Cleaning tank after 4 weeks

• pH:
• Temp:
• KH:
• GH:
• NH4:
• NO2:
• NO3:
• PO4: off scale
• Iron:
• Dosing:
• NO3:PO4 Cumulative Dosing Ratio:

Notes:
After 4 weeks of letting the tank sit undisturbed to see if I can get rid of the green dust algae on the tank walls, I cleaned out the tank, trimmed a month's worth of plant growth, and changed out 50% of the water:

2.5 tsp baking soda
2 tsp CaCl2
1 slightly heaping tsp MgSO4
40 ml Excel
NO phosphates
1 tsp KNO3
15 ml Amquel+

I didn't add any phosphates, since there seemed to be plenty of phosphates. We'll see if the green dust algae returns...

Rapid consumption of nitrates

• pH:
• Temp:
• KH:
• GH:
• NH4:
• NO2:
• NO3:
• PO4:
• Iron:
• Dosing: approx. 33-33 ppm NO3, 20 ml Excel, 1.2-2.4 ppm PO4, 10 ml Flourish
• NO3:PO4 Cumulative Dosing Ratio:

Notes:
This is the third week of not changing the water, and leaving the tank alone, except for fertilization. It's looking like a jungle in there. Since last week, the slight green water has disappeared. Today, it looks crystal clear. The consumption of nitrates has also increased to an incredible rate. I now have to dose it twice a day for a total of over 30 ppm a day!! I also dose the phosphates at a rate of about 1-2 ppm a day. Why? I have no idea, but I like the results! Having the nitrates too low results in brown patches in the stargrass and the java fern. I usually dissolve the nitrates and phosphates in water before dosing, but I've been adding so much that there is starting too much water in the tank, so I've started to dry dose the fertilizers instead, about 1.75 tsp/day of KNO3, and a pinch of KH2PO4. The UVS is still running.

Also, I've noticed that if I dose a lot of KNO3 at once (20 ppm or more of NO3), I've noticed that the top leaves of the A. senegalensis will kink a bit, and the tops of R. rotundifolia/indica will grow in dwarfed. This seems to imply that too much potassium (or I guess nitrates) relative to other nutrients (Calcium?) causes these symptoms. The reddish plants, especially the R. indica, have been growing in greener, too. Don't know yet what affects that.

One more observation I've noticed is with the growth of the "green dust" algae on the tank walls, wherever there is a "green spot" algae growing, there is a circle around the spot that is clear of the green dust algae. It appears that the green spot algae repels the growth of other algae around it. Interesting.

Thoughts on stunting

• pH: 6.6
• Temp:
• KH: 5
• GH:
• NH4:
• NO2:
• NO3: 5 before morning dose
• PO4:
• Iron:
• Dosing: 15 ppm NO3 morning, 1.8 ppm PO4 morning, 5 ml Flourish, 20 ml Excel
• NO3:PO4 Cumulative Dosing Ratio:

Notes:
The rotala doesn't grow in stunted, but I'm curious as to what changed to stop the stunting. It seems to be related to some ratio/amount of K/Ca/Mg. Right now, I'm pretty happy with the ratio of Ca:Mg of 3:1 (10.4 ppm Ca, 1.25 Mg added during 25 gallon water change). I'm still trying to figure out the optimal value of K, though (e.g. whether K dosing from just the KNO3 and KH2PO4 is sufficient, or is more needed).

Also, there is still a little bit of brown patches still occurring in the stargrass, even though I've been monitoring the nitrates pretty closely. I wonder if it could be a deficiency in potassium? I dosed plenty of nitrates today. I'll watch the plants another couple days to see if there are more brown patches developing before I try to add potassium.

Starting to try to get rid of green dust algae (again)

• pH:
• Temp:
• KH:
• GH:
• NH4:
• NO2:
• NO3: 10
• PO4:
• Iron:
• Dosing: 15 ppm NO3 last night, 1.8 ppm PO4 last night, 5 ppm Flourish, 20 ml Excel
• NO3:PO4 Cumulative Dosing Ratio:

Notes:
I'm going to try again to let the green dust algae on the tank walls grow out for 4-5 weeks, without any water changes, but keeping up on the ferts. Last time I tried this (unsuccessfully), I left the algae alone, but still continued with the water changes. If the plants seem to be suffering excessively from the lack in water changes, I'll start the water changes, but still try to not disturb the algae growth. I also reduced the light period from 11 hours to 10 hours.

Some other peoples' experiences.

Lots of nitrates being used

• pH:
• Temp:
• KH:
• GH:
• NH4:
• NO2:
• NO3: 1
• PO4: 2
• Iron:
• Dosing: 5 mL Flourish, 20 mL Excel, 15 ppm NO3, 1.2 ppm PO4
• NO3:PO4 Cumulative Dosing Ratio:

Notes:
Over the past week, I've been putting in a surprising amount of nitrates (at least 30 more ppm before tonight, after the initial water change dosage). I don't know why they're being used up so fast. Even the phosphates has been used up at a fast rate (added about 3 ppm). It also seems that reducing the dosage of Flourish from 10 ml to 5 ml daily doesn't seem to make any difference.

The last of the harlequin rasboras died today from that same sickness that has plagued all the rest of the rasboras.

Plant growth improving

• pH:
• Temp:
• KH:
• GH:
• NH4:
• NO2:
• NO3:
• PO4:
• Iron:
• Dosing:
• NO3:PO4 Cumulative Dosing Ratio:

Notes:
Last week's plants grew well, I'm going to continue the current water change formulation, with some minor tweaks. I reduced the Amquel a bit to see what change would happen, if any, and I upped the K a little bit to try to optimize initial growth. What I usually see is little growth in the first couple days, until I do the next dosing of nitrates/phosphates, and there are initially some brown patches in the stargrass. It might be because there is not enough K from the water change, which gets added when dosing the KNO3 and KH2PO4.

50% water change:
15 mL Amquel+
30 mL Excel
2 tsp CaCl2
1 heaping tsp MgSO4
2.5 tsp baking soda
6 ppm K (not including K from KNO3 and KH2PO4, which adds roughly 10 more ppm)
2.4 ppm PO4
15 ppm NO3 (added hours later)