I tested with 2 different kits and virtually had the same results. My question is can P04 be a limiting factor in nutrient uptake into plants. 
The tank receives 1-2 W/C @ 40-50% weekly It doesn't have a algae problem currently, but my plants are growing very slowly. Ph 6.8, KH 5 degrees at the tap water or base water.Nitrates 20 ppm.They also have extremely limited pearling. I am sitting out on a job site and there for can not give you more actual data on the water parameters currently.
When I get back to town I will place some Phosgaurd product into the tank and see if I can bring the level down.
Cheers,
Garhan


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## MatPat (Mar 22, 2004)

First thing I see is CO2 levels that may be a bit too low. Try and get your CO2 in the 30ppm range (6.6 or 6.7 pH). My tanks don't pearl nearly as much when they get below 30ppm and growth seems to slow also. 

Since you are suing PPS did you calibrate your test kits as suggested? I would guess the kits may not be right on.

You say your PO4 is high, how high is high? PO4 can be a limiting factor in plant growth if it is low. I wouldn't worry about it much unless it is over 10ppm and I'm not sure I would worry about it then either  

I would personally, skip the phosguard and use more plants  Obviously since you don't have any algae, the high PO4 is not causing you to have any algae so why worry about it?


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## Simpte 27 (Jul 16, 2004)

What type of lighting do you have?


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## Garhan (Jun 8, 2005)

Thanks for the input all. 

The P04 test kit was calibrated and it still reads 10 ppm or beyond which I can not get a read on. I also tried the same test kit out ofa 50 gallon tank and it returned a .25 ppm reading.
The lighting is a 36 watt tube at 6700 K. IMO the lighting is very good at 3.6 watts per gallon. And since I changed from a previous 40 watt T12, the growth has increased greatly.
You are probably right to not be concerned about the P04 seeing there is no significant algae problem at this time.
The flora is Rotalla indica, glosso, HC, Pennywort and Indian Star Grass. All are growing sloweer than I expect because I have these same plants in a 50 gallon where they are going just wild on the growth.

Garhan


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## josh (May 1, 2005)

What is your substrate?


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## alexanderM (Sep 6, 2005)

I actually ran 4x15w on my ten gallon. To be honest, I dont think you have enough light and CO2. Although 6 watts per gallon sounds crazy, the watts/gallon rule falls apart for the tiny and very large aquariums. I didnt get awsome growth until I went with presurized CO2 with that much light. With my setup, I could grow so much riccia that i gave plenty away almost every two weeks.


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## New 2 Fish (Dec 31, 2004)

Garhan- you could always dilute your phosphate test batch so you have a ratio of 1ml tank water to 9ml of known phosphate free water. Then, test the phosphates in this and see what your levels are like. Remember to multiply by 10.... I had used a phosphate buffer before and had phosphate readings that were really, really high. I got a reading of 10 on the kit right after I put the reagent in. Took several months of using phosguard and changing it religiously every 4 days to get it under control!!


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