# The Importance of GH Booster.



## Dave Spencer

Six months ago I moved house, a distance of approximately 10 minutes by car. The water in my previous house was very soft, and I didn`t expect the new house to be much different. Due to the softness of the water in the previous house I would add a little GH booster to my tanks at water change, just in case.

Over time, I reduced what I added to see if it was necessary. Lo and behold, I found that I didn`t need to add any, so I stopped adding it to all my tanks. Thinking my new water source was very similar, I refrained from adding GH booster to a new 120l I set up in the new house, plus the 60l which I had set up and matured in the old house, ready for moving my fish.

The 60l continued to flourish in the new house, whilst the 120l turned in to a bit of a disaster, with a type of brown fuzzy algae clogging up my _Eleocharis parvula_. It is a type I have never seen before in my tanks. My initial thoughts were to blame it on the very low plant mass I was starting out with. The 60l continued to thrive, being topped up daily with 1 litre of water to make up for evaporation, so I never suspected the change in tap water. There were signs, though. My two girls blonde, curly hair was behaving differently after being washed, but I didn`t give this much thought. 

My 120l had CO2 levels way beyond yellow, yet nothing pearled, and the algae was taking over the tank. Flow was good, ferts were good, light was controlled for an immature tank, it was seeded with mulm, the filter had Purigen and Zeolite. The plants were out of my propagator, and none of the Crypts had melted. All I was achieving was a huge algal bloom, and a mysteriously dormant plant mass, yet still the 60l thrived.

Thinking of what the cause of the algae could be, I started to think about how Alison was adamant our water was softer, due to a change in the curls in the girls` hair. Going back to adding GH booster was the conclusion I came to. The 60l was doing fine without GH booster, but that had probably been able to build up Ca and Mg reserves from the previous house.

So, I added a pinch of GH booster to the 120l. That evening, when I came home from work the whole tank was fizzing like a lemonade bottle. I would never have believed that adding GH booster would have had this effect on my tank. I have also been able to pull the CO2 right back, too.

I took me two months of algified frustration to work out this simple solution. 

Dave.


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## George Farmer

Great post mate and thanks for sharing. 

Glad you eventually sussed out the problem.  Who would have thought the solution lay in observing female hair!?


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## LondonDragon

I remember you mentioning this at the TGM visit, glad it all worked out in the end, thanks for sharing too


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## CeeJay

Hi Dave

Glad you stuck with it and got it sorted, and thanks for sharing your findings.



			
				Dave Spencer said:
			
		

> I took me two months of algified frustration to work out this simple solution.


As they say, it's only simple if you know the answer   
But that is sometimes both the beauty and frustration about this hobby


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## Dave Spencer

George Farmer said:
			
		

> Who would have thought the solution lay in observing female hair!?



Who needs test kits.


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## JamesC

Great you got it sorted. Remember though that GH Booster contains quite a lot of potassium sulphate as well and it may be this that is causing your plants to suddenly pearl. From my own experience I've noticed that adding potassium has a greater immediate effect on plants than adding calcium or magnesium. It's just a thought and if you are already dosing plenty of KNO3 and KH2PO4 then you will already have plenty of K. If not then you could always add some potassium sulphate instead of the GH Booster and see what that does.

James


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## Jase

Interesting reading Dave, what's the science behind the GH booster and the algae going?


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## George Farmer

Jase said:
			
		

> Interesting reading Dave, what's the science behind the GH booster and the algae going?


I would say it's a simple case of nutrient deficiency, prior to the GH Booster being added.  Dave's water was so soft that it was lacking Mg, Ca and possibly K.

GH Booster contains these nutrients.


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## Jase

Thanks George


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## Dave Spencer

JamesC said:
			
		

> .....Remember though that GH Booster contains quite a lot of potassium sulphate as well and it may be this that is causing your plants to suddenly pearl.



I never realised that there was potassium sulphate in GH booster. 

The tank is EI dosed, so a K deficiency wasn`t something that I considered. It was a surprise how differently the plants are behaving now, and the only thing I have done differently is add GH booster. They have gone from being virtually dormant, to fizzing like mad. All I have to do now is get rid of the algae that got its feet under the table.


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## Dave Spencer

Jase said:
			
		

> Interesting reading Dave, what's the science behind the GH booster and the algae going?



Plant health/growth.

The algae is still there, and will need manual removal, but I am now fighting a winnable battle. This is the tank that I had three filters leak on the floor when I was setting it up, along with a pressure gauge going on my CO2 regulator. If I get a nice scape out of this one, then I know I am in the hobby for the long haul. Setting this tank has been very trying.

Dave.


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## JamesC

Cool, probably wasn't potassium then. But yes GH Booster contains loads of potassium sulphate and depending what one you use it often has more potassium sulphate than the calcium and magnesium sulphate. Bit of a con really, at least Seachem call their one Equilibrium which is much more appropriate. They work well if used as you do with just a small amount but to add them to reconstitute RO water they send the TDS sky high which is why I don't use them but make my own. 

James


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## FishBeast

Very well done. I wouldn't have figured that one out I bet.


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## plantbrain

Dave it's mostly likely due to low Mg, not the Ca++.

You can try dosing MgSO4 alone and see, might take a couple or 3 weeks before the tank gets limited again.
Mg is the central atom in Chl a etc.......it's got a lot of roles.
Ca.........I think plants are very good at getting this............Mg limitation is much more common and your description sounds more like Mg.

Regards, 
Tom Barr


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## dw1305

Hi all,
Magnesium deficiency is a distinct possibility, I'm not sure about in aquatics but you see it a lot on garden/green-house plants. It has a distinctive look, with "interveinal chlorosis", tomatoes nearly always develop it unless you add extra mg (usually as "Epsom salts" in a foliar spray)





& 





cheers Darrel


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## a1Matt

dw1305 said:
			
		

> I'm not sure about in aquatics but you see it a lot on garden/green-house plants. It has a distinctive look, with "interveinal chlorosis",



It is the same in aquatics.

IME, starts off as yellowing round the edges of the leaves, that creep in, eventually leaving just the veining green and the rest of the leaf yellow.


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## JohnC

Hi,

After my first year stumbling into planted tanks I learned a bit more about the chemistry of what I was doing and put some requests into my water board for the exact make up of my tap water. Low and behold the low KH GH i knew about was actually compounded by a almost total lack of Mg. 

I in turn learned that my trace mix didn't contain any extra so started adding Mg to my dosing schedule once a week to wondrous effects. Your doing EI, which trace mix are you using?

Thanks,
John


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## Graeme Edwards

Interesting Dave, nice thread.

Ive never heard of this problem before. But then I guess I am only ust to either hardish water or remineralising RO. When doing that, I have to test the GH and KH so I know whats going on.

I know of another chap who doses extra GH booster ( Sera stuff ) to his tap water in Mold ( Which aint to far from you Dave ), but im not sure he does it for the same reasons. He keeps Rainbows.....

Does this not back up the thought that plants generally do better in harder water areas..... This wouldnt be a problem for those people. 

Its interesting to know the science behind it, but for others is good to know its simply worth a try even if your not interested in the mumbo jumbo stuff behind it - which im not the biggest fan of.

Upping KH often gets plants moving in my experience, but im doing this with the Co2,KH,PH relationship in mind. Though it could also be having the same affect for the plants as yours are Dave.

The situation with your drop checker is interesting too. Was the drop checking going back to blue when the Co2 was off? If the water was *very* soft, then I would imagine it was yellow all the time? Yes?
This could also mean that if your water was naturally soft and acidic, then even just adding KH+ would have had the same effect....

All of the above is speculative, but I would be interested to see what the natural GH,KH and PH of your water was Dave.

Cheers.


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## chris1004

Hi,

In my mind all Dave's problems could have been avoided if he had used a test kit in the first place. Its therefore a prime example that test kits do still have a place in this hobby albeit with the understanding that they are only indicators as opposed to accurate results, with the notable exception of the nitrate home test kit which is completely useless.

They can certainly be useful to point the way forward.

Regards, Chris.


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## dw1305

Hi all,
I'd certainly agree that nitrate test kits aren't very useful, but you can't really test for magnesium at home, the usual methods are by either "Flame Photometry" http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Photoelectric_flame_photometer (not particularly accurate) or by "Atomic Absorption Spectrophotometry" http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Atomic_Absorption_Spectrophotometry. 

The GH value would help, but it would only tell you the amount of divalent ions (Ca2+ & Mg2+), and often the problem with magnesium deficiency is the Ca/Mg  or K/Mg ratio (high levels of Ca and/or potassium (K) interfere with the uptake of Mg2+ ions), rather than the total amount of magnesium present.

Because magnesium sulphate is easily available (as the hepta-hydrate form "Epsom Salts" http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Epsom_salts) and not associated with toxicity to plants or animals, it's probably worth adding a 5 - 10ppm and seeing if your plants green up and/or improve in growth. If you have interveinal chlorosis (in the picture above) it is usually either Iron (Fe) or Magnesium (Mg) deficiency http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Magnesium_deficiency, and in many cases a problem with calcium interfering with uptake of Mg and/or Fe rather than a total lack of these elements.

cheers Darrel


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## George Farmer

Could testing for Ca give an indication of Mg if you knew the GH?


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## Dave Spencer

hijac said:
			
		

> Your doing EI, which trace mix are you using?
> 
> Thanks,
> John



I use the original trace from AE, before they changed the formula.



			
				Graeme Edwards said:
			
		

> Interesting Dave, nice thread.



Cheers, Graeme. I hoiped people would find this interesting. Shame it is at my expense, though.  



			
				Graeme Edwards said:
			
		

> Ive never heard of this problem before.



Me neither. This is probably part of the reason why this took me so long to figure things out.



			
				Graeme Edwards said:
			
		

> I know of another chap who doses extra GH booster ( Sera stuff ) to his tap water in Mold ( Which aint to far from you Dave ), but im not sure he does it for the same reasons. He keeps Rainbows.....



I lived in Mold for two years with that soft water. It is the water I actually kicked off this hobby with. I knew it was soft, so I added GH booster as a just in case measure. With time, I phased the GH booster out altogether. I restarted the GH booster when I moved to Broughton, but phased it out once again, despite the water being very soft.

Having moved to a brand new house, I found the missus filling all the nooks and crannies pretty sharpish and, having already lost the 240l, I had to move quick and get the scabby Juwel out of moth balls. Having only moved ten minutes down the road, I made the fair assumption that the tap water was still the same level of softness. Having a 60l house move tank that had matured in other tap water, and thriving in my new hall way masked the problem for me, too. That tank would probably have Mg reserves the plants could call upon for a period of time.

I did rush this tank, and find it hard to give it the time it needed (hanging curtains, shelves etc...), but no excuses. As someone who strongly endorses reading the tank and its inhabitants, I should have been more on the ball. It is still taking a lot of work to turn this tank around, though.



			
				Graeme Edwards said:
			
		

> Does this not back up the thought that plants generally do better in harder water areas..... This wouldnt be a problem for those people.



I`m not convinced this is the case. I can grow healthy plants in uber soft water, and should have just got back on to the GH booster with the new tap water, and tried to see if I could phase it out as per my previous set ups.




			
				Graeme Edwards said:
			
		

> The situation with your drop checker is interesting too. Was the drop checking going back to blue when the Co2 was off? If the water was *very* soft, then I would imagine it was yellow all the time? Yes?



It was yellow 24/7, but I do pour the stuff in on a new tank. I actually only use the drop checker to bring the CO2 back down for adding fish and inverts. Then it goes back out of the tank again, until the next scape.



			
				chris1004 said:
			
		

> In my mind all Dave's problems could have been avoided if he had used a test kit in the first place.
> 
> 
> 
> I often carry out lab analysis of power station boiler water, and am not aware of an off the shelf test kit that would be even remotely accurate in telling me the Mg levels of my tap water. I used to test tap/tank for everything in the early days, but I won`t be taking that step backwards. This was a basic error that others that fertilise their tanks should take note of. I has an entirely new type of algae, to me, which should have been the single, biggest indicator.
> 
> Dave.
Click to expand...


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## dw1305

Hi all,


> Could testing for Ca give an indication of Mg if you knew the GH?


 it would, as they are the only 2 likely divalent ions, if you subtract Ca from the total it would give the level of Mg. Magnesium forms the central atom of the chlorophyll molecule (very similar to the iron haem group in blood) so it is an important resource for the plant.






You can get test strips (from Merck) for calcium and magnesium, but I don't think they wouldn't be sensitive enough for fresh water (although they would give you an indication if you kept Marine aquaria, because sea water is rich in Ca and Mg as well as Na etc,).

There are also these (possibly the Merck ones re-branded?) http://www.aquaessentials.co.uk/sal...-p-3764.html?zenid=m7aci60r1ml89a643tdgjm8344.

I think the problem would be that you would have to test for Ca in the same way as Mg, by either flame photometry or  spectrophotometry. An analytical lab (at a water company or similar) would have an ICP-MS (Inductively Coupled Plasma- Mass Spectrometry), which would sample all the ions in thousands of water sample every day. 





> The instrument uses argon gas, the atoms of which are excited by high energy radio frequency to produce a plasma (atoms where the electrons are no longer bound to the atom) ....... The sample is then introduced into this plasma as an aerosol which rips the molecules apart into the component atoms which in turn become ionised within the plasma these ions are then passed into the second section of analyser, the mass spectrometer which separates the ion by their mass/charge ratio allowing not only the identification of the metal but also the isotope of the metal."


 there is also Graphite Furnace Atomic absorption (GFAA) and Anodic Stripping Voltammetry, both very accurate but not really the sort of kit  most homes have. 

cheers Darrel


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## George Farmer

Exactly as I thought, Darrell...   

(And that's why you're an expert!)


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## dw1305

Hi all,
Cheating really, we've recently tendered for a new spectrophotometer, so I've got all the bumf from the various manufacturers to hand.

cheers Darrel


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## Graeme Edwards

Yep, ya lost me there too.

To much info for me. Interesting, but to much science for me......





			
				Dave Spencer said:
			
		

> Graeme Edwards said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> The situation with your drop checker is interesting too. Was the drop checking going back to blue when the Co2 was off? If the water was *very* soft, then I would imagine it was yellow all the time? Yes?
> 
> 
> 
> 
> It was yellow 24/7, but I do pour the stuff in on a new tank. I actually only use the drop checker to bring the CO2 back down for adding fish and inverts. Then it goes back out of the tank again, until the next scape.
> 
> 
> Dave.
Click to expand...


I believe this situation with a constant yellow drop checker confuses many people and they often get unduly worried.

The long and short of your situation though Dave, is, if your in a soft water area, think about the GH levels and think about adding some GH booster. It will not do any harm to try at least.

Cheers.


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## John Starkey

dw1305 said:
			
		

> Hi all,
> 
> 
> 
> Could testing for Ca give an indication of Mg if you knew the GH?
> 
> 
> 
> it would, as they are the only 2 likely divalent ions, if you subtract Ca from the total it would give the level of Mg. Magnesium forms the central atom of the chlorophyll molecule (very similar to the iron haem group in blood) so it is an important resource for the plant.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> You can get test strips (from Merck) for calcium and magnesium, but I don't think they wouldn't be sensitive enough for fresh water (although they would give you an indication if you kept Marine aquaria, because sea water is rich in Ca and Mg as well as Na etc,).
> 
> There are also these (possibly the Merck ones re-branded?) http://www.aquaessentials.co.uk/sal...-p-3764.html?zenid=m7aci60r1ml89a643tdgjm8344.
> 
> I think the problem would be that you would have to test for Ca in the same way as Mg, by either flame photometry or  spectrophotometry. An analytical lab (at a water company or similar) would have an ICP-MS (Inductively Coupled Plasma- Mass Spectrometry), which would sample all the ions in thousands of water sample every day.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> The instrument uses argon gas, the atoms of which are excited by high energy radio frequency to produce a plasma (atoms where the electrons are no longer bound to the atom) ....... The sample is then introduced into this plasma as an aerosol which rips the molecules apart into the component atoms which in turn become ionised within the plasma these ions are then passed into the second section of analyser, the mass spectrometer which separates the ion by their mass/charge ratio allowing not only the identification of the metal but also the isotope of the metal."
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> there is also Graphite Furnace Atomic absorption (GFAA) and Anodic Stripping Voltammetry, both very accurate but not really the sort of kit  most homes have.
> 
> cheers Darrel
Click to expand...


I was just about to post the exact same answer  :? ,

quality answer Darrel,  ,
regards
john.


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## plantbrain

Dave Spencer said:
			
		

> JamesC said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> .....Remember though that GH Booster contains quite a lot of potassium sulphate as well and it may be this that is causing your plants to suddenly pearl.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> I never realised that there was potassium sulphate in GH booster.
> 
> The tank is EI dosed, so a K deficiency wasn`t something that I considered. It was a surprise how differently the plants are behaving now, and the only thing I have done differently is add GH booster. They have gone from being virtually dormant, to fizzing like mad. All I have to do now is get rid of the algae that got its feet under the table.
Click to expand...


Much more likely due to Mg limitation.

Such rapid responses are rare for K+ and Ca++.

Also, the D1 protein that splits water and starts feeding the electrons into PS1 and PSII, you know, the enzyme that actually gives off O2 as a waste product??? If you add a lot more Mg, suddenly......you will get a lot more O2. Some evidence that Mg++ helps in addition to the Chl a/b for increasing O2 and e- transfer rates.
I've had confirmed Mg deficiencies years ago. Anubias expressed it the best visually based on classic crop examples.

You can stop dosing GH booster, wait about 3-4 weeks, then dose just MgSO4, and note response.
Then repeat once, twice then you can confirm it fairly reasonably. The other thing is to do a plant tissue analysis, send it off to a lab to get the % Mg in the stressed plant vs healthy.

Still, GH booster is sort of hit all targets type of product, Mg, Ca++, K+
Less guess and more estimation and upkeep like EI.
From there you can slowly taper off, then note plant health, then raise back up to the next highest dosing once you see any negative response.




Regards, 
Tom Barr






Regards, 
Tom Barr


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## Dave Spencer

Well, I wrote a lengthyish reply that disappeared in the ether. That`s a few million electrons that died for nothing. Thanks to everyone for their help, especially Tom and Darryl.

I think I`ll give MgSO4 a go sometime, and figure out how much I need to dose to keep my plants happy. Who would have thought adding Mg can trigger pearling in this manner? :idea: 

Dave.


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## dw1305

Hi all,


> lso, the D1 protein that splits water and starts feeding the electrons into PS1 and PSII, you know, the enzyme that actually gives off O2 as a waste product??? If you add a lot more Mg, suddenly......you will get a lot more O2. Some evidence that Mg++ helps in addition to the Chl a/b for increasing O2 and e- transfer rates. I've had confirmed Mg deficiencies years ago. Anubias expressed it the best visually based on classic crop examples.


 I didn't know this, but it would certainly make senses as when you add foliar magnesium you get a very rapid response to it.

cheers Darrel


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## chris1004

Dave Spencer said:
			
		

> chris1004 said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> In my mind all Dave's problems could have been avoided if he had used a test kit in the first place.
> 
> 
> 
> I often carry out lab analysis of power station boiler water, and am not aware of an off the shelf test kit that would be even remotely accurate in telling me the Mg levels of my tap water. I used to test tap/tank for everything in the early days, but I won`t be taking that step backwards. This was a basic error that others that fertilise their tanks should take note of. I has an entirely new type of algae, to me, which should have been the single, biggest indicator.
> 
> Dave.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Click to expand...
Click to expand...


Hi,

Sorry Dave what I meant is that if you had done a quick GH test reading with a home test kit it would have shown the water to have been different to that from your old house. Unless of course you had exactly the right ammount of extra calcium in the water to make up the short fall for the lack of magnesium, which would be highly unlikely. 

It may have pointed the way foward earlier thats all I'm suggesting, but I'm glad you've got it sorted out now and although most of the chemistry is above my head I've found reading this thread very interesting.

Regards, Chris.


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## plantbrain

Dave Spencer said:
			
		

> Well, I wrote a lengthyish reply that disappeared in the ether. That`s a few million electrons that died for nothing. Thanks to everyone for their help, especially Tom and Darryl.
> 
> I think I`ll give MgSO4 a go sometime, and figure out how much I need to dose to keep my plants happy. Who would have thought adding Mg can trigger pearling in this manner? :idea:
> 
> Dave.



Do like we did 15 years ago with PMDD, add MgSO4 to the trace liquid or directly to CMS. Then you are covered. I add a little to my traces for good measure.

Some PPS loonies claimed excess Mg stunted tips in certain plants above at 10ppm, well my tap had 52ppm so I knew that could not be correct when I grew these plants:





When folks give actual data, then we have something to compare and test against :idea: 
Many do not do this (meaning they do not test much or like belief more than experimenting/questioning) and just go with the dogma that makes them feel good. 

I do not think you will really ever need more than say 2-5ppm however.
That's an easy target to hit in general 1-2x a week or so.

Regards, 
Tom Barr


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## plantbrain

dw1305 said:
			
		

> Hi all,
> 
> 
> 
> lso, the D1 protein that splits water and starts feeding the electrons into PS1 and PSII, you know, the enzyme that actually gives off O2 as a waste product??? If you add a lot more Mg, suddenly......you will get a lot more O2. Some evidence that Mg++ helps in addition to the Chl a/b for increasing O2 and e- transfer rates. I've had confirmed Mg deficiencies years ago. Anubias expressed it the best visually based on classic crop examples.
> 
> 
> 
> I didn't know this, but it would certainly make senses as when you add foliar magnesium you get a very rapid response to it.
> 
> cheers Darrel
Click to expand...


Well, if you think about certain nutrients in the holistic plant biochemistry.........then these biochemical pathways are bit like the highway/tube system.

1. If the enzymes are messed up, or need to be rebuilt, more added suddenly, then you have construction and delays like the highways. Carbon......Fe........and a few others are slower responses, but really get going well once stable and the flow of traffic(growth/health) really goes along at a good clip.

2. If you suddenly fix something that is an easy fix, say like increase PPi, or add Mg++ that's strongly limiting, holding back electron flow, ATP production, plants will still deal with and live with strong limitations, but when it's relieved, the plants do not have to make enzymes to gear up, they just need the quick fix of the inorganic nutrient, little assimilation is required. 

Making more Rubsico on the other hand if the CO2 drops suddenly?
That's a much larger and more complex job for the plant and requires a lot more resources and pathways.

45 minute responses are common with PO4 under strong limitation. Might be a little longer with Mg, but in a few hours........not too bad.  Chl a/b are also N rich, so that can cause issues if the tank is N limited, some use this to get more red out by N limiting the plants slightly to reduce the green color masking of the red pigments.

Anything that can help increase that rate of water splitting and drive the photosystem faster, produce more of them etc, the better for pearling, growth. Then there is the whole CO2 fixation part in the next stage in Calvin cycle.
PSI and PSII are fast responses, the CO2 fixation is slower.
Light is even faster response.

Photosynthesize this:
Try photo shoots with lots of high light, then run all the lamps, and stop the flow of the water in the tank, remove the equipment etc.

Wait about 1 hour.

The aquarium should be pearling like never before.
This level cannot be sustained easily, but makes a nice pretty pic.

You can also mega dose, or dosing 2x the normal amount a day before a large water change.
This pumps the plants full of nutrients, then they are removed later. Good large water changes= adds CO2/exposes plants to air and non limiting CO2 for a few moments and also adds lots of O2.
Then later that evening, do the photo shoot.

Try this sometime.
ADA does something like this for their shoots.

Regards, 
Tom Barr


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## Dave Spencer

Well, here is my first fish tank shot since May last year.  

It is my usual warts and all type, simply due to laziness, but primarily due to wanting to show exactly how it is right now, in hope of showing a big improvement at a later date.

This tank took a monumental amount of time and effort to turn it around, and still has a long way to go. I can`t honestly understand why that is so, but the brown fuzzy stuff that took over in the early days has been tenacious, to say the least. It is still present in the moss and the E parvula, but is just about the last type of alga to have any kind of strong foot hold. 

Rhizoclonium and Spirogyra both gave me a good run for my money. The Rhizo was particularly fond of the Marsilea crenata, and treating it with Excel resulted in a lot of dying off of the Marsilea.

I intend to shift the piece of wood at back right so that it doesn`t disappear behind the front piece, from the camera view point. The Java fern is just starting to take hold, and will need sorting out soon. I`m hoping to have a fair amount growing forewards and down towards the roots at the front. The Cryptocoryne undulata and Marsilea also need a bit more work (I don`t like the clover shaped leaves it occasionally gives off), but I am still a little reluctant to carry out any major pruning as the game isn`t won, yet.

I am seriously considering some studio lighting because I would like to have a little go at portrait photography. I have no doubt that this would improve my tank shots, but we will see. The shot below was taken with tank lights and a flash gun pointed down the back, and fired wirelessly. I have two flash guns I could fire this way, but it is awkward to get the second flash to pick up the commander firing when they are both in the position I want to try. First and foremost, I would like a printer.

Hopefully the next shot will be without equipment, full on hair dryer etc...but don`t bet on it.  

My thanks to all of you who have stayed with this thread, and to all the advice offered.





Dave.


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## flygja

Pretty inspiring war story  I admire your steadfastness. The tank is looking nice now. I would've just emptied the tank and started again


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## Anonymous

There are some "design" issues Dave:

- the hairgrass is too compact and tends to keep all the nasty stuff, I'd pull it siphon the tank and plant it again.
- the flow is not right, the water stops where your marsilea is (that's why you have BBA there), the flow should be from one side to the other, not front to back. I'd switch the spray bar with a lily pipe placed on the right (front) of the tank so the water will move in circles and I'd move the right branch a little bit to the left so it doesn't block the stream coming from the powerhead.

Don't be lazy to pull all your lawn, clean the tank and plant it again .

Good luck!

Cheers,
Mike


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## Dave Spencer

clonitza said:
			
		

> ..the hairgrass is too compact and tends to keep all the nasty stuff, I'd pull it siphon the tank and plant it again.



I could say most of this tank needs a trim, but I am concentrating on plant mass and stability at the moment, but the hairgrass is in for a good kicking soon.



			
				clonitza said:
			
		

> - the flow is not right,the water stops where your marsilea is (that's why you have BBA there)...



I am not entirely sure how you come to this conclusion, Mike. There is no BBA.



			
				clonitza said:
			
		

> ....the flow should be from one side to the other, not front to back.



I did have a lily pipe in here, but I have found myself moving back to spray bars for distribution. The spray bar is moving water to the front glass, then down. The power head is taking CO2 bubbles along the back, and down, and then across the substrate to the opposite corner. Planting isn`t too dense or flow restrictive at the moment, but I may have to change things as the Java fern grows. Thanks for the input, Mike.  

Dave.


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## Anonymous

Rhizo sorry Dave . Well you have all the time in the world for maintenance/trimming and adjusting the co2 & flow.
You cant try some Amano shrimps to see if they clean up the rhizo.


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## Dave Spencer

I have heard that Amano`s like Rhizo. There are Cherry and Blue(?) shrimp in there, but they are not touching the stuff.

There is plenty of time to sort things out, but this tank has been up since about February.   It almost looks newly planted to me. The Java fern leaves are half the size of my other tank.

Dave.


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## Garuf

I've just read and re-read this thread 3 times back now and I'm noticing something similar to I noticed in my nano, Dave did you experience glassy/yellowy stems? 

I've just upped my EI dosing to 25ml and increased the levels of kno3 and mgso4 in my mix, because my rotala was/is throwing out leaves up to 4cm long and the leaves appear "glassy", I'm not seeing any particular change as it's only been a week but the pearling is insane now. I don't know my tap CA or MG levels but I suspect they're lower than I believed and I might benefit from Gh boosters higher levels of mg and k?
I'm going to keep the higher levels of dosing going to see if I see any further benefits but having a tank that looks like lemonade is a sure sign of health to me? 
Any input would be gladly received.


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## Dave Spencer

Hi Garuf.

Sorry for the delay, but I missed your post. The two major things I noticed were that the plants just seemed to be in limbo, with no deterioration, but no growth or pearling, either. Once I started adding GH booster the tank was like a lemonade bottle. It surprised me how much difference the GH booster made. It was as if the plants were just hibernating, waiting for a wake up call. 

Perhaps if this tank had carried on longer I might have seen symptoms like yours, but I can`t be sure. The ensuing algae woes and technical problems with this tank really tested my patience with this hobby.



Regards, Dave.


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## Garuf

Hmmm, that's not what I'm getting. I'm pretty sure I've got it down to insufficient K. I've started upping my dose of it by quiet a lot and I'm seeing improvements but I won't know for certain for a week or two. 
My only other real issue is leaf giantism, I have rotala green in my tank and when I planted it it took on the normal growth form, now the leaves are 2 inches long and the plant seems to be putting all it's energies into growing massive leaves rather than into bolting for the surface like I'm used to. I think I'd convinced myself Ca must be the issue and let that blind me from the more obvious and likely K deficiency. 

By the way, I was just admiring your Flikr, makes me wish I wasn't such a photography philistine, I've now got your misty all grey tree as my background.


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