Increase Nitrates for plants?

So my java ferns have started to go bad - brown leaves spreading. I thought and researched, and my best guess would be that I do not have enough macro neutrients. You see I only have 5 danios now and MTS, and my nitrates are generally too low to measure, which I think means that I should start supplementing nitrates until I can get more fish? I cannot get more fish now because I am having trouble with low ph/kh and measurable ammonia.

I am using Seacham Flourish Comprehensive once a week, but if I understand correctly it won't provide sufficient macronutrients?

So do you think I am right in my assessment that I need an additional fertilizer?

If so, which would you recommend?

I have java ferns, java moss, banana plant and egeria in a low light tank (36 watts of fluorescent light over 29 gallons). The banana plant and java moss are flurishing and the egeria is doing better than before, but the java ferns are not doing well.

 

I would add seachem nitrogen once a week after your water change. just enough to get it to 10ppm. you can add it twice if you find you really need to. I also might suggest potassium and iron if that isn't helping.

 

Great thanks! I ordered a bottle of it on amazon. Then I told my husband that I just ordered some liquid nitrogen to add to the fish tank. Then I had some explaining to do.

 

yea it seems like the opposite of what you want

this might not be the prob with you java fern, but if you have plants you want a small nitrate reading. I hope this fixes your problem.

 

That's what Flourish is, is that it's mostly Trace Elements (Micros). You are correct.

It probably wouldn't hurt to dose API Leafzone for Iron and Potassium also. Potassium (K) is also a Macro. Another primary nutrient like Nitrogen.

 

yea it seems like the opposite of what you want

this might not be the prob with you java fern, but if you have plants you want a small nitrate reading. I hope this fixes your problem.

This is my reasoning for why I thought the too small to measure reading of nitrates was an indicator of a problem: Plants consume nitrates, and thus if one has plants nitrates will be lower. However if at weekly change nitrates are so close to 0 that they cannot be measured (I was shaking that bottle, and also I had not changed water in a week ... But I had dosed prime almost daily due to my .25 ammonia, could prime have caused nitrates to stay that low?) Anyway, the way I figure is, it's kind of like a starving person eating every crumb, and maybe not getting enough food. While plants will lower nitrates, but they need them to flourish, and when I looked up causes of browning of leaves on Java Fern, macronutrients deficiency was one of them.

 

also... just because there is no nitrate reading dose not mean they are not getting nitrogen. its being produced and the plants are using it all. there are other nutrients they are getting even less of. potassium is one of them and iv heard not enough can cause holes in leafs. iron is another one you prob arnt getting enough of.

so I would start with that (potassium). but if you want to add some more nitrogen that wouldnt hurt anything.

 

Yes, I got the message about Potassium, and I ordered API Leafzone as suggested.

Also while it is possible to get a 0 nitrates reading because plants are consuming it all and yet they have just enough nitrogen, the browning of the leaves combined with the 0 nitrates made me think that maybe the nitrogen amount is not just right but too little. Just like aforementioned hungry person, could be fully fed after consuming every crumb or could be still hungry.

However, the point that it could be other nutrients such as Potassium that are lacking is a good one, and that is why I also ordered the API Leafzone now.

 

ok good luck

 

Good morning,

How long have you had the Java Ferns? Anytime that you add new plants, expect some die back but the plant should recover. I'm not certain there is actually an issue here. It may be Mother Nature taking control.

I dose with FloraPride for my plants attached to surfaces (woods, rocks).


Ken

 

I've had these java ferns since I started the tank, so March or April or so. I have not added anything new to this tank in what seems like forever.

(Well since my acquisition of a new danio which brought disease which led to my fearing that I would loose all my fish which led to some but not all deaths due to medication saving some fish but daily water changes with Amquel led to my pH crash which led to a minicycle and then I discovered that my tap water kh is too low to bring ph back up and keep it stable so I have been struggling with that.) so the java fern is just the latest victI'm of it all, it used to flourish and now it's got issues.

Meanwhile my java moss and banana plant are going strong though, so I don't know why the java fern is different from them. And it is not just one java fern, but several of them in different parts of the tank. And it is not just old leaves, but even some new leaves and some of the baby plantlets that are going brown.

 

Of course your tank has been going through a lot as well.

If you have dead dying leaves its a good idea to remove them, so the plant can focus on the newer leaves and won't waste enery on dying leaves.