Will EDTA tie up plant nutrients?

[greenaqua]

I am thinking of using a water conditioner that has EDTA to absorb and tie down heavy metals from the water. As mine is also a plant tank, I am dosing with Lushgro and Sera micronutrients.

Will the EDTA just remove the heavy metals like copper and leave the nutrients alone? Or will it just suck up all the Fe, Mg, etc, and starve my plants?

[Fingerling]

EDTA - ethylenediaminetetraacetic acid, will bind heavy metals, resulting in the metal ions staying in the aquarium but with diminished reactivity. Normally the di and tricationic metal ions such as Ca2+ and Fe3+. So im quite certain that your plants will be starved of iron and possibly magnesium as well.

[barmby]

You may not need to add water conditioner to bring down heavy metals from the water if you are Singapore. I use GENESIS ANTI-CHLORINE & CHLORAMINE. Some is using SEACHEM PRIME.

[greenaqua]

I did a 75% water change and at the same time made the mistake of cleaning out my external filter. I realised that its actually a 90% water change since I did not have the residual water in the external filter to balance up the new water. After the water change my fishes started to gasp for air at the surface, started to twitch and show drunken behaviour and started to die. I thought they were gasping for air so I added an air stone (mine is a plant tank and I don't use airstone normally). However the problem persisted. I realised I changed almost all the water (even though I added a de-chlorinator) and I added in Lushgro, Excel and Sera micronutrients to the new water together. The only difference from my past water change was that I added a larger amount of micronutrients.

I soon realised that my fishes are dying from acute heavy metal poisoning. After a second water change, they surviving fishes recovered.

I have also not been successful in keeping shrimps or invertebrates for more than a week. They all die out within 2-3 days.

Thus I suspect that my tank may contain higher than normal levels of metals due to the tap water from Singapore and the nutrients I have been dosing for my plants. This is strange as I have been following the recommended dosage.

Anyway I plan to add some EDTA to mop up all the heavy metals in the tank and then to add Fe through the substrate. I hope this clears the water for me to keep shrimps as well as keep my fishes and plants happy.