Hi,

My PH ranges from 7.1 early AM to 6.8/6.9 when the lights go off. My KH is
4 degrees. Looking up the chart, if I read it correctly, I'm at or near
ideal CO2 levels.

As to the stocking of my tank:

3 Clown Loaches (~3 inches each)
16 Cardinal Tetras
6 Glow Light Tetras
A 'mess o' Ottos
2 False SAEs (~1.5 inches each)
6 True SAE's (~1 inch)
3 Sting Ray Plecos.

It's a 55 Gallon Tank.

The tank is densely planted with easy plants (Bacopa, Sunset Hygro, Java
Ferns, Rotala, and a couple of Crypts. I'm vacuuming lots of plant debris
each week.

I've only just started to use tap water. It was RO before that. I'm now
mixing about 50/50 RO to tap on changes.

"LeighMo" wrote in message
...
I did some testing for the first time in a long time last night. As you
(plural) suspected, My Nitrates and Phosphates were high - Nitrates = 22
ppm
and PO4 1+ ppm. I do weekly water changes of 25-30%.

That's not so bad. Remember, your plants need some nitrate and phosphate
in
the water.

However, I would expect nitrate to be under 20ppm if you're changing 30% a
week. Is your tank heavily stocked? Or maybe there's nitate in the
tapwater?

I wouldn't use chemical removers. And I wouldn't worry about that level
of
phosphate. A lot of people blame phosphate for algae problems, but I have
40
ppm of phosphate in my tapwater, and no algae problems, in planted or
unplanted
tanks.

I have 4x40 watt flourescents on my 55 gal tank and I inject CO2 (if that
matters).

What are your CO2 levels? Do you know your pH and KH?


Leigh

http://www.fortunecity.com/lavender/halloween/881/