# Slightly sad floating plants



## tam (6 Mar 2018)

Lately my floating plants have been looking a bit sad. Everything else is doing ok, but maybe a bit slower growing that it has been.

It's a low tech tank with slow growers, uses RO remineralised with Tropic Remin to about 6GH, about 20% water changes. I'm using TNC Completed dosed weekly according to the bottle (swapped from Tropica Specialised a few months ago). Nitrates are around 20-30ppm.

I've been getting a lot of hair algae mixed in with them too - which I haven't had a problem with before.

What are they missing?


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## Tim Harrison (6 Mar 2018)

Looks like low nutrients, I'd dose the same amount two or three times a week, and see how you go.
Hair algae pretty much confirmscan be a sign of low nutrients.

Floaters have the areal advantage, they take advantage of atmospheric CO2 and are obviously exposed to higher light intensity so they will grow a lot quicker than immersed plants. Therefore, their demand for nutrients will be much higher.


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## dw1305 (6 Mar 2018)

Hi all,_


Tim Harrison said:



			Looks like low nutrients, I'd dose the same amount two or three times a week, and see how you go.
		
Click to expand...

_Definitely a nutrient deficiency, I'd try @Tim Harrison's suggestion. _Hygrorhyza_ didn't like me, my tanks were too nutrient poor and /or soft.





tam said:


> Lately my floating plants have been looking a bit sad.


If you look at the new leaves on the _Hygrorhyza, _they are pale and stripy_. _Because it is a floater you can discount CO2 and light, but it looks like it might be an iron (Fe) solubility issue, because it seems to be effecting the newer leaves. 

This is another grass, Maize (_Zea mays_), with <"iron deficiency on the left hand leaf">.



 

Yellow, chlorotic leaves can be caused by low levels of nitrogen (N), potassium (K) and magnesium (Mg), as well as iron (Fe), but Mg, N and K are mobile in the plant and deficiencies effect older leaves. 

Iron isn't mobile within the plant and only new leaves formed when iron is available. 

cheers Darrel


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## tam (6 Mar 2018)

Thank you both  That grass photo is pretty much exactly how the leaves look. 

I've a bottle of the TNC lite as well. Would it be worth trying that as an additional dose (or two)? Looks like the Fe is the same, it's just the N P missing.


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## Tim Harrison (6 Mar 2018)

I'd just go for complete, it won't do any harm.
Although, I often dose both complete and lite at the same time if I think my plants will benefit from the additional micros.


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## Napoleon (9 Mar 2018)

I agree with dw1305
Yellow leaves with green veins is a lack of magnesium/iron
A lack of magnesium block the absorption of iron.


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## tam (11 Mar 2018)

Just noticed the TNC ferts seem to have settled out a bit  - I guess I should be shaking it before dosing? Maybe they haven't actually been getting everything I thought they had.


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## Angus (11 Mar 2018)

Definitely shake well anytime you are dosing anything to the tank including water conditioner.


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## dw1305 (12 Mar 2018)

Hi all, 





tam said:


> Just noticed the TNC ferts seem to have settled out a bit - I guess I should be shaking it before dosing? Maybe they haven't actually been getting everything I thought they had.


If a good shake doesn't work, you could try a gentle warming, salts (other than carbonates) are more soluble at higher temperatures. 

cheers Darrel


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## zozo (12 Mar 2018)

I also experience Hygroryza aristata a difficult floater to keep 100% happy.. It doesn't only demand somewhat eutrophic conditions it also is very light sensitive. Thus increasing ferts withut meeting the light demand is actualy rather useless.

This kinda makes this floater rather a high energy tank plant, not from a CO² perspective, but from fert regime and light intensity.

I'm dozing dry salts 10ppm N, 20ppm K, 2ppm P, traces and Rhizotonic to this low energy. On top of what i get from the tap, water company states >20ppm N in my tap water. This means i'm could averagely be at +30ppm N in the tank ii do not measure any, just work with a calculator.

But Hygroryza never looks 100% happy, to it grows and propagates well, new growth is healthy but older growth still gets depleted. If i remember correctly i did read the purple coloration of this plant indicates a P shortage. I've noticed this color on this plant that i move outdoor during the summer to tubs in the garden that i do not fertilize. In the aquarium i've never seen this color.

Anyway it's a plant that needs a lot of maintenance regarding trimming and taking off suffering older growth.


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## dw1305 (12 Mar 2018)

Hi all, 





Napoleon said:


> A lack of magnesium block the absorption of iron.


That is the one, high levels of calcium block the uptake of both iron (Fe) and magnesium (Mg).  

You can get terrestrial "calcifuge" plants at high pH levels where the predominant bases aren't calcium. There is an explanation in <"Magnesium in in GH boost....">.

cheers Darrel


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## tam (29 Mar 2018)

Not 100% there yet, but the new growth is definitely looking healthier...





Still a fair bit of algae that seems to mainly collect around their roots. I've taken an hour off my lights and knocked them down another 5%.

And, look what my anubias did! First time I've had a flower 





I'm presuming you need two plants/flowers to make seeds though.


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