Journal Ben's Plant Pharm

[BenB]

So, after seemingly able to do little to get my NO3 up, I wondered if my Salifert (expiration May 2026) test kit wasn't screwed up.
I was going to make a test sample, but I decided to spring for fresh reagents for my decades old LaMotte kit.
LaMotte is high quality and what a lot of people used back in the day.
Seems I fix one thing and find another broken.
I guess I don't have to be as aggressive with the nitrate dosing as I was.

Salifert 1ppm Nitrate


LaMotte: 6ppm Nitrate-Nitrogen = 26.4ppm Nitrate (standards seem a bit discolored after over 2 decades)

 

[BenB]

I’ve resisted updating my journal because my tank is a mess, and I feel like as long as I’ve been doing this, I should be able to figure it out myself. It seems brilliance chases me, but I’m much to fast.

Anyway……

1. Algae: Still struggling. It is bad. Really bad. The green water has improved. I still have long stringy thread algae. green… not BBA I also have these dark green fluffy algae balls that develop over time. They easily float up into the water when I top off my tank. I think it is dust algae in a form that mocks me more. The GDA on the glass has slowed down its growth a bit. I'm hoping to do a bit re-set this weekend with removing all the plants, thinning them out, re-sloping the substrate, and replanting. It's long over due.

2. Light: I’m pretty sure I've had too much. I’ve cut it back and the PAR meter is in route.

3. Fertilizer: I’ve switched to BurrFertz (my term) for micros. I’ve been doing a lot of extra testing, and have found that my macros were way off. First my water volume was much less than estimated and as a result my NO3 levels were much higher than I was dosing for. I found this out after I discovered my Salifert test kit was crap and bought refills for my Lamotte. I’ve been trying to adjust dosing. I’ve estimated my tank volume to be about 12.4 gallons based on NO3 test an hour after dosing. Everyone discusses dosing in terms of how much you add, usually 10ppm, but what do you expect your level to be at it’s low just before its time to re-dose?

4. CO2: My CO2 test kit tells me I have 40ppm by the time my lights ramp to full strength. (no livestock so that isn’t a worry) However, I don’t get a 1 point drop in pH. So do I have enough CO2 or not? With all the algae, I feel like there is a lot of junk in the water that could be interfering with the CO2 test, but organic acids tend to be very weak. My pH before CO2 comes on is fairly low to start with at 6.5. pH when light ramps to full strength is 6. My CO2 test before the CO2 comes on is 7ppm.

5. Livestock: Thinking about getting some shrimp or snails.

 

[Jeff Miotke]

I’ve resisted updating my journal because my tank is a mess, and I feel like as long as I’ve been doing this, I should be able to figure it out myself. It seems brilliance chases me, but I’m much to fast.

Anyway……

1. Algae: Still struggling. It is bad. Really bad. The green water has improved. I still have long stringy thread algae. green… not BBA I also have these dark green fluffy algae balls that develop over time. They easily float up into the water when I top off my tank. I think it is dust algae in a form that mocks me more. The GDA on the glass has slowed down its growth a bit. I'm hoping to do a bit re-set this weekend with removing all the plants, thinning them out, re-sloping the substrate, and replanting. It's long over due.

2. Light: I’m pretty sure I've had too much. I’ve cut it back and the PAR meter is in route.

Yep I still think you have too much light.

3. Fertilizer: I’ve switched to BurrFertz (my term) for micros. I’ve been doing a lot of extra testing, and have found that my macros were way off. First my water volume was much less than estimated and as a result my NO3 levels were much higher than I was dosing for. I found this out after I discovered my Salifert test kit was crap and bought refills for my Lamotte. I’ve been trying to adjust dosing. I’ve estimated my tank volume to be about 12.4 gallons based on NO3 test an hour after dosing. Everyone discusses dosing in terms of how much you add, usually 10ppm, but what do you expect your level to be at it’s low just before its time to re-dose?

Instead of testing why not just use math? And then observe.
For example, I know the estimated water volume by measuring the tank, the substrate height and then using 50% water/soil in that area.
I know Ill do 50% water change. I measure that out on the tank and make a mark so I hit it every time.
Then I do the calculations for how much to add based on my accumulated target values for the week.
I use a spreadsheet for this to record the values from Rotala Butterfly.
I double check with a TDS meter afterwards and make sure the number is in my expected range.
This way I am confident that my water parameters are stable.
Happy to share my Excel spreadsheet

4. CO2: My CO2 test kit tells me I have 40ppm by the time my lights ramp to full strength. (no livestock so that isn’t a worry) However, I don’t get a 1 point drop in pH. So do I have enough CO2 or not? With all the algae, I feel like there is a lot of junk in the water that could be interfering with the CO2 test, but organic acids tend to be very weak. My pH before CO2 comes on is fairly low to start with at 6.5. pH when light ramps to full strength is 6. My CO2 test before the CO2 comes on is 7ppm.

I have found measuring CO2 with pH drop is problematic as well. Since I have added the Hanna test kit I have way more confidence. I saw similar results with pH drop indicating not enough CO2 as well though a drop checker would be dang near yellow. I read an article on this a while back…I cant recall it right now but I think it was on Wong’s site. Gotta go see if I can dig that up.

My understanding from Barr is that stability is more important than the activity value.

5. Livestock: Thinking about getting some shrimp or snails.

Hope that helps!

 

[BenB]

Yep I still think you have too much light.

I just did my tests with the Photone App. Assuming it is close-ish to a PAR meter, you are right. I have even been at 70% of my settings a few months ago and it is still a bit too high.

I kind of want to post my results to that other thread, but maybe I should wait for the PAR meter.

Instead of testing why not just use math? And then observe.
For example, I know the estimated water volume by measuring the tank, the substrate height and then using 50% water/soil in that area.
I know Ill do 50% water change. I measure that out on the tank and make a mark so I hit it every time.
Then I do the calculations for how much to add based on my accumulated target values for the week.
I use a spreadsheet for this to record the values from Rotala Butterfly.
I double check with a TDS meter afterwards and make sure the number is in my expected range.
This way I am confident that my water parameters are stable.

I do it a bit different. In any method there is slight error everywhere. However, I know how much KNO3 I used when making my stock fertilizer solution and I have the LaMotte NO3-N test kit which is fairly accurate. I tested my aquarium the other day and got 0ppm NO3. Then I dosed the tank. An hour later I tested NO3 again and got 17.6ppm NO3. It comes out weird numbers because the test actually measures NO3-N and you have to multiply by 4.4 to get NO3. Since 17.6ppm is 17.6mg NO3/1000ml of water, you can back extrapolate your volume. (It works, at least, when we dose vancomycin for people in the hospital )

I need to work more with that accumulation calculator in Rotala Butterfly. I've read GregZ's explanation, but I'm having a hard time getting my head around it. I understand the math and the process. Hard to explain what is stumping me. Greg has multiple graphs going over it. I think I just need to spend more time with it.

Happy to share my Excel spreadsheet

Awesome. Please do!

I read an article on this a while back…I cant recall it right now but I think it was on Wong’s site. Gotta go see if I can dig that up.

He has an explanation. He used equipment he got hold of somehow. I'm not sure he used a test like we have. Like you, I can't remember. I believe he compared his equipment readings, to drop checker, to pH drop. I think he talked about it at the Raleigh AGA. Again, I don't remember him mentioning trying a test like we have. (Edit: I just looked and he did use a CO2 test kit, but he said, "The main drawback is that the kit requires titration and some minor maths." I'm not sure what he is talking about. I'll double check mine, but on it, you just read the number on the graduation. The titration is easy. In the end he said, "Hanna CO2 test kit HI3818 gives very accurate readings compared to the Oxyguard CO2 analyser (+-5ppm)" So I'll go with that. It's easy to use. )

My understanding from Barr is that stability is more important than the activity value.

Funny how I've read a zillion Barr posts over the years, but I can't find good ones now describing some of the answers I'm looking for.

If you are getting algae, do you do multiple water changes a week, or do you consider that too disruptive to the tank? I've been trying to not go crazy resetting the tank too many times a week. Maybe that is wrong.

 

[Jeff Miotke]

I just did my tests with the Photone App. Assuming it is close-ish to a PAR meter, you are right. I have even been at 70% of my settings a few months ago and it is still a bit too high.

I kind of want to post my results to that other thread, but maybe I should wait for the PAR meter.


I do it a bit different. In any method there is slight error everywhere. However, I know how much KNO3 I used when making my stock fertilizer solution and I have the LaMotte NO3-N test kit which is fairly accurate. I tested my aquarium the other day and got 0ppm NO3. Then I dosed the tank. An hour later I tested NO3 again and got 17.6ppm NO3. It comes out weird numbers because the test actually measures NO3-N and you have to multiply by 4.4 to get NO3. Since 17.6ppm is 17.6mg NO3/1000ml of water, you can back extrapolate your volume. (It works, at least, when we dose vancomycin for people in the hospital )

I need to work more with that accumulation calculator in Rotala Butterfly. I've read GregZ's explanation, but I'm having a hard time getting my head around it. I understand the math and the process. Hard to explain what is stumping me. Greg has multiple graphs going over it. I think I just need to spend more time with it.


Awesome. Please do!


He has an explanation. He used equipment he got hold of somehow. I'm not sure he used a test like we have. Like you, I can't remember. I believe he compared his equipment readings, to drop checker, to pH drop. I think he talked about it at the Raleigh AGA. Again, I don't remember him mentioning trying a test like we have. (Edit: I just looked and he did use a CO2 test kit, but he said, "The main drawback is that the kit requires titration and some minor maths." I'm not sure what he is talking about. I'll double check mine, but on it, you just read the number on the graduation. The titration is easy. In the end he said, "Hanna CO2 test kit HI3818 gives very accurate readings compared to the Oxyguard CO2 analyser (+-5ppm)" So I'll go with that. It's easy to use. )


Funny how I've read a zillion Barr posts over the years, but I can't find good ones now describing some of the answers I'm looking for.

If you are getting algae, do you do multiple water changes a week, or do you consider that too disruptive to the tank? I've been trying to not go crazy resetting the tank too many times a week. Maybe that is wrong.

Here is the spreadsheet I use to track my ferts. Hope it helps.

 

[Count Krunk]

Can we get updated pictures to see what you're dealing with?

 

[BenB]

Can we get updated pictures to see what you're dealing with?

Actually........... I'll make a separate post.

 

[BenB]

If you've been following or looking at the PAR meter discussion, you know I have a PAR meter in route and am planning on using it (thanks to Ci's idea) to compare to the Photone app. I hadn't planned on posting pics of my algae hell, but I did at the last minute think to take a pic and a video just before I......

So Friday I did a big reset. I pulled out all the plants, vacuumed the substrate 2-3 times, and cleaned up everything. I used the Photone app to estimate my PAR and adjusted my lights accordingly. I also slightly reformulated my fertilizers. I wasn't planning on making a post until after I had used the PAR meter, but since @Count Krunk asked, here is the before picture. The video file is too large to post. I'll post more details at the end of the week with the PAR information.

 

[BenB]

Found another picture from June 27

 

[Count Krunk]

Thank you, important to show what you're describing.

I know you're going in depth on the ferts.

Sorry if you've covered this already.

Is your co2 dialed in?
Have you tried shorter light schedule?
More flow?
Adding algae eaters?
Remove infected leaves?

 

[BenB]

Thank you, important to show what you're describing.

I know you're going in depth on the ferts.

Sorry if you've covered this already.

Is your co2 dialed in?
Have you tried shorter light schedule?
More flow?
Adding algae eaters?
Remove infected leaves?

Yeah, thanks. I've been all over that. I got a PAR meter in the mail today though. Going to figure out my light.

 

[BenB]

Ho-Ly Shit
I'm just not winning here.
For the whole time I've had this new tank, I've struggled with my fert calculations. No matter what I did, I had too much NO3. I've adjusted and calculated and figured, etc, etc. The levels always came out too high. I finally decided... could I possibly have been sent KNO3 for K2SO4?

So I just put 1/4tsp K2SO4 into a gallon of distilled water, and this is the tube.


I guess they could have sent me the wrong thing, and I didn't notice the label on the package, but I don't think that is what happened. While it is frustrating that my NO3 has been so high, I'm sure it is the lack of K that has caused the most damage.

 

[Jeff Miotke]

Bummer Ben. Wth!

 

[Koan]

just put 1/4tsp K2SO4 into a gallon of distilled water, and this is the tube

Well now at least you know it's not you..

 

[BenB]

Well now at least you know it's not you..

Well, and my lighting was a mess, but I think it's all worked now, and it's just going to need a bit of patience and time.

 

[BenB]

My tank is looking much better again. I’ll post that picture in a couple days but before I do, I want to thank a few people, and I want everyone to see what I’ve been dealing with the last few weeks to months.

A Few Weeks Ago
“Using much more light than what is necessary to achieve their tank goals is the downfall of many inexperienced aquarists.” Dennis Wong
*Not being a beginner, this quote bites just a bit... ouch

I want to thank everyone who has offered their advice. Even if it appeared that I was dismissive of or ignored your suggestions, I assure you I didn’t. I considered every one and reflected on if I had truly explored them to the fullest.

I haven’t gone back through every post, but a couple of you, especially @Jeff Miotke , suggested I still had too much light. @Art , @Burr740 , and @GreggZ made chemistry/fertilizer suggestions. @Mr.Shenanagins made filter suggestions. I felt like Sisyphus pushing the rock uphill. Nothing I did worked. This has been a nightmare as you can see.

July 27, 2025








Main Problems
Potassium
The main problem
My plants were basically getting none. What can I say?
See post HERE

Light
When I started in this hobby, we were still using T-12 fluorescent and some incandescent bulbs. The struggle to get more light was a limiting factor for years. I didn’t realize just how beyond that we are now.

When I bought the new light, I posted HERE that I knew that meant the algae problems were coming. I just didn’t know then how much trouble I’d have.

Even by the time someone mentioned that it looked like I had too much light, I had already decreased it 2-3 times. So I thought I was in good shape. It wasn’t until I rented the PAR meter that I realized I still had too much.

After decreasing the light, my plants seemed to do worse and the algae got worse. I decided I had decreased the light too fast and too many times to allow the plant’s metabolism time to adjust for the reduced energy input. Also, the plants were so sick from algae they were paralyzed.

I decided to increase the light a little bit, increase my dosing, and give the plants time to adjust. Then after 2 weeks, I would decrease it back to a more reasonable, level. This actually worked and once I saw signs of growth, I reduced the light as planned.

Other Frustrations
Substrate
Winston Sumogod believes that excess organic matter is one of the biggest contributors to algae. Looking at his tanks, it’s hard to argue he’s wrong. So, I’d been working overtime suctioning the substrate. Turns out much of the “organic matter” I’d been stressing over is actually bits of my substrate that was starting to break down. Yeah, there is some true organic debris, but not as much as I was thinking…. Ugh. Waste of time.

Algae
A nightmare. After the fourth light reduction, it started to get a bit better, and I tried to aggressively remove it from the plants. @Count Krunk suggested I trim and clean old leaves. I felt like I was doing what I could, but nonetheless, I got in there with my fingers and scraped algae off individual leaves. I was using a toothbrush almost daily to clean plants.

Summary
Ultimately, I think I probably could have muddled through and figured it all out if the light was the only problem, but without potassium you’re going nowhere.

The two combined sunk me. Despite careful calculations I kept thinking my NO3 was ridiculous high. I wish I hadn’t waited so long to check that gut feeling and test my K2SO4.

**Updates on current status coming soon.

 

[SkaleyAquatics]

Im glad you got it figured out.

 

[Burr740]

Wow thats rough. And way to hang in there man. Personally, light isnt at the top of my list when things go sideways. It will certainly accelerate a problem if the root cause isnt known and addressed. But when the problem is known, you want the plants surging as much as possible. So Im not a big fan of reducing light. The main issue is rarely light by itself. The main issue is always two things

One is unhealthy plants. Healthy leaves have a built in immunity to algae. Unhealthy leaves immediately lose that immunity. Not only do unhealthy leaves get algae, they also leech what algae eats into the water. Algae doesnt eat NO3, it eats what deteriorating leaves put out. Thats why religiously removing older growth that is in poor shape is so important. Detached leaves floating in the corners or laying around on the bottom. Keep all that removed. Imagine having a bunch of dead fish laying around. Nobody thinks that would be a good idea. Same principle. The blanket term is dissolved organic waste

Which leads to cause number two, dirty conditions. Or more specifically dirty water with a lot of that invisible dissolved organic waste in it. the more unhealthy leaves in the system, either on the plants or loose, the dirtier the water will be

This goes for stalled plants too. Where nothing visible is wrong with them yet, but theyre not growing. Maybe they are adapting to a change, or in the early stages of a deficiency. They lose protection too and feed the water in the process

Two causes: Unhealthy plants and/or dirty conditions

In that last pic where its so bad, even at that stage if you traced those long strands to their origin, itll be originating from some unhealthy leaves. Healthy leaves dont get algae. Period. Start noticing. If you see algae on a leaf that leaf isnt happy. And its not a case where algae swooped in and attacked. The leaf itself is producing it. Let that sink in and youll see things in a whole new light. Unhealthy leaves produce algae.

Algae on the hardscape or substrate, usually bba , means "dirty water". Thats why bba is so common in high flow areas, and almost universal on filter outflows. Because high current areas have direct contact with infinitely more water than normal or lower flow areas. Filter outflows directly touch every ounce of water in the tank several times an hour. To use a milligram dosing analogy, if a normal area receives 5 mg an hour, the outflow pipe might get 500

Back to light. In your case, plants were starved for K. They got unhappy. Algae ensued. As long as the K deficiency remained, indeed lowering the light would slow things down. But as soon as the cause is corrected you want as much light as possible (and nutrients and co2)so the plants can take off and rebuild as fast as possible. Thats how a tank recovers from algae

Thats also why I usually hate advice to lower nutrients. Youll often hear "stop dosing for a while"...why? The only reason to lower a nutrient is if there is an imbalance where too much of one thing is interfering with the absorption of another one, causing a deficiency, which will then cause... unhappy plants. There is also the possiblility of, dare I say it, too much Fe or micros aka micro tox. Yes thats a thing. In all those cases it still boils down to unhealthy plants

This is just just my philosophy based on personal experience. Im certainly not disagreeing with the experts mentioned. But ime too much light is only THE problem if its driving growth faster than what nutrients and co2 can support, and thus causing...unhappy plants. Thats not a rare scenario so in that sense Im actually agreeing with them. CO2 nutrients and light all three have to be in balance. But the root cause is always unhealthy plants

 

[Koan]

Seriously we need to cross-stitch this on pillows and sell it as a fundraiser

 

[BenB]

A Week Later
This picture below was taken just 1 week after I discovered I had no potassium. There’s still algae, but it is nothing compared to the week before. It's been very frustrating to agonize over and analyze every little detail in attempt to determine what the problem was. Then it took so much work to try to get it back in this shape. I’ve had many successful tanks in the past with much less effort. Look at the initial pics of this tank. I was getting tons of clippings. Just ask @Koan.

At this point, the substrate is long since out of ammonia and starting to break down. Part of me wants to bulldog this and not give up until I get it back into shape. I want to adjust my dosing for all water column fertilizing and make it last like we are discussing in THIS thread. But, disasters like this are what make people burn out and leave the hobby. I’m not doing that, but I’m dead tired and this is no fun.



Where I Am Now
On the positive side, similar to learning from your mistakes, I feel like you learn more from overcoming adversity than from easy successes. I’ve learned a lot in the last few months. Hopefully I’ll be better equipped to handle this type thing in the future.

Since the algae started, I burned myself out micro managing this build. Sometimes I was testing twice a day trying to figured it out. As I said before, if it had just been the light, I think I would have figured it out easy, but that wasn't it.

I can’t find where the quote is, but somewhere Dennis Wong says to the effect that, Sometimes your plants become so sick with algae and stress that it is easier to toss them and get new ones.

The plants don’t seem to be growing much, and I’m ready for something I'm excited to see when I come home from work. The next set up will probably have some algae issues too, but that’s OK...... I'm moving on.

Introducing, Ben's Plant Pharm 2.0... coming soon