Potassium Deficiency

[Lauren A]

Hi,

I have a 10 gallon heavily planted tank that’s has been running about 3-3.5 months now.  It has been doing great dosing with Easy Green two times a week and Easy Iron every other day.  I do weekly water changes/cleanings and my betta lives in the tank with 4 tiny horned nerite snails.  I also top off the water sometimes every day sometimes every other.  

The hygro siamensis 53B has developed spots on the leaves over the last month or so.  I’ve been trimming them off but I would like to get to the root of the problem.  They are growing very quickly and definitely don’t look miserable by any means, but maybe someone can help me.

When I test for iron, I never get a reading.  I’m not sure why.  I read a potassium deficiency can cause the leaves to turn too.  If I do need potassium, is there a product and test kit you recommend.

 

Also the bacopa i have also has yellowing leaves.  As you can see in the photo, some of the leaves in my dwarf water lettuce also get tiny yellow dots or even yellowing leaves I trim off.

 

Sorry this is so wordy and thank you for reading!

I forgot to mention that I also use root tabs by Seachem 

Edited November 29, 2021 by Lauren A
Forgot to add photo

[Brandon p]

II have have a feeling of what it is but I want a second opinion. Yes there are some freshwater K test out there. I do think this is a K deficiency.in the leaves with the  with the holes. Seachem Flourish Potassium 500ml https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0002APILO/ref=cm_sw_r_cp_api_glt_fabc_39Q884RM9SF42YGJMHMG?_encoding=UTF8&psc=1

As for the yellowing it’s always easy to say iron but I’m thinking Nitrogen. I’m going to tag a few people be here is a video from Cory and then see what the good aqua-scrapers here.

@Odd Duck  @Guppysnail

[Guppysnail]

I’m not great with plant deficiency. I pull plants from my tank and just put in a Ton of fertz and sit them in the sun on my windowsill when they have issues. Sorry I’m of no help here. 

[Odd Duck]

@Mmiller2001 is your go to for figuring out specific plant nutrient problems.  I know a bit about some types of plants (but don’t ask me about stem plants) and chime in where I’m comfortable commenting, but this isn’t my area of expertise.  I wouldn’t be surprised if this was a potassium deficiency, but I’ll let others with more specific nutrient expertise chime in.  I can’t think who else is deep into micronutrient knowledge.  I should be able to, but can’t seem to dredge the name out of my brain tonight.  🤷🏻‍♀️

[Brandon p]

@Biotope Biologist

[Mmiller2001]

How many pumps of easy green?

Salifert is the potassium test kit I use.

Plants can take up all the available Fe within an hour, so test Fe 10 mins after dosing.

With the information I have, I think you are over dosing Fe.

What do your Nitrates test after a water change. 

What's your GH and KH?

[Lauren A]

On 11/29/2021 at 7:37 PM, Brandon p said:

II have have a feeling of what it is but I want a second opinion. Yes there are some freshwater K test out there. I do think this is a K deficiency.in the leaves with the  with the holes. Seachem Flourish Potassium 500ml https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0002APILO/ref=cm_sw_r_cp_api_glt_fabc_39Q884RM9SF42YGJMHMG?_encoding=UTF8&psc=1

As for the yellowing it’s always easy to say iron but I’m thinking Nitrogen. I’m going to tag a few people be here is a video from Cory and then see what the good aqua-scrapers here.

@Odd Duck  @Guppysnail

Thank you!!!

[Lauren A]

On 11/30/2021 at 12:06 AM, Mmiller2001 said:

How many pumps of easy green?

Salifert is the potassium test kit I use.

Plants can take up all the available Fe within an hour, so test Fe 10 mins after dosing.

With the information I have, I think you are over dosing Fe.

What do your Nitrates test after a water change. 

What's your GH and KH?

Hi, thank you and sorry for the delay responding.

I dose .08 ml of Easy Green with a dropper two times a week. The pump is 1 ml and I keep about 1-1.5 inch space at the water surface open so I figure my tank is probably filled with 8 gallons instead of 10.  That’s just me estimating so I don’t know if I should do the whole pump.  I worry about overdosing.

Normally, according to the master test kit by API, nitrates are 5-10ppm after a water change.  When testing during the week I’ve seen them as high as 30-40ppm but usually they are right at 20ppm or below. 

I’m going to pick up that test kit for potassium.  
 

My Gh is 40ppm and Kh is 80ppm.  When I first set up this tank I had no Kh but it seemed to stabilize through time.  
 

I did not realize I should test iron 10mins after adding.  I don’t want to add any today because it’s a day early so next time I’m scheduled to add it, I will get an accurate reading.  
 

I have Seachem Potassium but should wait to test it first.  

I really appreciate your help.  I will dose Easy Iron tomorrow to see what the correct reading is.  
 

 

 

Edited November 30, 2021 by Lauren A

[Mmiller2001]

On 11/30/2021 at 11:39 AM, Lauren A said:

Hi, thank you and sorry for the delay responding.

I dose .08 ml of Easy Green with a dropper two times a week. The pump is 1 ml and I keep about 1-1.5 inch space at the water surface open so I figure my tank is probably filled with 8 gallons instead of 10.  That’s just me estimating so I don’t know if I should do the whole pump.  I worry about overdosing.

Normally, according to the master test kit by API, nitrates are 5-10ppm after a water change.  When testing during the week I’ve seen them as high as 30-40ppm but usually they are right at 20ppm or below. 

I’m going to pick up that test kit for potassium.  
 

My Gh is 40ppm and Kh is 80ppm.  When I first set up this tank I had no Kh but it seemed to stabilize through time.  
 

I did not realize I should test iron 10mins after adding.  I don’t want to add any today because it’s a day early so next time I’m scheduled to add it, I will get an accurate reading.  
 

I have Seachem Potassium but should wait to test it first.  

I really appreciate your help.  I will dose Easy Iron tomorrow to see what the correct reading is.  
 

 

 

Thank you,

Your GH is kinda low and could be where you are seeing your deficiency. Once you test K we will know more. I would recommend increasing GH to 5dGH @ a 2:1 Ca:Mg. I would like to see KH at 3dKH or lower, but that depends on your stocking.

I would start a 3rd dose of easy green and drop easy iron to 1 dose a week. 3 doses of Easy Green is .102ppm Fe and 1 dose of Easy Iron is .25ppm Fe, That totals .35ppm Fe. If you dose Iron twice, that's a total of .6ppm Fe. That's what I dose my tank at with hungry stems and CO2. I also have a lot of plant mass. I also feel you have room to dose Easy Green 4 times a week, but if you do that, only dose Easy Iron 1 time a week.

A strategy I was taught recently, that works very well if you are willing to do 50% water changes a week, is to dose your incoming water with Macros. So, if you changed 4 gallons, you dose those 4 gallons only. Over time, the tank will maintain the numbers dosed to the incoming water.

I dose all my tanks to 

18ppm NO3

8ppm P

30ppm K

.62ppm Fe(proxy)

All of my Macros are front loaded into the incoming water. Then I dose Fe over the week. The only difference from my non CO2 tanks is a reduction in Micros. I dose about .35ppm Fe(proxy) one per week.

 

Edited November 30, 2021 by Mmiller2001

[Lauren A]

On 11/30/2021 at 2:29 PM, Mmiller2001 said:

Thank you,

Your GH is kinda low and could be where you are seeing your deficiency. Once you test K we will know more. I would recommend increasing GH to 5dGH @ a 2:1 Ca:Mg. I would like to see KH at 3dKH or lower, but that depends on your stocking.

I would start a 3rd dose of easy green and drop easy iron to 1 dose a week. 3 doses of Easy Green is .102ppm Fe and 1 dose of Easy Iron is .25ppm Fe, That totals .35ppm Fe. If you dose Iron twice, that's a total of .6ppm Fe. That's what I dose my tank at with hungry stems and CO2. I also have a lot of plant mass. I also feel you have room to dose Easy Green 4 times a week, but if you do that, only dose Easy Iron 1 time a week.

A strategy I was taught recently, that works very well if you are willing to do 50% water changes a week, is to dose your incoming water with Macros. So, if you changed 4 gallons, you dose those 4 gallons only. Over time, the tank will maintain the numbers dosed to the incoming water.

I dose all my tanks to 

18ppm NO3

8ppm P

30ppm K

.62ppm Fe(proxy)

All of my Macros are front loaded into the incoming water. Then I dose Fe over the week. The only difference from my non CO2 tanks is a reduction in Micros. I dose about .35ppm Fe(proxy) one per week.

 

Hi,

This was really kind of you to put together for me.  Thank you very much.  I can definitely do a 50% water change a week no problem and follow the dosing for this technique.  Thank you for attaching the conversion chart too.  
 

I have a betta in the tank only with 4 little horned nerite snails.  I’m building another tank as we as we speak that will also house a betta.  As long as their healthy, I’m happy, but a pretty tank with lots of healthy plants is a huge bonus of course.  The more I learn, the better!
 

I believe this is the K test kit, but I just want to confirm before I order it?  At some point I’d like to start using dry ferts but I want to feel confident I know what I’m doing.  This is extremely helpful since I’m still new to the hobby.  
 

Thank you again so so much!  Once I get that K reading, I will reach out to see what you think.  

 

Edited November 30, 2021 by Lauren A
Forgot to add somethimg

[Mmiller2001]

On 11/30/2021 at 1:16 PM, Lauren A said:

Hi,

This was really kind of you to put together for me.  Thank you very much.  I can definitely do a 50% water change a week no problem and follow the dosing for this technique.  Thank you for attaching the conversion chart too.  
 

I have a betta in the tank only with 4 little horned nerite snails.  I’m building another tank as we as we speak that will also house a betta.  As long as their healthy, I’m happy, but a pretty tank with lots of healthy plants is a huge bonus of course.  The more I learn, the better!
 

I believe this is the K test kit, but I just want to confirm before I order it?  At some point I’d like to start using dry ferts but I want to feel confident I know what I’m doing.  This is extremely helpful since I’m still new to the hobby.  
 

Thank you again so so much!  Once I get that K reading, I will reach out to see what you think.  

 

That's the one I use.

 

[Lauren A]

On 11/30/2021 at 3:35 PM, Mmiller2001 said:

That's the one I use.

 

Great, thank you.

So, now I have another question.  I didn’t mention it before, but after looking into it further on the forum this am, I’m a bit nervous.

I had a few Anubias that rotted that were attached to a log - some by gorilla glue others with fishing line.  I had reached out to a friend about a month ago why this happened and she said they may have been a bad batch or I was attaching them too tight.  I think that’s the right word to describe it.

 

Needless to say, I added more Anubias after removing them and again a couple rotted.  This is the whole rhizome.  The leaves actually looked healthy but literally broke off the rhizome.  It’s been a couple weeks now, and still randomly I will notice parts of rhizomes melting.  These plants mainly came from one online seller.  Most of them tissue culture but a couple larger ones were in pots.

 

So, it’s been a couple weeks and now this am, a very small Anubias nana from a tissue culture rotted real bad - smelled bad and fell apart when I removed it.  it was not attached to anything.  One from the same cup had some longer roots so I planted the roots only and it looks good so far.

 

Should I be nervous of disease in my tank?  Besides the hygro leaves, my tank looks good.  There are Anubias in there still that look good with no rot.  

Any suggestions?  Could this all be intertwined with a deficiency?

Thank you again!  
 

 

[Lauren A]

I should also mention that none of my other plants melted at all.  Just crypt balansae in the very beginning, typical crypt melt but they are growing very healthy and strong.

I’m tempted to think that since they were all on one log, a disease spread.

 Thx again.  

Edited November 30, 2021 by Lauren A

[Mmiller2001]

There is a disease that can destroy the rhizomes, but I would get my numbers corrected before making that call. 

First thing to do is get that GH up to about 5dGH. If you want to try dry fertilizers, I would start with 2 that will increase your GH. 

Those are MgSO4

https://greenleafaquariums.com/products/magnesium-sulfate-mgso4-1lb-bag.html

and CaSO4

https://greenleafaquariums.com/products/calcium-sulfate-caso4-1lb-bag.html

Using these will teach you how to use the calculator and also show you just how easy dry fertilizers are.

[Lauren A]

On 11/30/2021 at 4:41 PM, Mmiller2001 said:

There is a disease that can destroy the rhizomes, but I would get my numbers corrected before making that call. 

First thing to do is get that GH up to about 5dGH. If you want to try dry fertilizers, I would start with 2 that will increase your GH. 

Those are MgSO4

https://greenleafaquariums.com/products/magnesium-sulfate-mgso4-1lb-bag.html

and CaSO4

https://greenleafaquariums.com/products/calcium-sulfate-caso4-1lb-bag.html

Using these will teach you how to use the calculator and also show you just how easy dry fertilizers are.

Excellent.  Thank you for these links.  Would I use the dry ferts from Green Leaf along with the dosing of Easy Green at water changes.  How do you determine when you are at the appropriate amount of NO3 and P at water changes.  A simple test kit?

For instance, to bring the water to 18ppm NO3, would I use an NO3 kit, test the new water only and add the appropriate number of pumps from the chart to reach 18ppm number?  Or would I test the 50% of water left in the tank for NO3.  Suppose it’s 5ppm.  Would I subtract the 5 from 18 and add only 13ppm?  I’m sorry if this question is self explanatory, I just want to make sure I do this correct.  I think I’m confusing myself.  So sorry.  
 

I will get the Gh straightened out and order those products.    I notice Green Leaf has kits/packages of their lines.  I’m thinking of buying a package and starting over with their line instead of Easy Green since I know you have great success with them.  Any thoughts on a kit I should start with?  

 

Thank you again for all of your help and no rush replying!  

[Mmiller2001]

You can go both ways. Test tank, add fertilizer to reach a total, or dose the new water to the total you want the tank to be. If you decide to use dry fertilizers, you could forgo dosing N, P or K. Let's say your tank always accumulates 20ppm NO3 a week (Heavy fish load). Then you could simply dose just P and K. But the beauty of "front loading" nutrients is that you always dose to what you want the tank to be. So if you want 20ppm NO3, dose that to the amount of incoming water, and weeks later, your tank will be 20ppm( small adjustments for consumption or production). This all assumes reasonable stocking levels. If you are over stocked, you would forgo NO3 dosing as the fish make enough.

For GH, let's say your source water is 2dGH. I would make the incoming water 5dGH by adding an additional 3dGH via the CaSO4 and MgSO4. As weeks pass, the tank will match the incoming total amount.

My testing is as this (I'm OCD in the beginning) then I will relax testing as things stabilize.

I dose to a target of 20ppm NO3, but before I water change, I will test and see what my weeks end number is. I will then test after my water change. This will tell me if the tank is consuming or producing. My tank was producing and additional 2ppm per week. So I dropped dosing to 18ppm NO3. By weeks end, I should have 20ppm NO3. This goes for all Macros.

 

 

[Brandon p]

@Minanora

[Lauren A]

On 11/30/2021 at 5:32 PM, Mmiller2001 said:

You can go both ways. Test tank, add fertilizer to reach a total, or dose the new water to the total you want the tank to be. If you decide to use dry fertilizers, you could forgo dosing N, P or K. Let's say your tank always accumulates 20ppm NO3 a week (Heavy fish load). Then you could simply dose just P and K. But the beauty of "front loading" nutrients is that you always dose to what you want the tank to be. So if you want 20ppm NO3, dose that to the amount of incoming water, and weeks later, your tank will be 20ppm( small adjustments for consumption or production). This all assumes reasonable stocking levels. If you are over stocked, you would forgo NO3 dosing as the fish make enough.

For GH, let's say your source water is 2dGH. I would make the incoming water 5dGH by adding an additional 3dGH via the CaSO4 and MgSO4. As weeks pass, the tank will match the incoming total amount.

My testing is as this (I'm OCD in the beginning) then I will relax testing as things stabilize.

I dose to a target of 20ppm NO3, but before I water change, I will test and see what my weeks end number is. I will then test after my water change. This will tell me if the tank is consuming or producing. My tank was producing and additional 2ppm per week. So I dropped dosing to 18ppm NO3. By weeks end, I should have 20ppm NO3. This goes for all Macros.

 

 

Thank you!!!!  I’m very OCD about keeping things as perfect as I can so this is such excellent help.  I feel like I should be paying you for all of your time and advice.  I can’t thank you enough.  I hope you have a good night!  You’re the best!  🙏😊

[Mmiller2001]

On 11/30/2021 at 5:01 PM, Lauren A said:

Thank you!!!!  I’m very OCD about keeping things as perfect as I can so this is such excellent help.  I feel like I should be paying you for all of your time and advice.  I can’t thank you enough.  I hope you have a good night!  You’re the best!  🙏😊

I wouldn't be here if others didn't take the time to help as best they could. No payment necessary 😆

It's confusing at first, but it's quite simple after a few tries of it.

[Minanora]

On 11/30/2021 at 11:29 AM, Mmiller2001 said:

Your GH is kinda low and could be where you are seeing your deficiency. Once you test K we will know more. I would recommend increasing GH to 5dGH @ a 2:1 Ca:Mg. I would like to see KH at 3dKH or lower, but that depends on your stocking.

I'm on this train. Excellent advice for sure. Making sure your plants can uptake nutrients that are being given is a biggie.

Hopefully the rhizomes make a comeback with the changes.

 

[Lauren A]

Hi @Mmiller2001

I have a couple of non-urgent questions regarding the CA and MG I bought from GLA.

Basically, how do I dose these?  😬   I have gone over the dosing schedule on GLA’s website and am more than confused.  

I’ve been testing K and all looks good.  I definitely know I have a CA and MG deficiency.  First, at least one of my snails shells doesn’t look super healthy.  Not terrible but could look better.  My tank does not have much algae in it so I’m going to try supplementing with some veggies, if they will eat them.  
 

The leaves on some of my plants, mainly my S. Repens and the Hygro Siamensis, which sadly I had to chop these way down because they were getting to stemmy from all the leaf loss.  The older leaves were turning clear and they get pinholes in them.  The upper leaves always look good.  I’ve also noticed they aren’t growing as fast.  My poor S. Repens looked so nice and it seemed like overnight the bottom leaves yellowed and are falling off.  They don’t look good, although the new growth is green.  
 

My plants definitely need some more TLC.  The growth has slowed way down too.  So, I’d like to start using these dry ferts ASAP.  I can do a water change as soon as tomorrow and start this.  
 

What should I be testing besides GH and KH?    I’m still using Easy Green 3 times a week and Easy Iron once a week.  I just don’t know how much of the dry ferts to add to the new water and when.  
 

I’m so sorry this is just new to me.  I don’t have a GH and KH test kit anymore besides the strips.  On the strips my Gh reads around 75ppm and Kh is around 80ppm.  I just ordered another Gh and Kh kit though so I’m hoping that arrives soon.  I’m not sure if I can use the numbers from the strips to do this.  
 

I am little nervous about messing with the Ph because my betta is in the tank.  

 

Any help would be awesome!  No rush though!!  
 

Thank you,

Lauren

 

p.s oops I just found my Gh Kh kit.  Let me test these and get back to you!  

Edited January 13, 2022 by Lauren A
Forgot

[Mmiller2001]

Let me know the GH and KH per the new test kit. And I need to know the exact amount of gallons you will remove and replace when you do your water change.

Also. What did your potassium test?

 

Edited January 14, 2022 by Mmiller2001

[Lauren A]

Hi @Mmiller2001

I hope you’re doing well.  Thank you for getting back to me.  
 

So, my Gh is 89.5 and my Kh is 71.6.  I hope I did the test right.  I used the API kit to and it took 5 drops for the Gh to turn to the right color but it was very very light green and 4 drops for the Kh.  I think I did the conversion chart right - I compared total drops to the gh/Kh column for each one.  It falls in line with the test strips but just more accurate. 
 

The potassium is 15 ppm 

 

I always remove 3 gallons.  I can remove more to make it 50% though.  My water level is always low so I guesstimate that the tank holds about 8 gallons with that.  
 

If you need more info I can get back to you faster than my message last night.  I held off his water change and cleaning so I can get this squared up.

 

I also am doing the Easy Green three times a week now for about 2-3 weeks instead of twice a week and always keeping an eye on my other parameters.

 

Thank you so so much!!!  Lauren 🙏😊

 

 

Oh and I use Poland spring.  It’s very very soft.  If you want me to test that let me know. I just ordered an RODI system and will use that for my tanks once installed.  Our tap is toxic.  

Edited January 14, 2022 by Lauren A
Forgot something

[Lauren A]

One more thing, is there anyway you could confirm I did the conversion chart correct only because 107.4 I think it’s hard water which the strips I always read soft.  Closer to 80,  thx

[Lauren A]

Ok I retested the water for Gh and the color turns a very very pale green - yellow green with 5 drops which is 89.5.  I will edit my first post in case you haven’t looked at it yet.