Thanks for the response Elaine!
I looked at the BarrReport web-page and the article that you mentioned...
It was slightly confusing I must say... But what I basically got from it
was that you put in the amount of ferts that your plants would take up as a
maximum and then accompany this with large water changes... i have also
boosted my CO2. I think I may need to pull back a bit on the K2SO4 though,
unless I am putting in matching amounts of Nitrogen or PO4 ( that is to
bring it up to the NPK ratio)... Is that right?
I am going to purchase the Trace mix and make PMDD... The only problem I
had with the trace mix I found was that the calcium was in a carbonate
form... Is this ok to use? Or should I hunt around for one that has
calcium as citrate or another form?
Thanks.
Justin
"Elaine T" wrote in message
m...
Dogma Discharge wrote:
"Justin" wrote in message
...
Hi all,
I was wondering if I could ask some advise of you all?
I appear to have developed a deficiency of some sort in my tank... I've
been to theKrib and had a look at the chart and it could be one of a
couple
of things... Boron, Ca, Magnesium, Manganese, Copper, Zinc or
Molybdenum...
I put 5 drops of Dupla Plant 24 in my tank a day, which is enough for
250litres and my tank is 200 litres...
5 drops a day! This may be fine for a 250l tank but it really depends on
how
much light you have under the hood. Perhaps you should be adding about
5ml
2-3 times a week.
My sword plant's new growth is light
green, has holes, dead spots and the leaf lookes all distorted (kind of
like
melted plastic) Also, the old leaves of the Aponegeton are going
brownish/red and develping holes...
Starving plants,,,,up all your macro nutrients drastically.
I would have first thought Potassium - for the holes, but I add 1.5tps of
K2SO4 twice a week... I add 2x500mg tabs of Ca, and I add enough
magnesium
to bring my level up to 5ppm... Can anyone please point me in the right
direction?? My Fe level has dropped dramatically since I added my PH
controller... It was at 0.5, now I am having trouble keeping it above
0.01... Could it be possible that b/c now I have brought my CO2 up to
19ppm
(previously I think it was 9ppm) that the plants are using all the
fertilizers and I am developing several deficincies at once?
Yes. Add more ferts. Try to bring the co2 up even higher....30ppm.
Does anyone else find that there is ALWAYS a nutrient deficiency of some
sort in their tank? Do you think that it would be worth making some PMDD
that way I can tweak it to my spec's? I.e. more Ca and Mg than the Dupla
drops?
PMDD is a good idea, every tank's needs are different. If you follow Tom
Barr's recipe its virtually foolproof. Throw all the nutrients your
plants
will ever need and then do a LARGE water change over the weekend to reset
the tank, best damn technique for growing aquatic plants ever 
--
Kind Regards
Cameron
I agree with Cameron. It sounds like your plants are running out of
everything now that they're growing fast with the CO2. I'd guess you're
short on N,K, and Ca++ at the minimum. But don't try to spot-fertilize
for deficiences. Add everything your plants could need.
Duplaplant is supposed to be a very good fertilizer. I'd guess that you
just need to add a lot more of it to get your iron above 0.2 ppm. Once
you're out, PMDD are a good idea because they're cheaper and a bit more
flexible. Also, use KN03 and a touch of KH2P04. You really only need
K2SO4 for a tank with a heavy fish load that already has adequate nitrogen
and phosphate.
Tom's Estimative Index article explains the generous nutrient/big water
change method Cameron is talking about. It's a brilliant and very simple
idea that I've recently started trying to use for some of my more
challenging sunlit tanks. The article is at http://www.barrreport.com.
You have to register to free to read it, but it's well worthwhile.
--
Elaine T __
http://eethomp.com/fish.html '__
rec.aquaria.* FAQ http://faq.thekrib.com