# Nitrates too low



## karen99 (Feb 20, 2006)

I have a 29 gallon tank running about a month now. It's well planted and the plants are doing quite well (I've had to remove handfulls of hygro and limnophila already). The current inhabitants are 4 cherry barbs, 2 2" SAE's, 4 otos, and one guppy (and a few snails).
I've been told my tank is fully stocked, but - my nitrates are at 0. I was doing frequent very small waterchanges for awhile because of a pH problem, but it's been at least 3-4 days since I've done anything, and I never changed more than 10%.
Is it best to just stop doing waterchanges altogether until the nitrates build up a little for the plants? Or is it better to dose nitrates - or to just get a few more fish?


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## MatPat (Mar 22, 2004)

More info on the tank such as light levels, CO2 usage (or not) will make it much easier for folks to give you suggestions.

Personally, I would add some nitrates to the tank. To me this seems to be a bit more controllable than adding more fish or feeding them more. 1/8 tsp of Potassium Nitrate (KNO3) added to your tank will give you about 5ppm NO3. This is kind of low for a high light. CO2 tank but may be a good starting point for a low light non-CO2 tank!

Again, it is hard to make suggestions for your tank without all of the info on it


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## karen99 (Feb 20, 2006)

Sorry - the lighting is 2.6 wpg (with capacity for more lighting if I want), with Excel and diy CO2. The only fertilizer I've been using is the basic Flourish fertilizer. When I first set it up, I used a lot of water out of an old tank, rather high in nitrates. The plants grew like crazy until they used up all the nitrates; now they look fine but don't seem to be doing too much.
I guess what I should have asked is - would adding more fish be an acceptable solution? Because I'd like to have a few more, but of course will just add nitrates if that would be best.


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## Laith (Sep 4, 2004)

Dose nitrates!  

Just adding fish won't necessarily solve the issue because the plants may just use that up as well and still starve.

There is also a difference between the organic NO3 resulting from fauna and dosing inorganic NO3. Plants prefer the latter.


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## Bert H (Mar 2, 2004)

Not only nitrates but some phosphates will be needed as well.


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## karen99 (Feb 20, 2006)

OK, I will try nitrates. Is Flourish Nitrogen acceptable?
I'm not sure about phosphates. Phospate is added to our tapwater (I think to prevent corrosion of lead pipes?), so there's something like 2 ppm in the tapwater. Would it still be necessary to add more? Or if I do need to add both nitrogen and phosphorus, is there any reason not to just use regular houseplant fertilizer instead?


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## mrbelvedere138 (Jan 18, 2006)

If you have 2ppm P in your tap I think that should be more than enough. Flourish Nitrogen works well, but for the long term it will be much cheaper to buy bulk fertilizers. Do not use houseplant fertilizer. Some people have luck with small pieces of Jobe's sticks, but I do not recommend them for the beginner.


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## trenac (Jul 16, 2004)

karen99 said:


> OK, I will try nitrates. Is Flourish Nitrogen acceptable?
> I'm not sure about phosphates. Phospate is added to our tapwater (I think to prevent corrosion of lead pipes?), so there's something like 2 ppm in the tapwater. Would it still be necessary to add more? Or if I do need to add both nitrogen and phosphorus, is there any reason not to just use regular houseplant fertilizer instead?


2ppm of P04 in your tap water may or may not be enough. You will need to test the P04 in your tank water to see how much the plants are using up and dose from there. You want to keep a steady amount in the tank so it does not bottom out.

You can use Seachem nitrogen to increase the N03. I like using Green Light stump remover that you can buy from Lowes or other garden shops. Besides have nitrates in it it also contains potassium which also can become depleted in a planted tank.


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## karen99 (Feb 20, 2006)

Thank you everyone for your help!
I'm ordering some of the flourish N; I know the other stuff might be cheaper in the long run, but I figure a $3.99 bottle of the flourish N should last me at least a year.
Now, I was just curious, is there a reason why it is best not to use regular houseplant fertilizer? If I happen to need to also dose P and K, it seems like that would be an easy way to add them.


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## Bert H (Mar 2, 2004)

> Now, I was just curious, is there a reason why it is best not to use regular houseplant fertilizer?


 Yes, because these typically have urea and ammonia (as well as other things) which are no-no's in aquaria. Urea is poisonous for the fish and ammonia will induce algae. It's best to use either the pure chemicals or specially formulated aquaria type ferts, like the Seachem line.


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