Shrimps ttrning RED + Cloudy water + algae

Originally Posted by the_r0ck

KH is an issue as plants generally do not thrive well in waters of high KH. When CO2 is administered then the KH needs to be highly monitored and made sure to have sufficient buffering capabilities.

No, that is not true. In fact, most plants do better in water with higher KH with exception of a couple of species like Tonina and etc. The need for KH for CO2 injected tanks has sort of become a myth which in fact we don't need any to start with. We use pH/KH values to determine the amount of CO2 in the water which is why we add some kind of KH to start with. What the plants want is just the CO2 and if you add that, that's about it. Measuring pH in a poorly buffered water cannot be done with an ordinary pH probe but rather specialized probes for pure water.

Originally Posted by the_r0ck

My notion is that so long as the pH/KH is not at the extremities and the tank is supported by good biological filtration, it is considered ok. Some will be very particular about the 0.1 increase in pH but I feel in the bigger picture so long as it is a safe range then it is fine.

Extremities in pH do occur in natural lakes and rivers (pH often rise from a low of 5 to 9 or 10 due to plant uptake in CO2). You find lots of fish there doing well and not a pool of dead fishes daily due that occurrence. That notion of yours is dead wrong...

Regards,
Peter Gwee

Thanks Peter for correcting me there.

I do know that plants can utilize the CO2 as well as the carbonates and since I had read that the recommended KH for most plants hardly roll over 5, I put it in my mind that the KH shouldn't be too high. But what about the pH swings? Won't a poorly buffered water's inhabitants have problems? Or does this swing mostly affects the critters only? Or is it all a myth altogether?

I always thought that in their natural habitats fishes generally do not suffer too high a pH swing, I had been carrying the idea that in those waters the pH deviates no more than 1 or 2. But I always recommend people to have a good range of pH in their tanks as I suppose it is, on my part, trying to "play it safe". Anyway my tank's pH now is 5.8 (without ADA soil or the likes) and everything's fine, but I will continue to avoid extremities (kiasu abit).

-Calvin

Originally Posted by PeterGwee

Focusing on plant health will do you nothing wrong and the notion is true that good plant health equals healthy fish.

Regards,
Peter Gwee

Nothing could be more true than that. But I think giving vague advices to a novice is not going to solve any of his problems. Let's say he goes out and buy tons of plants and happens that majority of them he has bought are cabomba furcata, Myriophyllum tuberculatum, Hemianthus callitrichoides and Hemianthus micranthemoides, and happily plants them and give them 10hrs of photoperiod each day. But given his current setup, those above plants would just melt away. Any parts of the equation is missing, for example carbon or potassium, and none of the nitrogen, which consists of ammonia, nitrite and nitrate, would be absorbed by any of the plants. And his fauna's population would continue to suffer. And a confused person would be even more confused.

Either high tech or low tech tanks, the sediments should be rich in nutrients as it should be the primary nutrient source for rooted plants. This is particularly true for P, Fe, and other trace elements. In contrast, nutrients that are often associated with water hardness—K, Ca, Mg, Cl and So4—are generally taken up from the water. Given our local water that is poor in minerals, deficiencies of K, Ca and Mg, would definitely happen in a newly started tank. So I suggest apart from adding a base fertilizer, he should also buff up the GH slightly with seachem equilibrium. And give it a good biological filtration, healthy fauna that are well fed and a good photoperiod of moderate lighting, he should be able to achieve a beautiful aquatic garden without CO2.

Plants such as Hygrophila difformis, Ludwigia reopens, Rotala rotundifolia and Echinodorus tenellus should be a good start for novices. You can research more about plants from this plant database

A good readup for beginners

Perhaps I've been misunderstood. It's definately not as simple as add water, plant plants and give 10 hours of light daily. I assumed that zadrian has already read up beginner articles and so know at least a bit about fertilisation and stuff like that.

On the other hand, my post might have given the illusion that planted tanks was so simple because I wanted to keep it simple and easy to read and digest for the reader. I used to be confused about all the elements that were supposedly responsible for plant health. It didn't help that there were contradicting posts that gave completely different advices for the same issue.

That's the reason why I directly addressed his questions with simple short sentences without giving reasons (and thus making my post vague). Explaining it all will take an entire day and is hard to digest.

It's up to the reader to pick out the correct information and to go learn somemore by searching the forums/Internet, like why this must be done for this issue etc.

Originally Posted by blackBRUSHalgae

A good readup for beginners

good source.

tnkz...

[zadrian]

Thanks to all for helping.

Started a 2nd tank ....but Armor shrimps still dying.
- No base fertillizer in soil
- Using Ocean free roots booster fertillizer that can be added after adding soil
- liquid fertillizer (once a week).
- CO2 is by a electric device cost ard $50 (cannot remember name)
- lots of plants, mainly Hydrilla, Nana, moss on rocks & wood and some red stemed plants
- trying to grow a moss wall

Got a mutli-test strip tester, but results very vague as test comes out different for same tank.

[zadrian]

BTW, I got a Nisso CO2 device for the 2nd tank......any reviews ?

[zadrian]

Here are some of the water readings.....

PH : 6.6-6.8
KH : 6-10d
GH : >16d
NO2 : 1mg/L
NO3 : 25mg/L

Planning a WC in 2 days time....once every 7-10 days....10-20%

[zadrian]

What are the wats to reduce KH ?