# Adding GH booster



## markuk (1 Sep 2008)

i've been following the EI dosing regime,and now going to add some gh booster as the
gh is pretty low around 3-4..and some of the glosso leaves [only a few] appear to be 
turning yellowish,i take it this could be a calcium deficiency or could i be wrong and dont
need to add gh booster,also as the gh booster from AE contains iron,is it best if dosed to
dose it on the days that you dose trace....any help would be very welcome thanks.

mark....


----------



## ceg4048 (1 Sep 2008)

Hi,
    Calcium deficiency is normally characterized by distortion in new leaf growth such as cupping, bending or twisting. In extreme cases there is die off of the tips of shoots and roots where there ought to be new growth. The yellowing would normally occur at the edges of the new leaf. 3-4 GH ought to be enough calcium I would have thought, but it might then be low in Magnesium. A Boron shortage can produce very similar symptoms. On the other hand if the yellowing is unilateral across the leaf and if this is occurring on older leaves then that suggests Nitrogen deficiency. In Iron deficiency new leaves grow in pale or yellow.

So ideally you'd want to take a closer look at _which_ leaves are yellowing and what type of pattern the yellowing takes. Also it would be a good idea to compare the other plants to see how they are doing. Depending on tank size you may have anything from lighting to flow distribution issues.

Cheers,


----------



## markuk (1 Sep 2008)

Thanks for the reply ceg4048,i've had a close look at the plants in question which
is my glosso and out of the whole of the carpet of plants there is only about half a
dozen individual leaves affected and they are totally yellow.there is one leaf that
i can see that is half yellow, see through and the other half is brownish this is
horizontal across the leaf,i tried to take some pics but they turned out to blurry,
any advice on what needs to be added from what you said in the last post is much
appreciated....

Also what are the dark green blotches that appear on the glosso leaves,the plants
look healthy enough and are growing pretty rapidly,so i'm lost with that one to..

thanks.


mark...


----------



## ceg4048 (1 Sep 2008)

Hi Mark,
              Well, carpet plants in general tend to suffer from nutrient deficiency as a result of poor distribution, so even though you are dosing properly and injecting a goodly amount the circulation patterns in the tank might mean that the nutrients don't make it down to the substrate level. The other plants can do well higher up where flow is better but down near the substrate is where the "ghetto" of most tanks is.

Many people tend to think of glosso as a high light plant but really it isn't. It just responds readily to higher light and tries to grow faster but is often stymied by the poor levels of nutrients and CO2 reaching them. Maybe if you can show us a picture of how your tank is configured so we can see how the water comes into the tank we might be able to suggest possible reconfigurations. Your photo doesn't have to be art, just in focus so we can do an accurate post mortem.

Also tell us more about the tanks specs such as size, lighting and filtration. Also confirm exactly what it is that you are dosing. Some people think they are dosing EI but when pressed it turns out that they grossly miscalculated and are under dosing, so when folks tell me "Oh, I'm dosing EI"  I'm always sceptical until I can see the numbers of grams or teaspoons and the frequency and compare it to the tank size.

Cheers,


----------



## markuk (1 Sep 2008)

Hi Ceg4048,i've posted a couple of pics in the gallery under [My First tank using E I.],the tank stats are
on there to save me writing them out again...in the second picture i have 2 flow pumps.the left hand
one is a seio 520 [520gph]that is pointing down on an angle to the parvula at the back.on the right
hand side is a seio 620 [620gph] that is pointing down towards the front of the tank.the filtration
is 1xeheim pro2 2028 with spray bar which is situated at the top right pointing slightly below the
waters surface,and the other filter is a tetratec ex1200 with spray bar situated at the top left
which is also pointing slightly further down from the waters surface,hope this information can
shed some light on what i may not be doing right.over to you thanks..

mark.....


----------



## ceg4048 (1 Sep 2008)

OK, I've had a look and these are the stats you posted if I'm not mistaken:
TANK
48x24x21
LIGHTING
luminare 2x150 6500k halides on 3pm-8.30pm=5 1/2hrs
2x54w t5 6500k tubes on 1pm-10pm=9hrs

pressurised co2 2bps
gh-4
kh-2.5-3
ph-6.4
co2-around 30ppm

FERTS
3/4 tsp kno3 3x wk
po4 10ml 3x wk mixed coz cant measure small enough amount
trace 50ml 3x wk=3tsp in 250ml water
w/c 50%+ wk.

PLANTS
Glosso
e.parvula
blyxa japonica
vallis nana
HC.

Well, my first impression is: "Wow, that's an awful lot of light". 400 watts on an 80 gallon tank is really serious but the exceptional flow you have seems to be working. Then again, all the plants except for the taller ones on the periphery look a bit yellow but I'm uncertain whether that is due to the photography or not. I'm a nutrient fanatic so I would say your KNO3 is marginally OK but you are way low on the PO4. I'm astonished to see the statement "Can't measure small enough amount" of PO4 because this tank can and should easily swallow 1/4 teaspoon KH2PO4 3X per week (and beg for more), no question mate. It should also be getting at least 1/4 teaspoon trace 2X per week. You could probably do with some Epsom Salts as well but I would look at the macro dosing first and foremost. The blotches on the leaves could easily be GSA (Green Spot Algae) and is a result of low phosphates.

Additionally, 2 bps sounds low on this size tank. It's not clear how you are determining the CO2 concentration. Are you just measuring the pH of the tank water and then using the pH/KH/CO2 table to derive CO2 concentration? If so you could be way off because other acids in the water can lower the pH giving you a false high CO2 calculation. I would suggest to look at getting a dropchecker with 4dKH water to give you a better idea. That browning you mentioned could well be the onset of CO2 starvation.

Cheers,


----------



## markuk (1 Sep 2008)

ceg4048 said:
			
		

> OK, I've had a look and these are the stats you posted if I'm not mistaken:
> TANK
> 48x24x21
> LIGHTING
> ...



i've got a dropper checker situated at the top right of the tank with 4dkh in it and it is a light green in colour.
i've tested the ph gh and kh using a test kit and then comparing it with the chart.the chart says that the co2 
is between 29.9-35.8 so if thats correct i should be well within the ideal co2 limit.so on your evidence i'll up
the kh2po4 slightly increase the kno3 and up my trace and see how it gets on from there...

and thanks for your excellent info.....

mark....sorry forgot the vallis nana is nice and lush green..its my photography skills that let me down......lol


----------

