Hi there

Ditch one of your tubes, 3.5 watts per gallon is a tad on the bright side.
Try 2 WPG or near to there. Your co2 is not keeping up (20ppm) with this
ammount of light. Maybe cut an hour out of the photo period aswell.

Ditch the activated carbon aswell, no use for it in a planted tank. You
might be TOO RELIGIOUS with your maintenance routine , Are you adding
Nitrates back to the tank after water changes? If your N is 0-5ppm then your
plants are starving. There is a relationship between N & P, I would say that
your Nitrates are being used up too quickly therefore leaving the available
Phosphate to float around the water column...

IME Root stix are a disaster, this may be adding to the phosphate levels you
report. Try and vacuum some of them out. If your tank is only 6 weeks old
you might want to give it a bit of time until you have some mulm build up
before seeing any good signs in the plants! You will have to start dosing
Macro ferts in the water column as I think your gravel may still be a bit
sterile for plants to inhabit happily.

You must start adding ferts asap, your plants are starving.
Go to the pharmacy/drug store/chemist and buy the following:
But before adding ferts, ALWAYS make sure that your co2 levels are high and
are stable. Add another bottle if you have to, according to Tom Barr you
want to shoot for about 30ppm in the morning and try and keep it there, if
you are at 20ppm in the evening this would be ok.
Salt Petre (Pottassium Nitrate or KNO3) dose 1 level teaspoon twice a week.
This will take care of Pottassium aswell as Nitrates. No-Salt contains
Pottassium Chloride and could be added as an extra dose but probably not
necessary.
You can get fleet enema as a phosphate source (when your levels come down),
dose 3 drops twice weekly.
You can use Epsom salts as a Magnesium source, Or dolomite pills/powder as a
calcium & Magnesium source at the correct ratios. Im not sure about the
dosing quantity for this one, I let the plants indicate a calcium deficiency
by looking at the leaves on Hygro Polysperma, they get "wrinkled".
Of course not to forget your micro ferts which can be bought at any LFS,
take your pick, I've used Kent and Sera ferts and they seem to work well!

Hows that for a long winded post
--
**So long, and thanks for all the fish!**



"Nick D" wrote in message
om...
Hi...
I just picked up a new Hagen Nitrate and Phosphate test kit for my
29gal. I just re-started my tank with fresh gravel and new plants and
lights. I have 95watts, and DIY C02. I also completed a 50% water
change yesterday, and another 25% waterchange today, because of a
small thread/ hair algae outbreak. So I wanted to make sure my water
was clean before testing. The tank has been running for 6 weeks,
cycled and has a good bacteria load going for sure. Maintenance is
kept up religiously. Plants were growing for a couple of weeks, but
are showing signs of slowing down, and yellowing.

Readings are as follows: (after water change)
Ammonia: 0ppm
Nitrate: 0-5ppm
Phosphate: 5ppm+
K:??
Nitrite: 0ppm
PH: 7.0
GH: 8deg
Kh: 9deg
c02: ~20ppm
temp:78
Fish load minimal: (4 Cardinals, Pleco, and a Cory)


Problem here is obviously the Phosphate!! I tested my tap water and it
came back zero. Then I did a test in the tank (after the water
change), and it was off the scale?!! I dont get it! Something is
really leaking Phosphate into my tank...and I dont know what? I have
fertilizer spikes under the plants which have Phosphate in them, but
they are way under the gravel and are never disturbed.

Someone told me that Activated Carbon in your filter releases
Phosphate, but I found that hard to believe as Activated Carbon is
supposed to suck up nutrients rather than release them right???

I'm really stuck on this one! Can anyone give a list of possible
sources of Phosphate, that I might not be considering. At present, I
am not dosing any ferts, and havent since start up. The phosphate just
magically appears for no reason!

Thx in advance,
Nick.