holes in hygrophilia corymbosa

[HelplessNewbie]

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

[JoeQ]

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.

[nabokovfan87]

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.

[JoeQ]

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

[HelplessNewbie]

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

[JoeQ]

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

[nabokovfan87]

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.

 

[HelplessNewbie]

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?

[JoeQ]

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.