Hi
@Zoefish,
Thanks for filling in with additional info:
I add equilibrium at each water change to my new water by comparing the reading I get inside the tank to the reading in the tap water, and adding enough equilibrium to make the new water equal, and then check again to make sure it matches. I do the same with my KH booster- don’t remember the name of it but it’s the same brand.
You don't need KH booster. I would just go with the low KH of your tap water. But let us know the brand name and how much you dose for good measures?
It’s not exactly a scientific system obviously. I’m not sure the amount of equilibrium in grams as the directions are written in teaspoons. I believe at last water change I was adding about a teaspoon of equilibrium per 2.5 gallon bucket added to the tank, so that would have been 1 and 1/3 tablespoon added back to the tank.
OK, I will assume costumary units according to the American National Standard Institute. 1 US Teaspoon is 4.93 grams. 1 US Tablespoon is 14.79 grams. 1 US Gallon is 3.78 Liters.
So your adding 4.93 grams per 2.5 x 3.78 liter of WC water. which comes to a dGH of 8.75.
You say you add 1 1/3rd tablespoon with all your WC water so from that we can deduce you change (14.79 + 14.79/3) / 4.93 x 2.5 = 10 US gallon or 37.8 liter.
Adding (14.79 + 14.79/3) = 19.72 grams of Equilibrium to 37.8 liter yield a dGH of 8.75. So that checks out with your teaspoon per 2.5 US Gallon.
Broken down its 42 ppm of Ca and 12.5 ppm of Mg, 0.6 ppm of Fe. 0.3 ppm of Mn and about 100 ppm of Potassium - that level of potassium is very much unnecessary btw. but you dont have a choice with Equilibrium.
Your water hardness looks about OK, but you can easily reduce that a couple of degrees GH without jeopardizing your Endlers or shrimps.
I do know that test strips are not considered that accurate generally. The people at aquarium co op told me they were good to get a rough ballpark though so I use them and supplement with liquid tests when the reading isn’t what I was expecting. But I know the liquid tests aren’t always accurate either so I’m not sure what the alternative is.
I dont think we should worry about that now. Your test strip is definitely in the ballpark with the 150 ppm reading. If your tap is ~1 and your adding 8.75 that comes out as 9.75 or lets say 10 dGH. Your test strip says 150 ppm which in CaCO3 equivalents is 150 / 17.84 = 8.4 ... thats a discrepancy of 1.6 dGH - not accounting for the "KH booster" - no biggie unless your adding a lot of that.
What I’m hearing so far (and I haven’t gotten a chance to dive into all these responses yet) is that my GH is quite high. The only reason I have it so high is because I wanted it closer to the recommended range for Endlers that I found online. But if they can tolerate a lower amount I will definitely start gradually decreasing it!
I looked around myself... I think you can safely take it down to 6-7 or so. Keep in mind you also have shrimps that needs a fair amount of Calcium and Magnesium so slowly reducing it to 6 dGH in total is probably a good compromise. But honestly your plant issue is not just because of ~3 degrees of excess water hardness.
Hi Michael,
Yes, it was! And I’m certain I put quite a bit of strain on the livestock, plants etc. the tank spent a few days in the covered carport (temperatures were pretty reasonable here at that time), partially filled with Saran wrap over it (there was no livestock in it at the time). Not ideal but i was moving so things were crazy. However the plants started to become stressed gradually after this point, it wasn’t an immediate nosedive like I would expect from a stressed out houseplant. What do you mean by integrity of the substrate?
I started to suspect that when I re-read your original post. I gather the tank was originally mature and thriving. Plants dislike to be uprooted and moved around, but that alone with all other things being equal
usually shouldn't cause them to flat out die out en masse (yes, certain plants like crypts are prone to melting when moved around even in the same established tank, so some of your plant species may be as sensitive)... Anyway, unhealthy plants quickly becomes algae magnets and that seems to be an issue as well... leaves that are already dying wont recover - they are better removed sooner rather than later.
Obviously, the substrate is a big part of the
mature tank equation so I am suspecting -
and I stress that I am just speculating here - that your problem in part may be caused by the ADA Amazonia substrate not been kept under ideal conditions during the move and/or perhaps it got seriously disturbed before or when you reestablished the tank which could have wrecked the microbial community in your substrate - perhaps even causing rot - foul oder coming from the tank is often associated with that. Of course, this would probably only account for the suffering of the rooted plants and not the issues with the floating pennyworth and frogbit which sounds more like deficiency issues.
Personally, I am not sure what I would do... a couple of massive water changes (80% perhaps), lower that GH a few degrees (stop adding KH booster) and straighten out any fertilizer and possible CO2 issues... and see how that goes after a couple of weeks, is probably where I would start....I do not know what else to suggest at the moment honestly. There are a ton of super knowledgable and astute people here that should be able to offer further advice so you can get your tank back on an even keel... It is important that we know as much as possible about what's been going on with the tank... it's often that little tidbit of info that makes all the difference.
Cheers,
Michael
