My Tanks

My last water change was 2 weeks ago on Saturday. Since then I have been dosing my standard EI micro dose of CSMB of 0.036 ppm B. I skipped water change last Saturday and skipped dosing on one day.

I also made a new mix of 0.15 ppm B per dose in a separate mix (11.37g in 500ml doses 5ml per dose for 0.15ppm) and been dosing it since last discussion which was Thursday, so total after skipping one day was 9 doses.


So total since last water change has been 1.85ppm Boron.


Results, no difference I would say.

Before my last mix I had been dosing 1ppm B, but made a mistake in my last calc.


Coupe of observations

First is seed pods on my Quinquangular which can be linked to B or the Molasses because both are knows to push rooting and fruiting. Before this (3 months ago) the Quinquangular would not throw seed pods. So I am linking this to my dosing regime.


Other than that, the tops of couple of my syns giants went yellow. Not sure what the root cause is, but it was 2 of 7 stems I had. They haven’t died but I am monitoring it. Boron is not favored by acid loving plants, and syns usually come from very low PH waters.


All other plants seem fine. I had been closing monitoring Ludwigia Spaherocarpa and sp Red. Both were fine. I also had added Didiplis which is doing very well. The Macrandras, mini butterfly, Variegated and the one Vin sent are all growing fine.

No stem melts as some of you had reported from their experience.


While I say all that, nothing seems to have really improved beyond what it was 2 weeks ago. Ammannia Crassicaulis still growing but has some twisted leafs, which can be attributed to low Ca. My Red Cross has stunted and again trying to unstunt, it’s the moodiest plant I have grown.

Rotala Wallichii, Magenta, Florida, sp Cramer all doing well.


What’s next, reintroducing some GH booster and start at 1tsp after WC which will add a mere 3.25 ppm of Ca and add to 0.68 of my GH.

The twisted leafs on some plants is what I need to fix and balancing B and Ca is going to be key. I am currently quite low on Ca and I will continue to increase GH booster by 1/2 tsp every week until I see improvement or issues.


I have been been doing more reading and 0.5ppm B and 60ppm Ca is what I think will optimum. But let’s see where this gets us.


So far I can say, B toxicity is real, but at levels we dose, if balanced with other elements 1ppm can be tolerated. What I have hearing from most who have ventured into high B is stem melt, however based on what I have read, B toxicity should appear on tips and edges of leafs, so while high B could have contributed to stem melts, it’s most likely competition with other elements which could have caused issues.


Please note that this could only apply to my tank or many tanks, depends on many variables, I also an blasting 250+ par at substrate which most tanks don’t.


Full tank shot




Mayaca sp. Santarem Red, growing slowly but quite ratty. Someone told me it’s a diffcult plant, doesn’t seem so.




Quinquangular with its seed pods.




Rotala/Cuphea Red Cross you can see some good tops and also see recent stunting and new better growth.




Rotala Macrandra Variegated has reached the top, had to trim it down.

You can also see some Didiplis there, starting to take color, was green when I got it.




Cuphea has come crinkled tops but much better than few months ago.




Rotala Wallichii




Ammannia Crassicaulis leafs have become full size now but seats continue to twist or curl.




Last stem of my Ludwigia sp Red. You can also see Spaherocarpa, Aciotis and yellow top on my Syn Giant

 

Another week went by with 1ppm B dosing.

Plant growth remains same. The addition of little Ca helped a bit with some leafs of Ammannia but not by much.

The downoi got stunt since I moved them. I got some new Buces which took their place, Monitoring closely if its the higher light related in new location or dosing.

Quinquangular has been seeding a lot, I thing they are lost case. We will see.




Decided to thin out the Rotala Florida to make room for Rotala Ramosior sp. Cramer.




The Macrandras have been very happy. I am liking the wild Bronze Srilanka (not specifically named) from Vin. Gonna try to grow a bush and see.





Also, once of my emersed bins. Hoping they survive the winter. I have been moving plants out into such bins because I am bored of them.

 

I am using Lightroom to take pics. It tries to get more true color but it washes out greens. Still playing with settings.

I have never been able to grow BV in any other than Aquasoil and Tom should know how much I have bought from him prior to me switching to Aquasoil.
I just sold 10 mother plants like ones I sent you, I am gonna let the others fatten up.

As far as B goes. Some of it can be CEC, soil continuously binds ions as zones get free due to plant uptake or bacterial activity.
I do want to get a B test just to check. I don’t want residual B to cross beyond 2 at which I am sure I am going to see problems.
I am also sure my Quinquangular is not liking it. All this seeding stuff started when I began the experiment, and now I am almost sure I am going to see it melt away.

While it’s not dying the way Boron toxicity will behave but I think there is a correlation.
Other observations, the Syn giants are definitely unhappy, 3 of 6 plants have dead tops since which is definitely a B symptom. They were showing some green in center but now it’s dead. The bottoms have splits so I am hopping I get new shoots. Syns had slowed down a lot since I began this experiment and I think it’s reached its max.

All others seem to be chugging along.
I won’t say there are no issues, I get some stunted tops on Rotalas here and there but I always had those and I am hoping to fix those with this experiment.
Ludwigias are happy. Liminophila and hygros too.