jd,
NO3 test kits are pretty sad and inaccurate.
I do not suggest folks to use them unles sit's a Lamotte or you
calibrate the range of interest with a reference solution prior.
Otherwise you are aup in a huff based on a speculation the kit is
accurate...when it may not even be close.
NO3 from KNO3, is radically different than NO3 from fish loading/waste
etc.
Even high fish loads do well at 50-70% weekly water changes.
Plants like it also.
regards,
Tom Barr
Free forums and subscription based plant articles
www.BarrReport.com
jd wrote:
Tap water chemsitry is stable (and hasn't changed significantly since the
well was first drilled).
I can't think of anything the plants would have run out of after a year. I
do fertilize regularly, and the water changes should keep trace elements
plentiful.... In any case, there shouldn't be anything missing now that
wasn't missing before...
thanks
-_JD
"Richard Sexton" wrote in message
...
In article ,
jd wrote:
the tank is fairly heavily stocked with both plants and fish. Its a
community tank - guppies, swordatils, zebra danios, tiger barbs, croy
cats,
an algae eater, and a fairly dense plant population - java ferns, some
assorted swords, and some random talling plants (LFS can't tell them
apart,
and I don't bother)
Lightly fed on standard flake food twice daily (the food gets eaten up
within a couple of minutes, so I pretty sure I'm not overfeeding).
I do a 50% - 60% water change every week. Well water, run through an ion
exchangeer to remove excess iron.
Whats mystifying is that this tanks has been set up for a good while, and
has been stable. I haven't changed anything, but the nitrates suddenly
spiked, so something in the tank obviously changed.
Could be the plants ran out of something, like iron. Or it could
be your water changed chemistry. It does that out of the tap in
some places in the spring and fall.
If it were me Id change 80% of the water for two days then fertilize
properly.
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