Plant problems
- Thread starter kty
- Start date
OP
OP
kty
New Member
- Joined
- Mar 26, 2009
- Messages
- 37
- Reaction score
- 5
This may have been mentioned earlier and i missed it, sorry if I did...but we need to know all this data to solve problems. This info brings up other aspects.
The CO2...what exactly is this? Diffused CO2 (gas), or one of the liquids? CO2 willnot help here, with the light (which I assume is what I recommended previously).
What is the plant substrate? And are you adding any fertilizers now? If yes, which and how much.
OP
OP
kty
New Member
- Joined
- Mar 26, 2009
- Messages
- 37
- Reaction score
- 5
OK here goes. I'll do my best to answer your questions. The lighting is the one you recommend (that you have in your tank the same size 3ft) I used a good inch of fluorite plant substrate under the Gravel which has a composition of
Aluminum - 10,210 mg/kg
Barium - 124 mg/kg
Calcium - 195 mg/kg
Cobalt - 6 mg/kg
Chromium - 13 mg/kg
Copper - 17 mg/kg
Iron - 18,500 mg/kg
Potassium - 2,195 mg/kg
Magnesium - 2,281 mg/kg
Manganese - 64 mg/kg
Sodium - 223 mg/kg
Nickel - 12 mg/kg
Vanadium - 15 mg/kg
Zinc - 29 mg/kg
the Co2 is a tetra depot one which is a gas that is dispensed through tube and then gradually released. I do 2 of these per day while the light is on which is what the bottle said to do.
The monthly liquid I put in is tetra plantamin which I give 35ml /month as the instructions say.
The add for this says : This product has iron and essential trace elements like manganese and potassium. This aquatic plant fertilizer provides aquatic plants with all essential minerals and nutrients. The product enables plants to stay strong, healthy and ever green. Lush leaf growth and colour is enhanced as chlorophyll production rises. Tetra Plantamin does not colour water and discourages algae growth because it lacks phosphate or nitrate.
The test I did was with a tetra test strips 6 in 1. The results are:
NO3. 100mg/l
NO2 0 mg/l
GH 8°d
KH 10 °d
Ph 76
Cl2 0 mg/l
Hope this helps.
Aluminum - 10,210 mg/kg
Barium - 124 mg/kg
Calcium - 195 mg/kg
Cobalt - 6 mg/kg
Chromium - 13 mg/kg
Copper - 17 mg/kg
Iron - 18,500 mg/kg
Potassium - 2,195 mg/kg
Magnesium - 2,281 mg/kg
Manganese - 64 mg/kg
Sodium - 223 mg/kg
Nickel - 12 mg/kg
Vanadium - 15 mg/kg
Zinc - 29 mg/kg
the Co2 is a tetra depot one which is a gas that is dispensed through tube and then gradually released. I do 2 of these per day while the light is on which is what the bottle said to do.
The monthly liquid I put in is tetra plantamin which I give 35ml /month as the instructions say.
The add for this says : This product has iron and essential trace elements like manganese and potassium. This aquatic plant fertilizer provides aquatic plants with all essential minerals and nutrients. The product enables plants to stay strong, healthy and ever green. Lush leaf growth and colour is enhanced as chlorophyll production rises. Tetra Plantamin does not colour water and discourages algae growth because it lacks phosphate or nitrate.
The test I did was with a tetra test strips 6 in 1. The results are:
NO3. 100mg/l
NO2 0 mg/l
GH 8°d
KH 10 °d
Ph 76
Cl2 0 mg/l
Hope this helps.
kty, there are some issues from your post #40.
Nitrate, at 100 mg/l (which is the same as ppm) is way too high for any fish. Nitrate should be kept below 20 ppm max, and the lower the better. I'm not sure where it is coming from, as nitrate is not mentioned in the ingredients. Have you tested your tap water alone for nitrate?
Flourite...I tried this in one tank and after two years tore it down and chucked it out into the garden. It had no effect on plant growth I could see. In questioning this on plant forums, I was told it needs liquid and substrate fertilizers the same as plain sand or gravel. Waste of money. I spent $180 for Flourite in my 70g tank, and replaced it after two years with play sand for $14 and the plants now (four years later) are thriving, as they are in my other tanks with sand. So this is not going to have much benefit.
CO2...this has to be continual during daylight, according to most of the plant authorities, though it may not be detrimental. But as you have moderate lighting (remember I know those tubes) you will not have a shortage of CO2 from the breakdown of organics in the substrate, though admittedly this is minimal in new set-ups as it takes a few months to build up a good bacterial bed in the substrate. But I have never had CO2 issues in any of my new or reset tanks in more than 20 years so I would forget this. It can cause algae issues depending upon everything else. And there are papers out now suggesting that diffused CO2 may be detrimental to fish; I have only seen this, not looked into it as it doesn't affect me (I have never had any intention to add CO2 in any form, and never would) and I admit it may be more of a concern with the higher-tech systems.
Tetra PlantaMin...I do not know this product, meaning I've never used it; the Tetra website does not list the nutrient ingredients (sigh), so we are guessing. If it does in fact include all of them, fine, provided they are in the proportion to each other for plants. Until we can pin down the ingredients, it probably is suitable. Next time you might want to look into Seachem's Flourish Comprehensive Supplement for the Planted Aquarium, which does contain all the essential nutrients (except for oxygen, hydrogen and carbon), or Brightwell Aquatics' FlorinMulti which is basically identical.
The problem with proportional nutrients is that too much of some of them can cause plants to shut down assimilation of certain other nutrients, so you then have a case of excess of "A" but deficiency of "B" and such. Iron for example can cause the browning and "celophane" condition in plant leaves if the iron is beyond what the plants can easily use. Some plants store some nutrients, others cannot, but this has limits too. I decimated my floating plants in one tank by over-dosing iron last year, and it was very little. I was experimenting with nutrients a bit. Got it sorted out now, but it shows how sensitive some of this can be. And of course, there is always the issue of this stuff getting inside fish. We do have to be careful.
Nitrate, at 100 mg/l (which is the same as ppm) is way too high for any fish. Nitrate should be kept below 20 ppm max, and the lower the better. I'm not sure where it is coming from, as nitrate is not mentioned in the ingredients. Have you tested your tap water alone for nitrate?
Flourite...I tried this in one tank and after two years tore it down and chucked it out into the garden. It had no effect on plant growth I could see. In questioning this on plant forums, I was told it needs liquid and substrate fertilizers the same as plain sand or gravel. Waste of money. I spent $180 for Flourite in my 70g tank, and replaced it after two years with play sand for $14 and the plants now (four years later) are thriving, as they are in my other tanks with sand. So this is not going to have much benefit.
CO2...this has to be continual during daylight, according to most of the plant authorities, though it may not be detrimental. But as you have moderate lighting (remember I know those tubes) you will not have a shortage of CO2 from the breakdown of organics in the substrate, though admittedly this is minimal in new set-ups as it takes a few months to build up a good bacterial bed in the substrate. But I have never had CO2 issues in any of my new or reset tanks in more than 20 years so I would forget this. It can cause algae issues depending upon everything else. And there are papers out now suggesting that diffused CO2 may be detrimental to fish; I have only seen this, not looked into it as it doesn't affect me (I have never had any intention to add CO2 in any form, and never would) and I admit it may be more of a concern with the higher-tech systems.
Tetra PlantaMin...I do not know this product, meaning I've never used it; the Tetra website does not list the nutrient ingredients (sigh), so we are guessing. If it does in fact include all of them, fine, provided they are in the proportion to each other for plants. Until we can pin down the ingredients, it probably is suitable. Next time you might want to look into Seachem's Flourish Comprehensive Supplement for the Planted Aquarium, which does contain all the essential nutrients (except for oxygen, hydrogen and carbon), or Brightwell Aquatics' FlorinMulti which is basically identical.
The problem with proportional nutrients is that too much of some of them can cause plants to shut down assimilation of certain other nutrients, so you then have a case of excess of "A" but deficiency of "B" and such. Iron for example can cause the browning and "celophane" condition in plant leaves if the iron is beyond what the plants can easily use. Some plants store some nutrients, others cannot, but this has limits too. I decimated my floating plants in one tank by over-dosing iron last year, and it was very little. I was experimenting with nutrients a bit. Got it sorted out now, but it shows how sensitive some of this can be. And of course, there is always the issue of this stuff getting inside fish. We do have to be careful.
OP
OP
kty
New Member
- Joined
- Mar 26, 2009
- Messages
- 37
- Reaction score
- 5
Okay dokey so I need to test my tap water (after the tapsafe stuff is in). Get some substrate fertilizers as the fluorite is rubbish lol.
Not worry about the co2 for now.
Get flourish comprehensive supplement next time.
Does that sound about right Byron. Xx
Not worry about the co2 for now.
Get flourish comprehensive supplement next time.
Does that sound about right Byron. Xx
DutchMuch
Fish Addict
- Joined
- Apr 17, 2017
- Messages
- 756
- Reaction score
- 215
look at this kty
http://nilocg.com/diy-ei-liquid-fertilizer/
flourish imo is one of the biggest rip offs to newcomers in the planted tank hobby.
product description:
Product Description
Want to dose ferts but the cost of liquid ferts is too expensive???
Dont want to go through the hassle of mixing dry ferts yourself???
Then this is for YOU!!!!!!
What you get- 2x 500ml dosing bottles(1x Micros, 1x Macros)
3 sets of fertilizers packets( so you are essentially getting enough to make 1500ml of both micros and macros)
It will be shipped without water, all you will need to do is add 500ml of RO (or DI, Distilled) water to each bottle. When the solution in each bottle runs out, simply add the refill packet to the appropriate dosing bottle and add 500ml of RO water and you are good to go again.
Dosing Instructions:
Add 5ml per 20 gallons of water for each the micro and macro 3x per week on alternating days per the EI dosing instructions.
How long will this last me??
20 Gallon tank- roughly 2 years
40 gallon tank- roughly 1 year
80 gallon tank- roughly 6 months
and so on...
****
I have this and you should see my journal, crazy plant growth, health is exquisite
Last edited:
Yes. You can leave the Flourite, it just won't do very much. As for substrate tabs, like the Seachem Flourish Tabs...in the latest trio of photos, I don't see any plants that would particularly benefit from these. Heavy feeding substrate rooted plants like the large swords, tiger lotus, aponogeton and similar can benefit a lot from these, swords especially, but you have primarily stem plants which will take up nutrients via roots and leaves, and using a good liquid will supply this.
Test the tap water on its own for nitrate, i.e., with no TapSafe. Just the plain water.
Last thing, the Java Fern mid-tank, I can't tell from the photos but make sure the rhizome is not buried. It needs to be above the substrate; the true roots, the fine black "hairs" will sometimes pull themselves into the substrate, that's fine, just so long as the rhizome is above. This plant is actually best when attached to a chunk of wood, or rock. Very useful as it can be moved around.
Byron.
Similar threads
Most reactions
-
256 -
215 -
208 -
171 -
166 -
158 -
140 -
134 -
117 -
111 -
110 -
92 -
91 -
88 -
87