Twisted white new growth?

Jon Rupprecht

Junior Poster
Jan 24, 2005
23
0
1
I recently have been having some weird growth from a couple different species of plants in my 75 gal tank. Ludwigia glandulosa has twisted leaves on the new growth and my stargrass has twisted white new growth. L aromatica has stunted and is very pale. From everything I have read it sounds like a calcium problem but I can't see how as my Kh is 20 degrees and GH is 22. Here's the rest of the specs on this tank:
Lighting is 4x55 Ah supply kits with GE 9325 bulbs on 11 hours and two 55 watt T6 5500k full spectrum bulbs with very good reflectors on for 7 hours in the middle.
Substrate- ecocomplete
KH 20 d
Gh 22 d
PH is wierd, 7.8 out of the tap, 7.4 in tank with no CO2.
Co2 is pressurized on 1 hour before lights on and off one hour before lights out. Its cranked up and brings the PH down to 6.6 by lights on and maintains this all day. According to the charts I should have over 75 ppm of co2?? Fish show distress at 6.4 and ph is measured with Milwaukee ph monitor and doubled checked with liquid tests and two other monitors so its pretty accurate.
Ferts are: 3/4 tsp kno3, 1/4 tsp po4 on wc day and then every other day.
PLantex mixed one tbs to 250 ml water dosed 10 ml daily. If I add more then 10 mls the water clouds up instantly.
Filtered by eheim 2217 running co2 reactor and eheim 2213 running a turbo twist 9 watt uv.
OK now thats done any ideas what I'm missing or have too much of? I really hate my hard water and am seriosly considering buying a ro/di unit and mix with tap to bring the hardness down to around 6-8 dkh. Also any idea why my water clouds up so bad when I add traces? Doesn't matter what brand I use it does the same thing! Thanks for reading this long post and hopefully someone will have an answer for me!!

Jon
 

aquabillpers

Lifetime Charter Member
Lifetime Member
Jan 24, 2005
639
3
18
Re: Twisted white new growth?

From what I've read it certainly sounds like a calcium deficiency. Are you sure that your hardness test kit is accurate? Some start giving false results after two years or so.

Deficient boron can also produce symptoms that are similar to those of a calcium deficiency. Are you sure that you are adding enough?

Bill
 

Jon Rupprecht

Junior Poster
Jan 24, 2005
23
0
1
Re: Twisted white new growth?

HI Bill, Thanks for the reply. I got my hardness values right from the water dept. As far as Boron, I use plantex +boron so I wouldn't think it would be that? I'm thinking I either have too much or not enough of something thats prohibiting the plants from uptaking the calcium. Thats just an uneducated guess on my part though.
 

Tom Barr

Founder
Staff member
Administrator
Jan 23, 2005
18,699
786
113
Re: Twisted white new growth?

How can you have Ca issues with hard water?

Sounds much more like NO3, but..........you are adding that as well, CO2 is high........Traces.............

Try adding TMG, add 15mls 3x a week.
I do not like CMS personally.
Greg does, bully for him, I don't.

Add 1/2 teaspoon of KNO3 every other day
Add 3/4 teaspoon of K2SO4 at water change.

I grew a bunch of different plants at a KH of 11, the Gh is really irrelevant.

Main thing was adding more traces and CO2.

Sometimes, if things went neglected, it takes awhile for the plants to recover.

Be patient if that is the case.

Regards,
Tom Barr

Regards,
Tom Barr
 

Jon Rupprecht

Junior Poster
Jan 24, 2005
23
0
1
Re: Twisted white new growth?

Thanks Tom. I actually ordered some TMG yesterday and will give it a shot when it gets here. Any idea why my water clouds up when I add traces? Flourish is the worst but all of the ones I've tried have done it too. Thanks again.

Jon
 

Tom Barr

Founder
Staff member
Administrator
Jan 23, 2005
18,699
786
113
Re: Twisted white new growth?

CMS is likely preciptating, the TMG has a different chelator(DTPH) and should be better(stronger bonding complex).

You can try Flourish if you want........ but I bet it'll do the same thing if not worse. It has a very weak chelator.

While softer water will behave somewhat differently, this issue with the traces is the main fertilizer difference.
But we have several chelators/products available to address these issues, so we can put them to good use.

Even in soft water, TMG does very well.
There is an arguement that iron that is a little harder to get a hold of but always there for the plants is better than highly available iron that's only there for an hour or so after you dose.


Regards,
Tom Barr
 

Jon Rupprecht

Junior Poster
Jan 24, 2005
23
0
1
Re: Twisted white new growth?

I have tried flourish and it was really bad! I couldn't add more then 3mls at a time without the tank clouding up. Plantex and Kent have been about the same. Tmg should be here tomorrow so I'll let you know how it goes in a couple days. Thanks again!