HelplessNewbie Posted September 26, 2023 Share Posted September 26, 2023 Are these due to nutrient deficiency or my critters eating them? Also noticed the deformed leaves. Twenty gallon tank is 3 months old, bought the plant 7 weeks ago. ACO plant light at 30%. Wood pellets capped with coarse sand. NPK and iron root tabs applied on different mornings every 5 weeks. Water column fertilizer as needed to maintain 20-40 ppm nitrate. Tank photo progression: https://forum.aquariumcoop.com/topic/33733-helplessnewbies-20g-planted-tank/?do=findComment&comment=330548 ACO test strip from yesterday Water parameter history Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JoeQ Posted September 26, 2023 Share Posted September 26, 2023 Yes your plants are showing signs of nutrient deficiencies. Just using ppm of nitrogen doesn't tell you much. Plants also need certain amounts of P&K with their nitrogen or they refuse to eat. Also point of intrest hygrophilia corymbosa seem to be calcium/magnesium hogs. If you don't know your calcium/magnesium ratio it wouldn't be a bad idea of supplementing a GH booster. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
nabokovfan87 Posted September 26, 2023 Share Posted September 26, 2023 What is going on with the KH and GH? I would run a liquid test to verify those. For the plant in question, when was the last time it was tabbed? On 9/26/2023 at 1:55 PM, JoeQ said: Yes your plants are showing signs of nutrient deficiencies. Just using ppm of nitrogen doesn't tell you much. Plants also need certain amounts of P&K with their nitrogen or they refuse to eat. Also point of intrest hygrophilia corymbosa seem to be calcium/magnesium hogs. If you don't know your calcium/magnesium ratio it wouldn't be a bad idea of supplementing a GH booster. Agreed, it looks like a deficiency of some kind. KH and GH both seem pegged to the max. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JoeQ Posted September 26, 2023 Share Posted September 26, 2023 (edited) On 9/26/2023 at 6:39 PM, nabokovfan87 said: Agreed, it looks like a deficiency of some kind. KH and GH both seem pegged to the max. I think I read somewhere they use plaster of paris for dyi root tabs. I believe this is primarily calcium chloride (double check my chemistries on that) Anyhow, if that is leaching into the water colum that will affect KH, most likely causing a unstable gh Correction: calcium sulfate hemihydrate Caso4/2h2o Edited September 26, 2023 by JoeQ Correction 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
HelplessNewbie Posted September 27, 2023 Author Share Posted September 27, 2023 (edited) I may have gone overboard with supplemental epsom salt and calcium chloride [correction: carbonate]... oops On 9/26/2023 at 6:39 PM, nabokovfan87 said: For the plant in question, when was the last time it was tabbed? I just put tabs in yesterday. The last time was 5 weeks ago, which was after I had the plant 2 weeks. Edited September 27, 2023 by HelplessNewbie correction: carbonate 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JoeQ Posted September 27, 2023 Share Posted September 27, 2023 (edited) On 9/26/2023 at 8:37 PM, HelplessNewbie said: I may have gone overboard with supplemental epsom salt and calcium chloride... oops I just put tabs in yesterday. The last time was 5 weeks ago, which was after I had the plant 2 weeks. Careful supplementing willy-nilly, just as a plant might need nutrient A to absorb nutrient B. Too much of nutrient C could cause the plant to lose the ability to absorb nutrient Z. Below is a chart that shows how nutrients are all interconnected Edited September 27, 2023 by JoeQ Wrong file Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
nabokovfan87 Posted September 27, 2023 Share Posted September 27, 2023 On 9/26/2023 at 5:37 PM, HelplessNewbie said: I may have gone overboard with supplemental epsom salt and calcium chloride... oops On 9/26/2023 at 3:39 PM, nabokovfan87 said: For the plant in question, when was the last time it was tabbed? I just put tabs in yesterday. The last time was 5 weeks ago, which was after I had the plant 2 weeks. If you continue to see issues, I would consider changing the type of tabs you're using. At most, in my tanks I use easy green and then I use iron. The only other thing I would consider would be to use potassium supplements as well. Ultimately, everything checks out so to speak, but I would just keep an eye on all of the details and try to be aware of what is really going on day to day. If you have dying/dead leaves, go ahead and pull those off. We want to get KH to be less than GH as well. Preferably you want GH to be near double your KH. (This is a recommendation from Green aqua that I received to ensure plants have sufficient ratios of nutrients.) Track what you're adding to the tank and if you really need be follow that up with actual testing of those parameters. Sometimes one deficiency can be linked to another, or you can have one that appears very similar to another. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
HelplessNewbie Posted September 27, 2023 Author Share Posted September 27, 2023 On 9/26/2023 at 9:09 PM, JoeQ said: Below is a chart that shows how nutrients are all interconnected What do the dashed lines mean vs solid lines? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JoeQ Posted September 27, 2023 Share Posted September 27, 2023 The doted lines show which elements enhances each other. You can read the article here https://www.canna.ca/articles/interactions-between-nutrients Of course this is referring to terrestrial plants/crops but the principals should be the same for aquatic plants. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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