jamesbarr Posted March 5, 2013 Report Share Posted March 5, 2013 (edited) OK, so Ive been slowly moving plants over from my 60 into my 20 gallon because they have been in there since I have set it up in Oct and none of them seem to be doing all that well. My tests are consistently perfect, minus my high pH at 7.6. I have all low maintenance plants. Moneywort, anubius, cryptocoryne, java fern. Actually I have some HM in there and its the only thing looking fine and growing. Honestly, Im getting tired of this tank. I have what I believe to be enough light on this tank (i think my HM wouldnt be doing well if i didnt), Im dosing excel daily to the letter on the bottle, Im dosing comprehensive 2x a week, I have adequate filtration. What the heck? My anubius are shedding their leaves way faster than I have ever seen them do in any other tank I have ran in the past. My moneywort doesnt grow at all (it would grow to emmersed in previous tanks), same with my java. Previsouly, I had pygmy swords in there, which I added root tabs for, they did ok for a bit, then nothing at all, then yellowing.... Im having a rough time with this tank. I got it as my first bigger tank. Previously, I had nothing bigger than a 30. I dosed nothing and hardly maintained it. I never tested it, did w/c maybe once a month or less. Ive followed this routine with my tanks for most of my time as a hobbiest. I tried this with the 60, nothing worked like before. So I started to do w/c more often, twice a month or so. Nothing changed. W/c weekly, nothing. Upped my lights, nothing. Increased gph flow with a powerhead, nothing. Began to dose metricide, nothing. Added root tabs, saw some progress for a bit, then my swords went yellow again. Can anyone suggest something that I may be missing? It doesnt make any sense to me. I am buffering my pH at the moment, as of today (since sunday) Im down to somewhere between 7.2 and 7.4 (colour of test isnt quite as dark as 7.4 and not as bright as 7.2). Otherwise on this tank, all my test values are spot on. Edited March 5, 2013 by jamesbarr Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jvision Posted March 6, 2013 Report Share Posted March 6, 2013 It sounds like your 60 is missing macronutrients. What are you using for root tabs? IME, pH isn't critical and I wouldn't be messing with it. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jamesbarr Posted March 6, 2013 Author Report Share Posted March 6, 2013 im using tomato jobes. 6-18-6 The thing that really gets me is that the column feeders like me anubius and my java ferns arent doing well, but im dosing water column ferts. The reason that I am fiddling with my pH is because we have really hard water in my town, and from what I understand, high pH will effect the uptake of iron to my plants. Im not sure if this is true or not, its just one of the many things that I was trying to 'fix' in my tank. I feel like Im running out of things to check, which I guess is good, cuz that should mean Im close to the answer lol Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jvision Posted March 6, 2013 Report Share Posted March 6, 2013 The ratios for NPK are out of whack - you need at least 2x more N than P... up to 10x is better. I wouldn't expect much from Anubias and Java fern, but you should get good growth from swords and/or Val. Crypts would do well in that situation, too. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
laurensdad Posted March 13, 2013 Report Share Posted March 13, 2013 What is your lighting? What town are you in ? For ph it is like pinks all out drag raceing show run what you brung. Most fish will do fine with.hard tap water. Ciclids love it. Whats your bio load in the tank. ? You might just need more fish poo.! Is your lights.on a timer are they on 10 to 13 hours a day? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jamesbarr Posted March 14, 2013 Author Report Share Posted March 14, 2013 (edited) my light is good. and my photo period is 12 hours. Im not fiddling with pH anymore. I have 7 serpea tetras, 10 danios, approx 10 wc minnows, 3 corys, 2 plecos. Got new fert sticks today, 13-4-5. put a small chunk by each plant. See what that does... :eh: Edited March 14, 2013 by jamesbarr Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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