Nutrients

[Nikki Casali]

I think my Hydrocotyle appears to be showing a nutrient deficiency. Can
anyone give a guess? http://www.ncasali.demon.co.uk/HYDROCOTYLE.JPG

I've been dosing potassium daily for a few weeks. I haven't noticed any
improvement in plant growth. Last night, I thought I'd dose a week's
worth of K and this evening the phosphate level plummeted to 0.18 mg/L
from a constant 0.50 mg/L.

Last night, I also shifted the time at which the lights come on to
coincide with sunrise. They usually come on 2 hours after sunrise and I
bet the limited light diffusing into the aquarium for that 2 hour period
aids algae growth. Strange thing is, the Cabomba never fully opened
today, even though it is pearling. I wonder why? Maybe it's circadian
cycle has been disrupted or maybe the added K has had an effect?

I'm thinking of ditching my Echinodorus x barthii and allowing my
watersprite to take over the area. The Echinodorus shades a huge amount
of the aquarium and it is outgrowing the 24" depth. The leaves are
bending over double and are as close as 2" to the fluorescent bulbs. I
think the black beard algae is loving it there. This is where most of it
originated from.


Nikki

[Allyb]

You didn't mention iron, and that looks like an iron deficiency to me.


"Nikki Casali" > wrote in message
...
> I think my Hydrocotyle appears to be showing a nutrient deficiency. Can
> anyone give a guess? http://www.ncasali.demon.co.uk/HYDROCOTYLE.JPG
>
> I've been dosing potassium daily for a few weeks. I haven't noticed any
> improvement in plant growth. Last night, I thought I'd dose a week's
> worth of K and this evening the phosphate level plummeted to 0.18 mg/L
> from a constant 0.50 mg/L.
>
> Last night, I also shifted the time at which the lights come on to
> coincide with sunrise. They usually come on 2 hours after sunrise and I
> bet the limited light diffusing into the aquarium for that 2 hour period
> aids algae growth. Strange thing is, the Cabomba never fully opened
> today, even though it is pearling. I wonder why? Maybe it's circadian
> cycle has been disrupted or maybe the added K has had an effect?
>
> I'm thinking of ditching my Echinodorus x barthii and allowing my
> watersprite to take over the area. The Echinodorus shades a huge amount
> of the aquarium and it is outgrowing the 24" depth. The leaves are
> bending over double and are as close as 2" to the fluorescent bulbs. I
> think the black beard algae is loving it there. This is where most of it
> originated from.
>
>
> Nikki
>

[Nikki Casali]

No, iron has not been consciously dosed.

Big water changes have stopped. I'll do maybe a 3% a week just to vacuum
the sand. Presumably, the plants were getting a little iron from the
mains tap water. The fish are only fed once a day now. With the aid of a
pH controller, the CO2 level is maintained at 25 ppm.

I haven't seen this type of contrasting of the veins and leaf since
plants were put in 4 months ago. Interestingly, the leaves of the
Hydrocotyle have never grown so flat and delicate before. Usually the
edges would curl down quite a lot and eventually gather green spot
algae. The older leaves still gather a little black hair algae around
the edges, like someone's gone around with eyeliner.

I've just added a weekly dose of Botanica Grow and Micro for the first
time. Let's see if the leaves green up a bit....and the BBA abates.

Nikki

Allyb wrote:
> You didn't mention iron, and that looks like an iron deficiency to me.
>
>
> "Nikki Casali" > wrote in message
> ...
>
>>I think my Hydrocotyle appears to be showing a nutrient deficiency. Can
>>anyone give a guess? http://www.ncasali.demon.co.uk/HYDROCOTYLE.JPG
>>
>>I've been dosing potassium daily for a few weeks. I haven't noticed any
>>improvement in plant growth. Last night, I thought I'd dose a week's
>>worth of K and this evening the phosphate level plummeted to 0.18 mg/L
>>from a constant 0.50 mg/L.
>>
>>Last night, I also shifted the time at which the lights come on to
>>coincide with sunrise. They usually come on 2 hours after sunrise and I
>>bet the limited light diffusing into the aquarium for that 2 hour period
>>aids algae growth. Strange thing is, the Cabomba never fully opened
>>today, even though it is pearling. I wonder why? Maybe it's circadian
>>cycle has been disrupted or maybe the added K has had an effect?
>>
>>I'm thinking of ditching my Echinodorus x barthii and allowing my
>>watersprite to take over the area. The Echinodorus shades a huge amount
>>of the aquarium and it is outgrowing the 24" depth. The leaves are
>>bending over double and are as close as 2" to the fluorescent bulbs. I
>>think the black beard algae is loving it there. This is where most of it
>>originated from.
>>
>>
>>Nikki
>>
>
>
>

[Jürgen Beisser]

Hi,

some answers can be found here:
http://www.csd.net/~cgadd/aqua/art_plant_nutrient.htm

Bye
Juergen


"Nikki Casali" > schrieb im Newsbeitrag
...
> No, iron has not been consciously dosed.
>
> Big water changes have stopped. I'll do maybe a 3% a week just to vacuum
> the sand. Presumably, the plants were getting a little iron from the mains
> tap water. The fish are only fed once a day now. With the aid of a pH
> controller, the CO2 level is maintained at 25 ppm.
>
> I haven't seen this type of contrasting of the veins and leaf since plants
> were put in 4 months ago. Interestingly, the leaves of the Hydrocotyle
> have never grown so flat and delicate before. Usually the edges would curl
> down quite a lot and eventually gather green spot algae. The older leaves
> still gather a little black hair algae around the edges, like someone's
> gone around with eyeliner.
>
> I've just added a weekly dose of Botanica Grow and Micro for the first
> time. Let's see if the leaves green up a bit....and the BBA abates.
>
> Nikki
>
> Allyb wrote:
>> You didn't mention iron, and that looks like an iron deficiency to me.
>>
>>
>> "Nikki Casali" > wrote in message
>> ...
>>
>>>I think my Hydrocotyle appears to be showing a nutrient deficiency. Can
>>>anyone give a guess? http://www.ncasali.demon.co.uk/HYDROCOTYLE.JPG
>>>
>>>I've been dosing potassium daily for a few weeks. I haven't noticed any
>>>improvement in plant growth. Last night, I thought I'd dose a week's
>>>worth of K and this evening the phosphate level plummeted to 0.18 mg/L
>>>from a constant 0.50 mg/L.
>>>
>>>Last night, I also shifted the time at which the lights come on to
>>>coincide with sunrise. They usually come on 2 hours after sunrise and I
>>>bet the limited light diffusing into the aquarium for that 2 hour period
>>>aids algae growth. Strange thing is, the Cabomba never fully opened
>>>today, even though it is pearling. I wonder why? Maybe it's circadian
>>>cycle has been disrupted or maybe the added K has had an effect?
>>>
>>>I'm thinking of ditching my Echinodorus x barthii and allowing my
>>>watersprite to take over the area. The Echinodorus shades a huge amount
>>>of the aquarium and it is outgrowing the 24" depth. The leaves are
>>>bending over double and are as close as 2" to the fluorescent bulbs. I
>>>think the black beard algae is loving it there. This is where most of it
>>>originated from.
>>>
>>>
>>>Nikki
>>>
>>
>>
>>
>

[[email protected]]

Interesting. Apparently, my tank is missing calcium.

[Nikki Casali]

I dosed enough Fe to get the tank to 0.25 mg/L. PO4 suddenly fell from
0.30 mg/L to 0.07 mg/L within 16 hours. Wow! The leaves of the
Hydrocotyle still remain pale. I have very hard water. I presume Mg is
never deficient in hard water, but I hear that an oversupply can block
Fe. The Hydrocotyle is the only plant that looks like it's struggling.

Nikki

Allyb wrote:

> You didn't mention iron, and that looks like an iron deficiency to me.
>
>
> "Nikki Casali" > wrote in message
> ...
>
>>I think my Hydrocotyle appears to be showing a nutrient deficiency. Can
>>anyone give a guess? http://www.ncasali.demon.co.uk/HYDROCOTYLE.JPG
>>
>>I've been dosing potassium daily for a few weeks. I haven't noticed any
>>improvement in plant growth. Last night, I thought I'd dose a week's
>>worth of K and this evening the phosphate level plummeted to 0.18 mg/L
>>from a constant 0.50 mg/L.
>>
>>Last night, I also shifted the time at which the lights come on to
>>coincide with sunrise. They usually come on 2 hours after sunrise and I
>>bet the limited light diffusing into the aquarium for that 2 hour period
>>aids algae growth. Strange thing is, the Cabomba never fully opened
>>today, even though it is pearling. I wonder why? Maybe it's circadian
>>cycle has been disrupted or maybe the added K has had an effect?
>>
>>I'm thinking of ditching my Echinodorus x barthii and allowing my
>>watersprite to take over the area. The Echinodorus shades a huge amount
>>of the aquarium and it is outgrowing the 24" depth. The leaves are
>>bending over double and are as close as 2" to the fluorescent bulbs. I
>>think the black beard algae is loving it there. This is where most of it
>>originated from.
>>
>>
>>Nikki
>>
>
>
>