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Don't know what defiency

Joined
21 Oct 2018
Messages
240
Location
Yorkshire
I've been getting these holes in my hygrohila Compacta and previousoy hygrohila 53b which I took out because it was too bad with no improvement. Compacta is still having this problem also with chlorosis and slow growth if any and both the 53b and Compacta has been dropping leafs alot. The new slow growth on Compacta seems better but still getting holes on older growth. Java fern and s repens are not affected. I EI dose, inject co² and achieve my 1ph drop and lime green drop checker. Flow is good everything moving and light is fluval 2.0 at 75% and a photoperiod 6.5hrs. To me it looks like pottasium defiency but I've tried doubling ei dose with no improvement also micros to try and combat the chlorosis. I'm wondering if it could be that sunlight hits the tank from morning and is messing with the photoperiod but then the s repens would have some I'll affect? Any help much appreciated.
 

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I've tried doubling ei dose
I think you should try to double or increase K only, it looks you have not enough K in your EI set in relation to the rest of the ferts. I also see partially melted leaves, that's most probably lack of NO3 or not enough Carbon, Mg or Fe in relation to N (C, Mg and N are main ingredients of chlorophyll and they need to be dosed in certain ratio)
 
I've cranked up the carbon so the drop checker is basically yellow ( no harm to livestock ) as far as I've read from Tom Barr ratios do not matter only when po4 is hight than nitrate? Magnesium I add half a tea spoon on macro day so shouldn't me magnesium although before I took out the 53b it did look a little yellow but I was doing magnesium and iron at double EI with no benefit.
 
Assuming its not snails or fish, do you know the magnesium content of your water. It is often over looked especially if you have hard water.
Well I was using RO 3/4 to 1/4 tap water. I have very hard water ( Yorkshire water ) but I stopped that last week and now use just tap. This problem was happening long before I stopped using RO. I don't have any snails of fish that eat plants, holes are outlined with brown and yellow
 
I was thinking of buying some pottasium salt only and adding extra k but how much can plants truly need if I was double dosing EI ( Aquariam plant food mix of 4 tsp KNO3, 1 TSP kh2po4 ) on a 125 ltr
 
I've read from Tom Barr ratios do not matter
I think it's completely opposite, ratios do matter. For example if you don't supply enough Carbon, plants will start photorespiration and will release Nitrogen in Ammonia form - so that's perfectly clear that specific ratio between C and N (among other ratios) is needed for optimal growth.

I have very hard water ( Yorkshire water ) but I stopped that last week and now use just tap.
How do you supply Fe? In what form? You may need specific chelate of Fe in hard water - suitable for higher pH. There is a chance that availability of Fe in your tank has decreased (and Fe is also important for N uptake).
 
These defiencies was happening way before I stopped using RO water and pH with co2 was well bellow 7 so EDTA was ok to use. Now I add some EDDHA to my micro mix which is well within pH range. So going on ratios to me it does look like a k defiency? ( holes ) so like you stated before add some extra k but double dosing should be sufficient as I don't have excessive light its around 30-40 par substrate level according to the figures on the box. So not enough pottasium could be affecting uptake of other nutrients?
 
I've ordered some k2so4 to add to my macro mix. Obviously adding more kno3 and kh2po4 to gain extra k is knocking it out of balance and constantly increasing the need for more k a never ending cycle. I'll see how it goes, cheers
 
Yes, it looks to me like K deficiency plus potentially N,C,Mg but I'd try to rule out K first as it seems most obvious and then move to the next one.

You can also try KCl (frankly speaking not my preferred one, I personally try to avoid large amounts of Cl added alongside other ferts, but I know it's easy available), KHCO3 or K2CO3 - these two will also add some carbonate hardness to your tank.
 
Yes I'll see how it goes, I ordered the k2so4 for that exact purpose, reverting back to my hard as nails tap water I don't need any more carbonate hardness. Hoping its just the k that's defiecient and blocking other nutrient uptake. Thanks for your help.
 
I'm doubtful potassium is to blame here.

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This is a Bucephalandra leaf, looks like classic K deficiency compared to various descriptions of this type of deficiency, but no amount of messing with the K levels from low to super high failed to ameliorate the issue. Increasing Manganese (Mn for Manganese not Mg for Magnesium) fixed the issue, I also upped my Zinc.

Iron is known to be reactive in solution becoming plant unavailable hence needing to be a little more inventive with its addition depending on the hardness of the receiving water, Manganese and Zinc are the two major micro elements that are next on the list for reactivity in their ability to become plant unavailable.

Manganese is specifically stripped from drinking waters because it gives water a foul taste.

For Manganese I dose around 0.2mg/L per week (Manganese Sulphate) and 0.16mg/L for Zinc (Zinc Sulphate), my weekly Iron dose is 0.6mg/L (2:1 Gluconate/DTPA).

:)
 
That's very Interesting, I mean I dose Fe EDDHA because of my hard water, po4 is obviously in the macro which reacts with iron. Both MN and ZN are in my micro mix ( aquariam plant food UK macro and micro EI salts ) I've tried dosing double macro but as pointed out earlier bye @Witcher ratios come into play so I should try adding extra potassium solely. I've also tried double dosing micro mix which would add more of MN and ZN but double dosing both did not work. 9/10 people say deformities are due to co2 issues, not enough or bad flow. All my plants are swaying and I've had my drop checker yellow with no joy. My s repens are ok, java fern is ok and so are my crypts. It was only my 53b affected and my compacta both hygrohila species so I'm wondering if they are potassium lover's if this is the issue. I've looked again at my dosing quantities which are in a 500ml solution made with RO water, these figures are for when I tried double dosing for a few weeks when this issue arised,
8 teaspoons of kno3 = 11.77ppm nitrate
2 teaspoons of kh2po4 = 3.69 po4
And from these the total k was 8.95
This was per 25ml dose *3 per week so I was way over the nitrate and po4 mark and pretty much got the 30ppm per week k. Magnesium I add one tablespoon on macro day.maybe the ratio is way out? Nutrient reaction?
 
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