confused about dosing

[matthewburk]

I have a 90 gallon tank, high light, pressurized co2, medium plantload.

I am really confused and lost with all the information that I have to absorb to dose correctly.

I am currently dosing with dry ferts from greg watson

My dosing sched is

sun po4 1/4t
mon csm+b 1/4t
tue po4 1/4t
wed csm+b 1/4t
thu po4 1/4t
fri csm+b 1/4t
sat po4 1/4t

I don't dose nitrates becuase my tap has 40+ppm nitrates

I am doing weekly water changes and have hard water 30GH

I am not sure what I am doing is right becuase my L. repens grows in with curled leaves, and they seem to fall off a lot, while everything else is doing fine.

Can anybody suggest what might be the problem with my L. repens.

Also I would *LIKE* to reduce water changes to once a month, would my dosing need to change if I did that?

 

[aquabillpers]

Re: confused about dosing

Curled leaves are a symptom of potassium deficiency, among other things. Perhaps try adding some for a week or so and see how that works?

As far as changing water is concerned, there is a lot here about the EI method. You can reduce the frequency of water changes to some extent, but the archives will tell you much more than I can about that.

I will add that a minority of us change water about once a month or so, and then perhaps 5 percent. But we take a different approach to growing plants.

Good luck!

Bill

 

[PK1]

Re: confused about dosing

Matthew,

Interesting that you have the same problem as me. I have a 90 with 3 WPG, CO2 and high plant load. I started EI about 3-4 weeks ago and have seen major improvements (little green dust algae persisting... otherwise all is good), except my Ludwigia Glandulosa grows very curly leaves.

My dosing is mostly the same as you, except that I add 1 tsp of KNO3 3x per week and give 1 day break before water changes. My water has a GH of 9, but I add a GH to it at water changes (Seachem Eq).

I will also try adding K to see what happens. Please post back if you solve the problem.

On occasion I have read that Tom recommends adding TMG or Flourish instead of CSM + B. Does anyone (hint) know exactly why? Before I switch to TMG I would like to know what benefits it has.

 

[defdac]

Re: confused about dosing

except my Ludwigia Glandulosa grows very curly leaves.

Same here. I can only get the L. glandulosa to become pretty with less PO4 keeping it under 0.5 ppm thus restricting it's growth-rates. It also get's pretty in the shadow of other plants also restricting it's growth rates. But near the light when PO4-levels are high it get's very curly. It seems to love PO4 though - when the PO4 are high it keeps it's lowest leaves and have phenomenal growth. Perhaps to good growth? I'm thinking of some "bitter pit"-phenomenon but with PO4 instead of ammonium.

I thought it was Calcium deficiency but CaCl2/Dolomite/CaCO3 didn't help. It just made me have to dose more micros.

My dosing is mostly the same as you, except that I add 1 tsp of KNO3 3x per week and give 1 day break before water changes. My water has a GH of 9, but I add a GH to it at water changes (Seachem Eq).

Like me in my 300-litres (78 gallon) but I have a GH of 2.5 with about 22 ppm Ca and 2.5 ppm Mg.

 

[matthewburk]

Re: confused about dosing

Ok I started dosing K 2 days ago. It worked my L.repens is looking great, not a full recovery yet, I imagine another day or 2 will do it.

 

[PK1]

Re: confused about dosing

It also get's pretty in the shadow of other plants also restricting it's growth rates. But near the light when PO4-levels are high it get's very curly.

Ditto. I have beautiful growth in the shade but not in full light, the only problem is that it grows green leaves in the shade. Obviously it becomes limites in something at higher growth rates under light. I just got over GSA problems so I am hesitant in reducing PO4, I'll continue the K treatment for a while to see if it helps...

 

[Tom Barr]

Re: confused about dosing

Most of the L repens tends to do well in soft water(KH) and I would compare notes on that rather than GH.

But I've found it growing so red and well at 15 ft and in limestone also, moderately hard KH(7) and good CO2.

It's always done well if I give it lots of CO2 and light with many different tap waters.



Regards,
Tom Barr

 

[reiverix]

Re: confused about dosing

I thought it was Calcium deficiency but CaCl2/Dolomite/CaCO3 didn't help. It just made me have to dose more micros

Yep my java fern goes incredibly twisty if I don't dose calcium and a lot of it. There's 30ppm in my tapwater and I have to add enough CaCl2 to take it to 90ppm otherwise my tank looks dreadful very fast.

 

[matthewburk]

Re: confused about dosing

Most of the L repens tends to do well in soft water(KH) and I would compare notes on that rather than GH.

But I've found it growing so red and well at 15 ft and in limestone also, moderately hard KH(7) and good CO2.

It's always done well if I give it lots of CO2 and light with many different tap waters.



Regards,
Tom Barr

Hmm interesting, I have very high KH as well I think. Can't read the tests though, so I can't say with any accuracy. However in my lower light tanks my L. repens does great, which is why I assumed with the accelerated growth that it must be some nutrient lacking.

 

[PK1]

Re: confused about dosing

which is why I assumed with the accelerated growth that it must be some nutrient lacking.

That nutrient lacking could very well be Ca at higher growth rates. I have a KH of 4-5 and have added some Ca (in form of CaCO3) to the tank in the past without results. If what reiverix says is right, I would have to add a lot more CaCO3 that I had in the past.

I will try the K for a week or so and if not, I will give the Ca a try...

 

[Tom Barr]

Re: confused about dosing

However in my lower light tanks my L. repens does great, which is why I assumed with the accelerated growth that it must be some nutrient lacking.

No, not always the case.
Lower light means more time to assimilate, the rate of assimilation can be overloaded in some conditions even if the ppm of nutrients are the same.

Lower light allows more time to assimilate most nutrients.
But folks want high light............

Regards,
Tom Barr