Plant growth questions

I started a 20 gal CO2 injected (DIY) planted tank about 3 weeks ago and
I've been monitoring water chemistry and plant growth very carefully. There
are currently no fish in the tank, althought I will add some later to get it
cycling properly. The substrate is layered. 2:1 perlite:soil + a fine
gravel overlayer. All my plants are pearling beautifully and growing at
anticipated ridiculous rates. Good root structure developing too.

I have a couple of sword plants in there. One of them is still sending out
the "pre-maturity" broad leaves rather than the narrow sword leaves of later
plant life. I have noticed that on one of the newest leaves, the entire
leaf is healthy looking, but almost totally brown. There is not much green
to speak of in this leaf, but it is pearling like crazy and still growing.
Is this just a sign that this leaf has not developed completely?

On some of the other mature sword leaves, the vein structure is brownish.
Is this a result of high hardness or something else?

My water is also a bit on the acidic side, which seems odd, having such hard
water as I do. Coming out of the tap, dGH=25+, dKH=16+. I would have
thought high carbonate hardness would favor a slightly basic pH. Untrue?

I've exchanged a lot of tank water with RO water over the past few days in
an effort to reduce GH and KH to something reasonable. But with a soil
containing, mineral-rich underlayer, am I wasting my time adding RO water to
lower my hardness? Will GH rise over time by simple leaching from the
substrate?

Chemistry 01/17/05:
pH = 6.5
dGH=11
dKH=8
NH3/NH4+=0
NO2=0
NO3~0

In article ,
Chameleon wrote:
I started a 20 gal CO2 injected (DIY) planted tank about 3 weeks ago and
I've been monitoring water chemistry and plant growth very carefully. There
are currently no fish in the tank, althought I will add some later to get it
cycling properly. The substrate is layered. 2:1 perlite:soil + a fine
gravel overlayer. All my plants are pearling beautifully and growing at
anticipated ridiculous rates. Good root structure developing too.

I have a couple of sword plants in there. One of them is still sending out
the "pre-maturity" broad leaves rather than the narrow sword leaves of later
plant life. I have noticed that on one of the newest leaves, the entire
leaf is healthy looking, but almost totally brown.

Add nitrate.

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"Richard" wrote in message ...
In article ,
Chameleon wrote:
I started a 20 gal CO2 injected (DIY) planted tank about 3 weeks ago and
I've been monitoring water chemistry and plant growth very carefully.
There
are currently no fish in the tank, althought I will add some later to get
it
cycling properly. The substrate is layered. 2:1 perlite:soil + a fine
gravel overlayer. All my plants are pearling beautifully and growing at
anticipated ridiculous rates. Good root structure developing too.

I have a couple of sword plants in there. One of them is still sending
out
the "pre-maturity" broad leaves rather than the narrow sword leaves of
later
plant life. I have noticed that on one of the newest leaves, the entire
leaf is healthy looking, but almost totally brown.

Add nitrate.

What is it that I am seeing? Nitrate deficiency, duh. But why does that
make the leaf dark?

On 2005-01-18, Richard wrote:

Add nitrate.


And, phosphates if there is no fish.

--
"I have to decide between two equally frightening options.
If I wanted to do that, I'd vote." --Duckman

In article ,
Chameleon wrote:
plant life. I have noticed that on one of the newest leaves, the entire
leaf is healthy looking, but almost totally brown.

Add nitrate.

What is it that I am seeing? Nitrate deficiency, duh. But why does that
make the leaf dark?

Dunno why, but it tends to bring out the reds and browns in plants.

--
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633CSi 250SE/C 300SD | Killies, killi.net, Crypts, aquaria.net
1970 280SE, 72 280SE | Old wris****ches http://watches.list.mbz.org

the ph is low because of the buffering from the co2.. Stop the co2
injection and you will see your ph skyrocket. You can tell how much co2 you
have by using a co2 chart by just measuring your ph and kh. As long as you
have no other buffers other than bicarbonate this would put your co2 at
about 76ppm. Not at all good for fish. It seems most people shoot for
around 30ppm of co2 in planted tanks.

here is a good co2 chart
http://www.csd.net/~cgadd/aqua/art_plant_co2chart.htm


And you definately need more nitrates as others have suggested. I am not
sure how much it will help, but it is necessary.
--

Margolis
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