Possible Ca Deficiency, or Something Else?

[RadMax8]

I've got some plants in my tank which are showing signs of Ca deficiency, namely my AR, Golden Nesaea, and even my Compacta Sword. New growth is a little gnarled, and smaller leaves on the stem plants, and the sword leaves aren't a smooth texture, they're a bit wavy. I tested the water, and my GH was 10-11 degrees, which seems a little high to me but I do have some rock in the tank that might be contributing to that. Tap water is a bit softer at around 6. My nitrates are a bit on the high side so I know I need to change the water out. I've also got a pretty big infestation of hair algae that I'm trying to deal with.

My tank is a 40b with two Planted+ 24/7 lights that used to be on MAX at 5 hours per day, but just a day ago I dropped it to about 70% with no blue light. I use the PPS Pro method on Auto-Dose, currently at 6mL per day. I'm running CO2, currently trying to dial that in but the drop checker is green.

So what do you guys think I'm dealing with? Any input is welcome!

[Mmiller2001]

Tap water or mineralized water?

[RadMax8]

On 9/9/2021 at 4:38 PM, Mmiller2001 said:

Tap water or mineralized water?

I’m working with tap. I get my water from Lake Erie on the east side of Cleveland. I measured the tap at 6 dGH the other day. 

[Mmiller2001]

Look at your water report and see what the composition is. A GH 6 should be plenty. Make sure you are not low on CO2. Also know that ammonia is an extremely temperamental plant and all I was able to grow was twisted stunted leaves.

[RadMax8]

I was able to track down the water report. Our water is pretty good coming right off the lake. If you’re interested in some light reading, here’s the link:

https://www.lakecountyohio.gov/utilities/wp-content/uploads/sites/28/2021/04/East-West-Sub-District-2021.pdf

When I changed my water I noticed my nitrates were way high (80 ppm or so) and my iron was nearly 3 ppm. Over the last two days I’ve gotten those values to 20 ppm and 0.9 ppm, respectively. I’m beginning to think that plant doesn’t care for high nitrates. 

My AR is the plant that has me wondering about Ca deficiency though, since the new leave are so curled. 

Who knows, still working to figure this out. 

[Mmiller2001]

I don't see Ca and Mg in that report.

[Mmiller2001]

Also, 3ppm Fe is crazy high. That could be the problem or one of them. I would also stop dosing NO3 and just dose P and K and the corrected Fe until the Nitrates come down. Are you dosing other Micros? CSM+B?

Edited September 14, 2021 by Mmiller2001

[RadMax8]

On 9/14/2021 at 12:43 AM, Mmiller2001 said:

I don't see Ca and Mg in that report.

 

On 9/14/2021 at 12:56 AM, Mmiller2001 said:

Also, 3ppm Fe is crazy high. That could be the problem or one of them. I would also stop dosing NO3 and just dose P and K and the corrected Fe until the Nitrates come down. Are you dosing other Micros? CSM+B?

So apparently it's extremely difficult to get any data on how much Ca and Mg is in Lake Erie. None of the local water districts list it, and any reports I've seen are in scholarly articles that aren't up to date. According to one, in 2009 Ca was 32.11 ppm (trending down at 0.1389 ppm/year) and Mg was 8.89 ppm (trending up at 0.0292 ppm/year).

After finding the massively high Fe (no wonder I have such bad hair algae...), I've adjusted my dosing down. I think the big issue was that my dosing method allowed extra CSM+B to be siphoned into the tank. Basically, I'm dosing similar to PPS Pro recommendations with ferts from GLA through a dosing pump rather than pouring stuff in every day. I plan on doing some more testing to make sure that everything stays as expected. The only other place the iron can be coming from is through some iron clay tabs I put in which could be leaching into the water. I'd also like to separate the NO3 and dose according to need rather than just mix it in with the other macros.

Thanks for sticking with me on this.

[Mmiller2001]

On 9/15/2021 at 1:48 PM, RadMax8 said:

 

So apparently it's extremely difficult to get any data on how much Ca and Mg is in Lake Erie. None of the local water districts list it, and any reports I've seen are in scholarly articles that aren't up to date. According to one, in 2009 Ca was 32.11 ppm (trending down at 0.1389 ppm/year) and Mg was 8.89 ppm (trending up at 0.0292 ppm/year).

After finding the massively high Fe (no wonder I have such bad hair algae...), I've adjusted my dosing down. I think the big issue was that my dosing method allowed extra CSM+B to be siphoned into the tank. Basically, I'm dosing similar to PPS Pro recommendations with ferts from GLA through a dosing pump rather than pouring stuff in every day. I plan on doing some more testing to make sure that everything stays as expected. The only other place the iron can be coming from is through some iron clay tabs I put in which could be leaching into the water. I'd also like to separate the NO3 and dose according to need rather than just mix it in with the other macros.

Thanks for sticking with me on this.

I bet you are fine on Ca and Mg then. Probably all related to the Fe. Give it 3 weeks at your corrected numbers and see.

[Guppysnail]

On 9/9/2021 at 1:39 PM, RadMax8 said:

with no blue light.

I am daft when it comes to high tech for plants but wanted to share this with you.  I was using 2 Aqueon plant clip on lights in new arrival QT tanks. Both grew hair algae and what I think was green carpet algae? in 2 weeks. It is the only time I have ever had hair algae. I put electrical tape over the blue lights (yes that high tech deficient 🤣) and wiped HA and green algae off plants and rocks and it never came back.