Iron Deficiency despite Flourite & Flourish?

[Silly me]

The idea is if there is 0 ( N ) 2.5 ( P ) 0 ( K ) and you add 1.0 KNO3
The plant now have the needed ratio use use the 2.5 ( P )

the result is 0.25 ( N ) 0.5 ( P ) 0 ( K )
now the prosses is stopped as there is no more ( K ) left so you have to add some 0.75 K2SO4

Now the results is 0 ( N ) 0 ( P ) 0.25 ( K )

Since both N and P is created inside the tank, the extra K will allow the plant to use what ever N or P is created, untill there is a need for something again..

 

[druxboyz]

Since both N and P is created inside the tank, the extra K will allow the plant to use what ever N or P is created, untill there is a need for something again..

N is created from the fish poop (ammonia-->nitrite--->nitrate ) cycle

bit off topic, but, what makes the P?

 

[Silly me]

It enters the aquarium from tap water, sometimes from water treatments like pH buffers and as inorganic phosphorus wasted through the gills and kidneys of animals.

http/www.thekrib.com/Plants/Fertilizer/phosphorus.html

We usually think of phosphorus more in terms of dissolved phosphate, but (excepting the many biological forms) phosphorus actually occurs in aquariums in four different forms: dissolved inorganic phosphorus, particulate inorganic phosphorus, dissolved organic phosphorus and particulate organic phosphorus. The inorganic forms are phosphates and the organic forms are molecules derived from the decomposition of biochemicals.

 

[druxboyz]

cool, thanks

 

[SoilGuru]

Just to chime in a little on the Iron, although you've already excluded it.

One, you may have plenty of iron, and depending on the form in which you added it, it could be adsorbed by the flourite "soil" mixture. Which could result in very little iron showing up in your test, as it isn't (at the time) in a soluble form, however, is still (or potentially) available to the plants.

Also, the availability of iron increases with a decrease in pH. At a pH of 7.25 which you had eariler it is quite possible you wouldn't see much of anything in the water.

If your having some signs of iron defency (spelling), one symptom is the yellowing of the leaves (however, this is not exclussive to iron).

Now, with that much light, if your not seeing the kind of growth that you'd expect, it could be due to a little lack of CO2. It may not hurt to added another system like you said, and if you have good gas exchange, it might lower the pH a little for you too.

 

[Colin_BC]

I was reading the bottle of flourish when I realized I may be somewhat responsible for the phosphates, or at least contributing with the amount I have been adding. I could be mistaken on this, but it's a thought I wanted t run by the people here. Here's the Overall analysis from the back of the bottle.

Flourish Comprehensive Plant Suplement
0.04 - 0.01 - 0.06

Guaranteed Analysis
Total Nitrogen (N) - 0.04%
Available Phosphate (P2O5) - 0.01%
Soluble Potash (K2O) - 0.06%
Calcium (Ca) - 0.1736%
Magnesium (Mg) - 0.1154%
Sulfur (S) - 0.2773%
Boron (B) - 0.0096%
Chlorine (Cl) - 1.15%
Cobalt (Co) - 0.0004%
Copper (Cu) - 0.0001%
Iron (Fe) - 0.3886%
Manganese (Mn) - 0.0125%
Molybdenum (Mo) - 0.0015%
Sodium (Na) - 0.0743%
Zinc (Zn) - 0.0004%


Colin

 

[Silly me]

Your NPK should read more like 14 : 6 : 18

but the flourish looks good, you might only need to add more K you P value is low, your daily feeding add more P to tank. Also there is a hudge amount for Fe in there.

 

[Colin_BC]

Here's an update. The algae seems to hve stopped for now. I pulled out all my limnophila that was brown and put it in my 10G. The brown has started to clear and is very slowoly getting new growth. The new limnophila I added a few weeks back to my 30G is out of control. I have to cut it half way about every 10 days. On the bright side, I bundle the cuttings into groups of 5 and sell them to my LFS for store credit. Today I took 6 bundles and expect 6-10 in another week or so. My Water Sprite is still growing out of control. I'm going to sell the majority of it the the LFS tomorrow. One stalk of it will be plenty for me the way it grows. I've brought my lighting down from 6.1WPG to 4WPG of pure daylight CPF's. My nitrates are now at almost zero. I went just over a week without adding any flourish. I added 2mL today because of the non existance of N in my tank. My phosphates went down to 2.5 a while back, but started t climb again very shortly after. I changed my phosguard for a fresh batch, putting a full container in a nylon sack in my canister filter. Since changing the Phosguard, the phosphates have climbed of the test charts again.

I know SeaChem puts out bottles of Nitrogen and potassium. Tomorrow I'm going to look for these (N in pasrticular)as well as replacing my phosguard again as it's a couple weeks old and making no difference anymore. I'm also going to do daily 25-40% water changes until I can drop the PO4. I'm going to look to see if there is such a thing as a K test kit. As well, I do quite suspect that my pH down contains phosphates. I'll ask my LFS owner tomorrow about it. I know the one I have (Wardley) is not a brand he sells. He's told me of many more common brand name product he won't carry because of various ways they can pollute the water. Perhaps he has a pH down that would be better. It's something I never thought to ask him about before. I've had a tough time for the past month or so trying to keep my pH down. It constantly climbs to between 7.25 - 7.5.

At least the algae has slowed though (except on my java fern) and most other plants have incresed growth rate.

Colin

 

[dan dan the fish man]

i had a nitrate problem with my tank (meaning i did not have anouth of it )this caused me to acquire algae after adding nitrate to 10 ppm my algae problem stopped and plants seem to grow very well , because they use so much nitrate to grow I'm adding it everyday i also use product called (daily grow) this seems to give the right amount of Fe and my plants are growing well even be for my light change i just added my lighting up to 2.8 w be for i have 1.8 and daily growth was occurring so my question to you is whats your nitrate level at ?

 

[Colin_BC]

It's damn near zero right now. I just bough Hagen's pH Down which says right on the front 'contains no phosphates.' I through my Wardley pH down in the trash. As well, I bought SeaChem's Flourish Nitrogen to start adding. I added 2mL to start. I'll test tomorrow so I can see if it's made a difference, but I may have to lok for some of SeaChem's test kits geared specifically for plants. I replaced all my Phosguard again. When I added the last batch, I also started medicating with MelaFix, so it's possible it was absorbed by the PhosGuard instead of the phosphates. I also purchased a Brita tap filter. My LFS owner suggested a leave a glass of water out for 4-5 days and test for phosphates then. he said the fact that my tap water reads between 0.25mg/L - 0.50mg/L fresh out of the tap is a bit alarming. If anything, the Brita is helping with the chlorine. You can smell the chlorine in the tap water as soon as the tap is turned on. the Brita has fixed that. Hopefully those phosphates will start to drop soon.

Colin