Echinodorus tennelus deficiency?

[JoeBanks]

Some of the leaves of Echinodorus tennelus in my tank appear shredded and full of holes. What deficiency would cause this?

I use EI dosing, the tank is mostly algae free other than some green spot. The tank shows slow growth overall, which I can't explain since I have plenty of light and CO2, but otherwise seems okay.

 

[VaughnH]

Re: Echinodorus tennelus deficiency?

Joe, what is your fertilizing routine? And, how big is the tank and what wattage is the lighting? DIY or pressurized CO2? Just basic data that helps figure out what your problem might be.

 

[JoeBanks]

Re: Echinodorus tennelus deficiency?

The tank is 180 gallons. I use the nutri-calc program and dose more-or-less according to numbers it suggests.

Specifically:

3 times a week:
KNo3- 1.5 tsp
K2PHO4- 1/2 tsp
CaCl - 9 tsp
MgSO4- 6 tsp

100ml TMG on alternate 3 days

50% water change once a week

CF lighting at 495 watts

Pressurized CO2 with controller to PH 6.4 from a starting PH of 7.8

 

[JoeBanks]

Re: Echinodorus tennelus deficiency?

Another thing I noticed:

I was away for the weekend and didn't dose for 4 days. When I got back, the tank was fine except for a patch of moss which had gone from green and bushy to dark and stringy. I did a water change and resumed dosing, and new bright green shoots started to form in the moss two days later. It seems like I must be bottoming out on some nutrient, but with the amounts I'm putting in, I don't understand what I would be short on.

 

[VaughnH]

Re: Echinodorus tennelus deficiency?

The combination of GSA and slow plant growth suggests you are low on phosphates. People usually find when they add some more phosphate the nitrates get used up much faster too, as the plant growth accelerates. I now use about 3/32 tsp of KH2PO4 every other day in 25 gallons of water (29 gallon tank), and 1/4 tsp of KNO3. If that were scaled up you would use about 5/8 tsp of KH2PO4. Since an increase of even more than that in PO4 won't do any harm, why not try it and see what it does?

 

[JoeBanks]

Re: Echinodorus tennelus deficiency?

I'll give the PO4 a shot.

I also just replaced all my bulbs, which were only 7 months old so I don't think that they needed replacing, but I wanted to see if it makes a difference.

Is there a consensus on how often you should replace CF bulbs?

 

[quenton]

Re: Echinodorus tennelus deficiency?

The combination of GSA and slow plant growth suggests you are low on phosphates. People usually find when they add some more phosphate the nitrates get used up much faster too, as the plant growth accelerates. I now use about 3/32 tsp of KH2PO4 every other day in 25 gallons of water (29 gallon tank), and 1/4 tsp of KNO3. If that were scaled up you would use about 5/8 tsp of KH2PO4. Since an increase of even more than that in PO4 won't do any harm, why not try it and see what it does?

For 180 (assuming its about 165 of real water), I'd be doing about 3/4tsp KH2PO4 and 2tsp of KNO3.