Buce Specific Nutrient Dosing

[hn5624]

Hello Everybody.

I currently have around 4 10-gallon bucephalandra tanks with the same set-up.



All of them use RO WATER.

I've been dosing a formula I found by Happi
2-3ppm total N per week.
50% urea
25% kno3
25% ammonium chloride

I dose 2-3ppm total iron per week with plant csm+b as well.

I kinda just want to speed up the growth rate a bit without excessive water changes. Right now it's painfully slow.

I was wondering if I should just dose just
Ammonium chloride only for nitrogen instead and just use seachem equilibrium for potassium?

I could increase the light but I usually always end up with algae sooner or later when I do

 

[Teleos]

I kinda just want to speed up the growth rate a bit without excessive water changes. Right now it's painfully slow.

Is it possible to grow the plants emersed? The growth rate should be considerably higher. When it comes to propagation, I would try it emersed.

 

[hypnogogia]

I dose 2-3ppm total iron per week

That’s a lot of iron…why so much?

 

[hn5624]

Is it possible to grow the plants emersed? The growth rate should be considerably higher. When it comes to propagation, I would try it emersed.

I've had an entire log at plantedtank.net for over 3 months documenting it all. All buces will grow faster submersed with co2.

Buces all grow mostly plain green and are highly suspectible to mold overtime.
Why grow them emersed when the colors are the entire reason you buy them.

 

[hn5624]

That’s a lot of iron…why so much?

That's a good question.
I probably should dilute that to 1/3. Must have read the dosing wrong lol. He wrote 1ppm of iron per week not per dose.

 

[hypnogogia]

That's a good question.
I probably should dilute that to 1/3. Must have read the dosing wrong lol. He wrote 1ppm of iron per week not per dose.

Even then that’s a lot. Full EI would be 0.5ppm per week.

 

[hn5624]

Even then that’s a lot. Full EI would be 0.5ppm per week.

I saw a huge range on rotala butterfly so I wasn't sure.
I could probably go with 0.1-0.2 if EI is 0.5ppm tbh.

 

[G H Nelson]

How long have these tanks been up and running?

 

[hn5624]

How long have these tanks been up and running?

Like 3 months.
It spent like 1.5 months barely doing anything before adapting over

 

[G H Nelson]

Can you give some more details as the below link.

Thread 'Please read the guidelines for plant help!'

27 Apr 2020

Dear Member

Please give as many details as possible regarding your aquarium set-up, when requiring advice/help!

The above should be posted at the start of each help request.

Why do we ask these questions?
It will reduce posts by members asking for the information below, also advisers don't need to scroll through a whole thread to find them.

Copy and Paste the list below...and add your answers to each number on the list!
@13 Please upload photographs/images if possible.

1. Size of tank.
2. Age of the system approximately.
3. Tap water parameters.
4. Filtration and Media.
5...

• G H Nelson
• Replies: 0
• Forum: Plant Help

• 

 

[hn5624]

Can you give some more details as the below link.

Thread 'Please read the guidelines for plant help!'

27 Apr 2020

Dear Member

Please give as many details as possible regarding your aquarium set-up, when requiring advice/help!

The above should be posted at the start of each help request.

Why do we ask these questions?
It will reduce posts by members asking for the information below, also advisers don't need to scroll through a whole thread to find them.

Copy and Paste the list below...and add your answers to each number on the list!
@13 Please upload photographs/images if possible.

1. Size of tank.
2. Age of the system approximately.
3. Tap water parameters.
4. Filtration and Media.
5...

• G H Nelson
• Replies: 0
• Forum: Plant Help

• 

Hi, yes I was doing that initially, but it was a ton of text and I figured most people could look at the photo and kinda estimate.
Size of tank: 10 gallon
Age of tanks: 3-4 months old.
Tap Water parameters: RO water with around 4-6 GH remineralized.
CO2 ppm: Most likely 10-15. A drop checker wouldn't go green here. Not interested in going into 30-40ppm, too much equipment and I prefer the sponge filter since it helps clear surface film as well.
Filtration: Sponge filter with airpump
Ferts: around 2ppm of N dosed per week (25% Ammonium Chloride, 25% Kno3, 50% UREA). 1ppm of Iron per week.
Inhabitants: Cherry shrimp, lots of snails, 1 pea puffer to eat snails.
Plantlist: Most random assorted Buce species, Eriocaulon blood vomit, eriocaulon Rats, Random Cryptocorynes.
Lights: 10Watt GE Plant Led Light.

I know CO2 would be the most obvious, but in my opinion this is plenty given my light levels.

 

[dw1305]

Hi all,

Tap Water parameters: RO water with around 4-6 GH remineralized.

What do you remineralise it with?

Ferts: around 2ppm of N dosed per week (25% Ammonium Chloride, 25% Kno3, 50% UREA). 1ppm of Iron per week.

Just those?

cheers Darrel

 

[hn5624]

Hi all,

What do you remineralise it with?

Just those?

cheers Darrel

Shrimpy gh (have a jar of it leftover). And a pinch of seachem equilibrium for potassium.

Im dosing plantcsmb using 1ppm of iron as the overall dose.

 

[G H Nelson]

Hi @hn5624
Bucephalandra can be a tricky plant for some, as they need clean water and reasonable water column turnover around their roots as they are epiphytes.
Try increasing the flow rate on the sponge filter, personally I would change to a All in One fertilizer.....as Buce doesn't react well to higher ammonia-based ferts.
You are not going to get fast increased growth without ample amounts of Co2, these plants are slow growing at the best of time, even with a Green Drop Checker.

Do you have a TDS pen?

 

[G H Nelson]

What are the Nitrate levels ppm in the aquariums approximately?

 

[hn5624]

What are the Nitrate levels ppm in the aquariums approximately?

Never tested tbh. I only have little aquarium test strips but cant tell the difference between 0-20ppm.
My TDS is around 150-200.
I think im adding around 9-15ppm of nitrates per week into the tank with my dosing.

If it helps, I've gone without dosing for an entire month in these tanks and everything was fine. Mostly just due to the substrate still being fresh.

In my experience buce seems fine with ammonia based fertilizer and grows very well when planted into aquasoil. What they can't stand is rapid change, hence why I use the spongefilter for more stability on o2 levels.

There is a slight issue with me increasing the flow rate on the my sponge filter for more flow tho, too much and it kinda starts degassing a lot of CO2. Hence why im trying to focus more on optimizing nutrient dosing a bit to see if there could be improvement there.

 

[G H Nelson]

Hi
You are correct about sudden changes regarding Bucephalandra.

I have to be careful if dosing Solufeed High K into a Buce-filled aquarium, I only dose once every two weeks 2/3ml.
As far as I've noticed they don't like high fertilization, leaf drop, melt, holes, discoloration etc, especially if there aren't regular water changes taking place.

 

[Happi]

He wrote 1ppm of iron per week not per dose.

Are you sure it's 1 ppm Fe and not 0.1 ppm? 0.1 ppm weekly make more sense to me.

 

[hn5624]

Are you sure it's 1 ppm Fe and not 0.1 ppm? 0.1 ppm weekly make more sense to me.

I may have remembered wrong then. I'll switch to 0.1ppm and remake the fertilizer bottle

 

[Happi]

around 2ppm of N dosed per week (25% Ammonium Chloride, 25% Kno3, 50% UREA

50% KNO3 and 50% Urea is fine as well

Im dosing plantcsmb using 1ppm of iron as the overall dose.

I personally wouldn't recommend CSM+B, try to use different Micro/Fe if you can.

Shrimpy gh (have a jar of it leftover). And a pinch of seachem equilibrium for potassium.

No need for extra potassium, it's already covered in KNO3. So what exactly does the Shrimp GH adds?