Echinodorus - problem with leaves decay and glassiness

[Marcel G]

Hi all,

please, can anyone help me with the diagnosis of the problem with my Echinodorus blaherae (Amazon Sword)? It's leaves start to decay (tissue desintegration mostly on the leaves edges) - see photos in the attachment. On the smaller (middle) leaf in the second photo you can see a sign of glassiness also (the younger/new leaf is a little bit transparent). Also right at these leaves I'm adding my fertilizer into the water each day (might that be the cause? - maybe the leaves are burned by the fertilizer just before it dissolve in water).

Background info:
Substrate: ADA Aqua Soil Amazonia + ADA Power Sand (4" [10cm] high layer)
Light: 2x 28W T5HO at 28" [70cm] above the substrate => about 70 μmol PAR at the substrate
Firtilizer (EI method): daily dosage: 3 mg/l K (= 21 mg/l weekly), 0.4 mg/l PO4 (= 3 mg/l weekly), 0.07 mg/l Fe (= 0.5 mg/l weekly), in my tap water I have approximately 35 mg/l NO3 (so I don't add any NO3)
CO2: 30-40 mg/l (using pressurized 2kg set) + 2 ml of EasyCarbon daily (recommended dosage)
pH = 6.5 to 7.0
Hardness and alkalinity: GH = 10, KH = 5
NH3 and NO2: unmeasurable
Filter media: zeolite, Juwel Cirax and Juwel Carbon

 

[Biollante]

Feed Me

Hi,

The iron is way low, Echinodorus spp. are iron pigs. I am assuming the iron is part of the micronutrient. I recommend extra iron beyond what the micronutrient mix provides.

I do not understand 0.07-[SUP]mg[/SUP]∕[SUB]l[/SUB] Fe= 0.5-[SUP] mg∕[/SUP][SUB]l[/SUB] Fe per week, I am using 0.07-[SUP] mg[/SUP]∕[SUB]l[/SUB] as the amount, since it is unclear what you mean. If you are adding 0.5-[SUP] mg[/SUP]∕[SUB]l[/SUB] Fe per week as micronutrients that is probably enough, I would add chelated iron at the rate of ⅓ the micronutrient dose, adding another .17-ppm Fe.

My experience is that Echinodorus spp. are big root feeders, the easiest thing to do is add a root tab or two around the plants, especially since they are so close to each other.

Biollante

 

[Htomassini]

Agreed. Ada soil is low on iron to begin with. A lot of people will put a section of fluorite or laterite where swords are in addition to the Ada stuff. But even then after a while iron supplements are needed.


Henry Tomassini
www.theplantedaquariumstore.com
Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

 

[Marcel G]

Thank you very much for your answers.