Facing some issues with Aquascape, some questions about ferts and Microplex VS CSM+B

[craftycamper]

Hi All! I just joined this forum, I was active a long time ago on the planted tank forum, and thought I would join this one as well. Im not new to high tech tanks and EI ferts but my new tank has got me pulling my hair out. I am swapping over to RO water and I have a target KH of 0 and a target GH of about 4-5. In practice my KH tends to climb a little due to some of my Seriyu stone, but I try and keep it down. I am noticing general extremely poor plant growth on some of my plants and some pretty bad algae issues that I cant seem to get taken care of. I have ammania senegalensis and Rotala macrandra in particular. I have not had issues in the past but my Macrandra is very much not turning pink and the growth randomly stunts, the ammania is generally atrocious looking and grows slowly with poor coloration and is infested with algae.

Right now my params are hanging around a KH of 6, GH of 8 and a off-gassed ph of around 7.5 (pre RO transition). I am convinced that it is a nutrient issue and I am thinking that the high PH is causing some of my micros to not be as effective. I have some Microplex and am thinking about swapping over to it from CSM+B, but I dont know if its ideal. I know that some members do custom micro mixes, which I am very interested in. The rest of my macros are in healthy ranges, K of 25ppm, No3 of 10-15 PPM, and my phosphate is always leaning on the low end with double dosing but after increasing it I dont see any signs of phosphate deficiency and my GSA is gone. The only algae I see is hair algae. I checked my co2 levels with the Hanna instruments chemical test kit and it is right in the 30-40 ppm range all through my photoperiod. At this point im thinking it could be an issue with micros. Is toxicity a possibility?

 

[Naturescapes_Rocco]

I've recently been on a journey of micro toxicity, one that you can find in both of my journals but especially here.

One "somewhat-effective" way to diagnose micros issues: Is the new growth truly stunted? Twisted, curling? Does it look burnt, or have extremely dark coloration? That's likely heavy micros issues.

What do you dose for micros, and how much? Do you have a Fe measurement as proxy?

 

[craftycamper]

I've recently been on a journey of micro toxicity, one that you can find in both of my journals but especially here.

One "somewhat-effective" way to diagnose micros issues: Is the new growth truly stunted? Twisted, curling? Does it look burnt, or have extremely dark coloration? That's likely heavy micros issues.

What do you dose for micros, and how much? Do you have a Fe measurement as proxy?

I have tried to measure my iron using the seachem test kit, but alas it reads next to nothing. I think the new growth is simply stunted then, I dont see the signs you mentioned like dark coloration or a burnt look to them.

I am dosing CSM+b with a little extra DTPA iron added in, with a iron target of about .3ppm according to the rotala butterfly calculation. 0.2 is from the CSM and the other .1 is from the bit of extra iron I have mixed.

I am not sure if that is to low, but the EI ranges on that calculator seem very high at times.


I am currently in the process of bringing my KH down to 0-1 and my GH down to about 4. I have been doing my water changes with RO water that is 0 KH and 4 GH, remineralizing with Salty Shrimp GH+

I read through some of that thread and wow, a lot has changed in regards to micros since I was in the hobby 7 years ago. Which mixes do you recommend? I see that people seem to like the GLA one, I currently own Microplex as well as CSM+B but those both have their issues from what I have been reading up on. I think I saw that people like GreggZ and Joe Harvey both use their own custom mixes?

 

[techman81]

I think I saw that people like GreggZ and Joe Harvey both use their own custom mixes?

A lot of people here use Joe Harvey's mixes. Check out @Burr740 . You can message him through the forum to purchase.

P.S. He also sells some great plants. Burr Aqua

 

[Naturescapes_Rocco]

I just started using @Burr740 (Joe) Micros to success so far! It's only been a few days but things look great.

I'd recommend NOT using CSM+B, after my own experiences and so many I've read online now.

 

[Koan]

Here's the info on Joe's micros, and macros!

BurrAqua Post in thread '** THE LIST ** aka Current Plants In Stock @ BurrAqua.com - Complete with Pics - Updated In Real Time!'

Apr 30, 2025

Can you put information about your dry salts here too? I’m out of MgSO4, partway through everything else, so trying to figure out the best way to switch over.

Thanks for asking about this. Ive been waiting to list the ferts until retail packaging is ready to roll, that should be done in a couple of weeks. I dont have individual salts, like the MgSO4 you mentioned

What I have is the popular pre-mixed packs of both micros and macros to make your own solution. You just add the entire pack to your dosing container and mix using distilled or RO water

Spoiler: Read More

The micros has Fe DTPA+ Fe...

• Burr740

• 

 

[craftycamper]

I attached some photos of the growth issues im seeing (shoutout to the algae that I am dealing with at the same time)

The S.repens is showing signs of melt on the leaves which I am not sure of the cause of. It got established and then recently started doing that. The ammania is looking quite poor though.

I included the AR mini in the photo as well since I know it shows deficiencies quite strongly, but its looking decent outside of the algae issues.

 

[Burr740]

@craftycamper Sohan! Glad to see you here my friend. I hope you do a journal for your latest work. Youve had some VERY sweet Dutch tanks. We're PMing but Im gonna answer some of this here so others can see it too

I could write a novel on why csmb is a crappy product to use in our aquariums. But the primary issue is the edta chelate it has for Fe is only good up to around a 6.5 PH. Higher than that it starts to break loose. Millers Microplex is essentially the same thing. There is no advantage to using one or the other

Having said that your ammania issue probably isnt micro related. Ammania varieties differ from almost every other plant in that they simply do not like much nutrients in the water, especially macros. They do best with a rich sub and extremely lean water column. They dont even need a rich sub absolutely, they just dont tolerate a lot of nutrients in the water

Your Rotalas arent like that. They love a rich water column, same as all your other plants. The problem with all of those could very well be Fe/micros because your PH is way too high for csmb (or millers) to be effective. Plus a myriad of other rasons too

 

[craftycamper]

@craftycamper Sohan! Glad to see you here my friend. I hope you do a journal for your latest work. Youve had some VERY sweet Dutch tanks. We're PMing but Im gonna answer some of this here so others can see it too

I could write a novel on why csmb is a crappy product to use in our aquariums. But the primary issue is the edta chelate it has for Fe is only good up to around a 6.5 PH. Higher than that it starts to break loose. Millers Microplex is essentially the same thing. There is no advantage to using one or the other

Having said that your ammania issue probably isnt micro related. Ammania varieties differ from almost every other plant in that they simply do not like much nutrients in the water, especially macros. They do best with a rich sub and extremely lean water column. They dont even need a rich sub absolutely, they just dont tolerate a lot of nutrients in the water

Your Rotalas arent like that. They love a rich water column, same as all your other plants. The problem with all of those could very well be Fe/micros because your PH is way too high for csmb (or millers) to be effective. Plus a myriad of other rasons too

Thanks for the clarification on CSM+B! Ive used it in the past with great success so I was very confused to see all the controversy about using it that seemed to pop up while I was out of the hobby.

Thank you for the compliments on my previous tanks! Thats awesome to hear from one of the best dutch scapers I know haha.

In regards to the Ammania, that makes sense. I figured it was due to my KH being kind of high as I swap to RO, but I might just accept that I wont be able to grow it well with my other plants liking the high water column nutrient levels.

Don't worry, I will be making a journal about my new tank as well, this one isn't dutch though, I wanted to try my hand with Nature style