Consistency Deficiency

[plantnoobdude]

I got invited to an impromptu barbeque today on very short notice, so I found myself in a huge rush to get the water change and maintenance done before I leave.
The phone camera was either sensing my stress or having a bad day itself, so the whites are a bit blown out and the focus is terrible (that last one is probably on me).
The tank is refilling right now with a timer on, so im throwing these pics up so certain individuals who shall not be named (Happi + plantnoobdude) wont start crying about no update 😉

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(All pics were taken before maintenance please excuse dirty intakes)

Baby Pantanals from the windowsill are doing pretty good, I would rate most of them a "kinda grumpy" on the Pantanal Angry Scale

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Tonina could be greener. The tank is in a transition period right now where the 0.2 EDDHA mixture hasnt taken effect yet, so im not expecting to see any results today. Just posting for the records.

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Golden surprised me with a little bit of growing after I pinched off the tops. Not expecting this to last.

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This is the curling I am seeing in Super Red @Happi
Im not sure if its the water change or the replanting that is causing the curling, because they often happen at the same time.

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Hope to see these improve in a bit

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Some of the less demanding plants like Crypt "Purpurea" are growing more normal looking leaves.
I had my suspicions the earlier strong pattern was affected by chlorosis. The current pattern is in my opinion prettier and looks more like a healthy leaf.


One of my new shrimpy friends scared the sh*t out of me when I saw it curled up strangely on a leaf and staying very still. The tank had just been fed but this shrimp was not making its way over to the food.
I thought maybe it had gotten terribly injured somehow because of the strange leg placements, or was dying, and immediate thoughts of my terrible parenting and how bad I was at looking after critters rushed through my head.
Then I saw that the little weirdo was actually chomping down on BBA!!
I see the shrimps rifling through the BBA all the time looking for things to eat, but this shrimp was bending all the way down and shoving actual tufts of BBA into its little freaky mouthparts
I can only guess that the BBA might be on its way to die, because they dont eat healthy BBA.

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Definitely making good progress!!! Love the crypts, and Pantanal is growing, an accomplishment to be proud of.

 

[_Maq_]

The pics of Ludwigia strongly support my suggestion that relative deficiency of magnesium is at play. Chlorosis seems to be stronger towards the base of the leaves (better illuminated); iron deficiency would show the reverse pattern. The curling of Ludwigia leaves may be possibly attributed to light calcium deficiency. To sum both: Potassium (+ sodium) relative excess. Nice documentary examples.
Beside that, I agree with you suspicion that some species show lack of iron. I'm really curious whether a better chelator would bring improvement in this.

 

[Hufsa]

Had a small oopsie today, the past two weeks ive been dosing 1/2 a dose of Happy-Life Algin Regular once a week after a water change.
Thiara snails have been ok with this. I think I have mentioned this already actually.. 🤔 Anyway..
The tank got a 3/4 dose last night and this is apparently right around the limit for these snails.
This morning there were some unhappy snails on the sand again. Not quite as many as last time but enough to get the point across.
Last time things went wrong they got 1/2 a dose plus 1/2 a dose two days apart, and this caused a large reaction.
Im assuming the Salicylic sticks around for at least two days and thus this would have accumulated to a full dose.

I whipped up some water with ok temperature real quick and got another water change done.
It is definite that for whatever reason my tank (well these snails technically) cant go over 1/2 dose.
Happy-Life Algin Regular contains 35mg/100ml Salicylic Acid. (More than Easy-Life's Algexit which has 20mg)
The bottle instructions outline a treatment of 4 weeks, with 12.5 ml per 100 liter dosed once a week after a 1/3 water change.
I would like to know exactly what ppm of Salicylic acid levels have been in my tank, im just too exhausted right now to work it out.
Im writing down the details anyway, maybe I can look at it again later

~ ~ ~ ~ ~
Ive got to write some boring numbers now, so feel free to skip ahead unless you are Happi, Maq, or just really fond of numbers 😉

My current dosing regime keeps getting buried pages back in huge wordy posts full of pictures that even -I- think is a slog to read through, so im writing it all again here, exactly what I am currently dosing so I have it easily accessible.
Im really struggling to remember things lately for health reasons so this is as much for my own benefit as it is for anyone else.

Macro fert weekly ppm:
3 N (13,29 NO3) From 50% KNO3 and 50% Urea
0,39 P (1,2 PO4)
4,68 K
This K is higher than the 2 ppm we discussed, I need to make a new batch of macro fertilizer and use more Urea in order to get down to 2 ppm K.
Im about to run out of macro fert so I will try to get the new mix made sometime this week

Micro fert weekly ppm:
0,05 Fe EDDHA
0,05 Fe DTPA
0,1 Fe Gluconate
=0,2 total
0,1 Mn EDTA
0,04 Zn EDTA
0,04 B
0,012 Cu EDTA
0,0002 Mo
0,0002 Ni

Havent done any extra dosing of ferts after water change so far.
I need to put the ferts into smaller containers than my autodoser has and I havent gotten around to this yet.

Water change water after adding Calcium sulphate and Magnesium sulphate now comes out to;
Ca 30ppm
Mg 15ppm
GH 7.6

~ ~ ~ ~ ~
Numbers finished

Definitely making good progress!!! Love the crypts, and Pantanal is growing, an accomplishment to be proud of.

Pretty happy about the Pantanal at the moment 😊 So far the ones on the far right that are growing in just sand are growing just as well as the ones in the cup of aquasoil. Maybe the difference will develop later on as the plants get more established.


Aside from some of the nutrient issues we are working on fixing, im pretty happy with the tank and algae growth seems to be under control 🙂

 

[Hufsa]

Im really frustrated and disappointed today, the plants are way worse and I just want to throw the whole tank out the window

The changes that have been done lately are as follows:
19.07.22 10% increase on lights, so almost three weeks ago. This is not the cause but the increased light will have increased demand on everything else to be just right.
24.07.22 (Or around this time) Bumped CO2 up a little bit, if plants were slightly CO2 limited this change will have made whatever the problem is worse. Pantanal perked up a bit.
29.07.22 Went back to 0.2 Fe of the EDDHA++ mix
30.07.22 More large water changes (about two per week) ~75-90% + Increased Magnesium content of water by 5ppm
Havent done any front loading of ferts.

I dont think the large water changes are helping this issue, and this amount of unhappy plants is like asking for a new thread algae bloom. Im going to go back to one water change a week, will try to convince myself to only change 50% but this is a work in progress.
Pantanal has been threatening to stunt all week but today it looks like it might not.

Really unsure about what else to do
The Tonina hasnt been this ghostly white in a while so something needs to be done

 

[erwin123]

Im really frustrated and disappointed today, the plants are way worse and I just want to throw the whole tank out the window

The changes that have been done lately are as follows:
19.07.22 10% increase on lights, so almost three weeks ago. This is not the cause but the increased light will have increased demand on everything else to be just right.
24.07.22 (Or around this time) Bumped CO2 up a little bit, if plants were slightly CO2 limited this change will have made whatever the problem is worse. Pantanal perked up a bit.
29.07.22 Went back to 0.2 Fe of the EDDHA++ mix
30.07.22 More large water changes (about two per week) ~75-90% + Increased Magnesium content of water by 5ppm
Havent done any front loading of ferts.

I dont think the large water changes are helping this issue, and this amount of unhappy plants is like asking for a new thread algae bloom. Im going to go back to one water change a week, will try to convince myself to only change 50% but this is a work in progress.
Pantanal has been threatening to stunt all week but today it looks like it might not.

Really unsure about what else to do
The Tonina hasnt been this ghostly white in a while so something needs to be done

If I were staying in the same country I would mail you some APT Complete/ APT EI to try..... our water parameters are pretty close when it comes to gH/pH so I am still not able figure out why your Pantanals aren't growing like weeds.

Even when I messed up my CO2 and only had a 0.9 pH drop, the Pantanals continued growing like crazy, it was the Ammannias that had a bad reaction...

 

[Hufsa]

Ok..

So after a lot of back and forth.. and back and forth.. and then some more.. I decided to focus on undoing the latest changes and continue to try to get back to that spot where the plants were pretty good and we had stargrass green for once.

The changes that have been done lately are as follows:
19.07.22 10% increase on lights, so almost three weeks ago. This is not the cause but the increased light will have increased demand on everything else to be just right.
24.07.22 (Or around this time) Bumped CO2 up a little bit, if plants were slightly CO2 limited this change will have made whatever the problem is worse. Pantanal perked up a bit.
29.07.22 Went back to 0.2 Fe of the EDDHA++ mix
30.07.22 More large water changes (about two per week) ~75-90% + Increased Magnesium content of water by 5ppm

Lights turned down 10% on the back light and 20% on the front light, slightly more on the front light because I think my crypts are getting overly stressed, they just wont stop putting out spathes to a point where I am starting to be concerned and some of the new spathes are melting before they come out properly.
Im leaving the CO2 as it is because the Pantanal knows where I live and I am afraid that its gonna cut my throat while im sleeping
Going back to once a week water change. Not going to change any water right now but when its due next weekend I will not add the extra Magnesium.

I turned micro dosing off as the doser is about to run dry anyway and I still cant figure out exactly what I think is the best to make.
I had some leftover Fe DTPA sitting in a separate bottle, so I have dosed 0.2 ppm of that right now and will just observe the plants for a couple of days to see if I can see any greening in the fastest growers.

Might have enough macro for another day or two so im just going to leave that as it is for now.

 

[_Maq_]

I'm truly perplexed.
All my knowledge & experience tells me clearly that your issues are iron and magnesium. There's no big science in that, these two elements are key to creating chlorophyll.
Your water is on the soft side, low in bicarbonates, and acidic thanks to CO2 addition. Iron should not be a big problem. I'm not using artificial chelators and my primitive DIY iron citrate works perfectly well for me in such conditions - low bicarbonates and slightly acidic water. (In alkaline water, some species are struggling with iron deficiency. Yet only some, and that's part of my research - I accept it as such.)

Perhaps I'm repeating myself, but this is what I know on plant physiology:
(1) Magnesium uptake can be inhibited by excess ammonium, sodium, potassium, calcium. Calcium seems unlikely in your tank.
(2) Creation of chlorophyll may be affected by photoinhibition, i.e. excess lighting.
(3) Both strong lighting and elevated CO2 have the same impact on plants - they diminish creation of chlorophyll. A very 'rational' response, indeed.
(4) Dissolved CO2 increases redox. I'm rather unsure in this field yet what I do know is that highly oxidative environment affects negatively iron uptake.
(5) Iron uptake may be inhibited by elevated presence of other transition metals like manganese, nickel, zinc & copper. (I should stress here that I never dose these micronutrients together. Neither do I use strong chelators. In this way, when I dose iron, other transition metals are very unlikely present in the water column.)
(6) Much iron is lost due to creation of insoluble iron phosphate. This compound may dissolve in anoxic conditions in deeper zones of the substrate. However, much of it often ends up as a precipitate in the filter. This is enhanced by two factors: orthoposphate in the water column, and strong chelators.
To this, I add that EDTA, DTPA, EDDHA, etc. do not bind iron exclusively. These chelators are used because their complexation abilities are strong, and because they degrade slowly. Yet complexes are not absolutely stable (if they were, they'd be useless as fertilizers). So, if such a chelator turns 'empty' it creates immediately complexes with whatever cations present, in accord with their innate affinity to them. Unlike citrate, artificial chelators remain present in the water column for weeks. If you dose them weekly, they are present permanently. Binding multivalent cations - Fe, Mn, Zn, Cu, Ni, Al, Ca, Mg...

Yes, this is largely an unknown field and my speculation. Yet I wonder why people have to use such strong chelators and dose such high amounts of transition metals. My experience tells me something quite different - these strong chelators may work when we insist on keeping some species in water with high pH or high alkalinity while these species are not naturally adapted to such conditions. Apart from that, ordinary salts or weak natural chelates (like my homemade citrates and oxalates, or humic substances) work without issues. After all, there's no EDTA in the nature, is it?

 

[Hufsa]

I have a plan, ill write more on it later 😊
Have cancelled my one way ticket to Himalaya to become a munk

 

[_Maq_]

to Himalaya to become a munk

Or nun, perhaps?😉

 

[dw1305]

Hi all,

Im leaving the CO2 as it is because the Pantanal knows where I live and I am afraid that its gonna cut my throat while im sleeping

I have a plan, ill write more on it later 😊
Have cancelled my one way ticket to Himalaya to become a munk

You just need to listen to some <"nice relaxing music">.



cheers Darrel

 

[Hufsa]

Or nun, perhaps?😉

Its 2022 Maq 😎 Have you seen the munk outfits? Almost like a wizard robe. Much cooler than nuns 😁



I quite like the Pantanal for this, just because it is such an argumentative beast that accepts no compromises, its a good teacher 😄
When I change a lot of water I can tell the stability of the tank is disturbed and the Pantanal is usually the first to let me know.

This week my tank got 3 huge water changes because I had issues with the snails reacting to Salicylic acid*.
Thats a record amount of water changes, and the plants are record levels of unhappy.


I was talking to @ElleDee and when she put it into perspective for me and pointed it out, it makes a lot of sense.
My tap water is practically RO with a bit of Calcium carbonate in it. So when im doing a water change and replace 75% (usually more) of the water, theres not a lot left in the water column.
Pair that up with kinda lean dosing, inert substrate and high demand brought on by CO2 and light, plants might be having a really hard time with it.
Ive been operating under the assumption that my water column isnt supposed to have any excess and therefore water changes shouldnt matter, but if this is not the case and the water column does in fact have and need a certain equilibrium of ferts, then everything clicks into place.
Consistent issues with chlorosis under my usual regime of once a week very large water change. Plants not doing well despite technically getting decent ferts on paper.
The weeks leading up to the holiday and the holiday itself, the tank got less water changes than usual. Plants did better.
This week, did a ton of water changes. Plants are horribly white.
Following? 😃

So im going to do some replenishing / front loading / extra dosing, whatever you want to call it, to the water that I am adding from water changes.
Going for one change a week with 50%, no more no less. This is what "everyone else" is doing, so this should work for me also.
Im thinking of replenishing the new water with about ~5ppm NO3 + equivalent macros, but this isnt set in stone.
Doesnt seem like a good idea to include urea here, so will use only KNO3 for this.
I could front load micros if I wanted to, but I think it makes less sense. Both from a precipitation perspective and from a demand perspective.
The demand for carbon, nitrate, potassium and phosphate is just much higher than traces, so in my view macros are more likely to run out.

Ill keep the regular macro fertilizer the same as before, and for the micro im going to make a mix that comes out to 0.3 Fe with mostly DTPA and a bit of EDDHA in an amount that shouldnt turn the water pink hopefully.
Ill skip the Gluconate this time, but have the option to add it manually if needed.

I am relatively hopeful this adjustment to water changes and allowing the fertilizer to build up a bit / things to be left alone more, will at least get me back to how things were before this week of really horrible plant growth.
(The plants have hardly grown this week and are pale all over, in addition to the chlorosis that is visible in pictures.)
If there is still some lingering/minor chlorosis issue left after this regime change then we can deal with that as it comes.
Its entirely possible and I think likely that a few more tweaks to overall fertilizer levels need to be done to find a good spot for my specific tank, especially with the inert substrate in mind.

Im feeling a lot better now that I have a bit of an idea why things went so entirely sideways this week 😊
I was feeling really sucker-punched yesterday because I was expecting things to finally get better and then they got super bad instead and I hadnt the faintest clue why.


*About the Salicylic acid. I wrote earlier that the snails reacted badly to 3/4 of a dose. After this I let them rest for a few days and then I added 1/2 dose again, because they had been ok with this in the weeks before.
But it appears they have been weakened and no longer tolerate even a half dose. I cant in good conscience continue to try to get this to work out, so im stopping the use of Salicylic acid for good.

Anyway I need to stop talking and finally make those new ferts, so ill insert these random pictures here and make my escape

 

[erwin123]

Tom Barr (and Dennis Wong shares his view) has suggested that plant aerenchyma plays a part in why plants seem to grow better during water change day.​

Why water change day seems to grow aquatic plants better

Basic simple question: why do my plants seem to grow better/best the day of the water change? I do a large water change in the morning right after the lights come on, then late in the day, there is mad pearling and obviously better growth than any other day of the week. I've measured plant...

barrreport.com

_________________

Spoiler: What do you call a friar indicted on federal charges?

A felonious monk.

 

[Hufsa]

So as some of you already know my plants are doing much better already 😃 Im really pleased! 🥰
Stargrass (the fastest grower) is looking much greener, and I think I can get the rest of the way to solid green with tweaking the total amounts of Fe and Mn and making sure I front load enough after water changes 😊
I took a few quick comparison shots to share in the message group, and also posted them in this post since they were illustrating for that thread.
So you can check them out there if you want, if not I will do another full round of pictures for the journal on sunday

I thought I would write a little about my plans for the tank, there are a lot of upcoming ones but I want to find a good order to implement them in.
I want to avoid doing the classic everything at once 😅 Since some of them are more important to me than others, I think I need to prioritize the order to implement them.

1: (Right now) Eliminate chlorosis in plants, make sure macro nutrient levels are sufficient to avoid any obvious mobile nutrient deficiency, make sure water change routines provide nutrient stability.
Sit very firmly on hands and dont do anything wild for a time <- This is going to be hard

2: Do another detailed PH profile + follow up measurements daily, and make sure the CO2 is stable and optimized. Between macros and CO2 im hoping to bump up the size of the Pantanal a bit.
Im not entirely sure what the issue with Golden is so I will leave that plant for later and hope it magically fixes itself on its own along the way somehow (a girl can hope)

3: If plant health is virtually 100% and the slimy thread algae persists, try removing Urea as nitrogen source and use only KNO3 for a time, to see if that helps. Can always try Urea again later.

?: There is an issue with the sand now that im pulling out plants so often. The bank of sand is sliding down in record time, and the layer of sand in the back covering the mesh bags is getting so thin its becoming hard to plant in. The crypts in the front also keep getting slightly buried in increasing amounts of sand. I need to remove the mesh bags of pebbles banking the substrate in the back, and get the tank set up with a perfectly level substrate. It wont be the best for visual depth but it will keep the sand from jumping around all over the place in the long run.
Not sure if I should just do each half of the tank carefully with the livestock hiding in the other half, or stress them out by catching them all (including a gazillion shrimp) and store them somewhere else while I work.
Would welcome some input on this (?)

?: At a stable point, try increasing only K to see what effect this has. (Im just very curious about this for reasons)

?: Emersed houseplants need a better setup. They keep getting in the way of maintenance, the roots are unsightly, and I would like to house them in their own container outside of the tank.
Toying with the idea of some sort of drip filter combination for this

?: Emersed houseplants need dedicated lighting from the ceiling, right now they are just getting ambient light and I can tell this isnt going to cut it in the long run. Winter is coming
I might fix this one very soon. My plan is to angle the light so that it only hits the emersed plants and doesnt go into the aquarium.

?: I purchased pipes and fittings for mounting / hanging the lights above the tank ages ago, still havent gotten around to doing anything with this project 🙄
Getting the lights away a small distance will make the spread on the water surface much better and maintenance much easier. Will need a clear lid to put on the tank also.


Picture tax:

Rotala macrandra invitro that I bought a lil while ago on a whim. I have read that this is a good indicator plant, sensitive to fluctuations in CO2. I thought that might come in handy, and I wanted to see how it does in my tank since I have the "Mini Type 4" variety on my wish list, which is said to be slightly pickier.
So far it seems to be growing steady and well and is gaining size quickly.

The little green bits around it is Rotala H'ra, also from invitro. This was added a little later, and the invitro cup was on its very last legs, about to expire, so the plants are taking a little time to come around.
I got H'ra because im planning to use it as a long term nitrate test while I work out the best dosing level for my setup.
The color of H'ra is easily influenced by light and nitrate limitation, and its a very popular plant, so its a "known quantity" in this way.

See you again soon

 

[Hufsa]

I tried something new with the FTS, apparently my phone DOES have a pro mode and I just had to swipe right to find it. Only took what.. five years and my SO pointing it out for me
I turned down the ..whatchamacallit and got a picture without the tops of the plants super white. Might have gone a touch too dark but eh, next time 😁

Plants are still doing much better
I think I need to just keep experimenting to find the right dose and replenishing for my tank now that the water changes are more normal.


Theres more green now in Marilia, this is a good thing. Before it was basically only red (and yellow) pigment on white, which looked very pretty but this is healthier. Now there is chlorophyll here too.
It can probably color up more in higher light, but im going to chill with the lights on this current level for a while, while I sort out the raging dumpsterfire some of the problems in my tank 😁


Stargrass is green again, woohoo! There is still a bit more green to be had on the newest growth, I want to get it all the way to max green, but I think I should let things just grow out for a couple more weeks before deciding to try adjusting the micros. (Do you hear this future-Hufsa? At least one week!)
I saw Burr has posted online again with the latest update to his micro mix, might try emulating that recipe later on, it seems to have a good track record.


Cuba is recovering with improved color in the tops. These guys were replanted quite short a while ago, and then I made the mistake of putting them too crowded into each other and other plants. This significantly affects the growth of the plants and should not be disregarded. I removed some of the plants surrounding them, but they should get even more space next time I replant. Then there was the week of record water changes and record unhappy plants, and they all more or less stunted. But thats ok, they're coming back now and I have a good reminder to not skimp on the basics such as crowding and placement.


Greener Polysperma too 😊 I feel like these also should be even greener than this overall, both in new growth and old growth. Im going to front load a bit more on todays water change, so we'll see if that helps.


Ive reduced the group of Rotala rotundifolia "Pink/Rosa". I think this plant might need an absolutely insane light intensity to turn even slightly pink or something
Im not enjoying this plant and with how full my tank is there is no room for plants that I dont enjoy.
Ive started an emersed culture of this variety and as soon as that is established and growing, this group in the tank is getting booted out.
Theres too many nice precious plants in this world to have "somewhat green rotala rotundifolia" hanging around




Tonina recovering color at Tonina speed 😅 Steady does it.
This group also needs more room because its neighbors are creeping up on it.
Ill do a bit of trimming later and some during the next days.


I ended up trimming the entire bush of Super Red last time, and all the new shoots look good.
The stunting/curling might very well have been a reaction to the water column bottoming out completely.
Ill continue to keep an eye on it to see if it happens again.


My poor Blyxa still looks like **** but if everything else is coming around then this will too.
Im moving some plants around soon and will put this one where there is less light


Pantanals in newest pot of Aquasoil continuing to do ok. They're a bit crowded so two of the smaller ones arent getting what they need.

Their buddies on the right arent quite as happy hehe but this pot only has a very thin layer of Aquasoil, and these stems had the tops removed a while ago. Pantanal did not approve.

Interestingly the two Pantanals in just sand are also continuing to do ok. They are slightly smaller than their aquasoil-cousins but decidedly ok looking for my tank.


R mac also needs moving soon. There are a few small deformities to the leaves, but I know for certain that my surface agitation is not the same day to day, so im not too fussed.
Im pretty disgruntled that the heatwave is back, I was super ready for autumn which is my favorite season. Cozy sweaters and my favorite slippers... so close yet so far away 😥
The CO2 is going to be suboptimal until I can remove the fan, put the lid back on the tank and get evaporation under control again.
Decided a while ago not to stress about it so im just waiting for better days 😊

 

[plantnoobdude]

View attachment 192522

View attachment 192508
I tried something new with the FTS, apparently my phone DOES have a pro mode and I just had to swipe right to find it. Only took what.. five years and my SO pointing it out for me
I turned down the ..whatchamacallit and got a picture without the tops of the plants super white. Might have gone a touch too dark but eh, next time 😁

Plants are still doing much better
I think I need to just keep experimenting to find the right dose and replenishing for my tank now that the water changes are more normal.

View attachment 192509
Theres more green now in Marilia, this is a good thing. Before it was basically only red (and yellow) pigment on white, which looked very pretty but this is healthier. Now there is chlorophyll here too.
It can probably color up more in higher light, but im going to chill with the lights on this current level for a while, while I sort out the raging dumpsterfire some of the problems in my tank 😁

View attachment 192510
Stargrass is green again, woohoo! There is still a bit more green to be had on the newest growth, I want to get it all the way to max green, but I think I should let things just grow out for a couple more weeks before deciding to try adjusting the micros. (Do you hear this future-Hufsa? At least one week!)
I saw Burr has posted online again with the latest update to his micro mix, might try emulating that recipe later on, it seems to have a good track record.

View attachment 192511
Cuba is recovering with improved color in the tops. These guys were replanted quite short a while ago, and then I made the mistake of putting them too crowded into each other and other plants. This significantly affects the growth of the plants and should not be disregarded. I removed some of the plants surrounding them, but they should get even more space next time I replant. Then there was the week of record water changes and record unhappy plants, and they all more or less stunted. But thats ok, they're coming back now and I have a good reminder to not skimp on the basics such as crowding and placement.

View attachment 192512
Greener Polysperma too 😊 I feel like these also should be even greener than this overall, both in new growth and old growth. Im going to front load a bit more on todays water change, so we'll see if that helps.

View attachment 192513
Ive reduced the group of Rotala rotundifolia "Pink/Rosa". I think this plant might need an absolutely insane light intensity to turn even slightly pink or something
Im not enjoying this plant and with how full my tank is there is no room for plants that I dont enjoy.
Ive started an emersed culture of this variety and as soon as that is established and growing, this group in the tank is getting booted out.
Theres too many nice precious plants in this world to have "somewhat green rotala rotundifolia" hanging around

View attachment 192514

View attachment 192515
Tonina recovering color at Tonina speed 😅 Steady does it.
This group also needs more room because its neighbors are creeping up on it.
Ill do a bit of trimming later and some during the next days.

View attachment 192516
I ended up trimming the entire bush of Super Red last time, and all the new shoots look good.
The stunting/curling might very well have been a reaction to the water column bottoming out completely.
Ill continue to keep an eye on it to see if it happens again.

View attachment 192517
My poor Blyxa still looks like **** but if everything else is coming around then this will too.
Im moving some plants around soon and will put this one where there is less light

View attachment 192518
Pantanals in newest pot of Aquasoil continuing to do ok. They're a bit crowded so two of the smaller ones arent getting what they need.
View attachment 192519
Their buddies on the right arent quite as happy hehe but this pot only has a very thin layer of Aquasoil, and these stems had the tops removed a while ago. Pantanal did not approve.
View attachment 192520
Interestingly the two Pantanals in just sand are also continuing to do ok. They are slightly smaller than their aquasoil-cousins but decidedly ok looking for my tank.

View attachment 192521
R mac also needs moving soon. There are a few small deformities to the leaves, but I know for certain that my surface agitation is not the same day to day, so im not too fussed.
Im pretty disgruntled that the heatwave is back, I was super ready for autumn which is my favorite season. Cozy sweaters and my favorite slippers... so close yet so far away 😥
The CO2 is going to be suboptimal until I can remove the fan, put the lid back on the tank and get evaporation under control again.
Decided a while ago not to stress about it so im just waiting for better days 😊

The plants look really good, nice improvements in tonina.
I have a feeling once the heat has passed all the plants will perk up even more.
The l. Palustris look really nice.
The crypt spiral is tiger look so good swooping over the tank. I wanna get my hands on the green version.

Decided a while ago not to stress about it so im just waiting for better days 😊

Same here. Looking forward to autumn, more botanical hunting and warm fuzzy jumpers😊

 

[Hufsa]

To be continued 😉

 

[Hufsa]

For my own notes mostly although I know some others are also interested;

07.08.22 added 4.43 NO3, 0.4 PO4, 2.96 K ppm (to 250 liter) directly after the water change.

• Oddly specific numbers I know, this is 1 N and 0.13 P + whatever K I get because of KNO3. I just wanted to keep the replenishing somewhat consistent with the main macro fertilizer.
• So im dosing for the full tank volume of 250L instead of dosing for the water replaced. Not entirely made up my mind about this yet, might change in the future. I think my conclusion was that dosing for the water replaced makes more sense when there is already a fair excess in the water column. Or something like that, it was pretty late at night. Welcome input on this.

14.08.22 double that, so 8.86 NO3, 0.8 PO4 and 5.92 K. (2 N + +)
Reducing the main macro fertilizer that runs through the week from 3 N to 2 N.
That is still a net increase in macros compared to what I have used for a while, parts of it has just moved up front. Just feeling my way around really.
Did a pretty heavy trim today after the pictures and removed some species of plants entirely, so taking it a bit easy.

 

[Hufsa]

Happi made me aware I had not posted my latest micro dosing here so;

Last week the tank got:
0,025 Fe EDDHA
0,275 Fe DTPA
= 0,3 Fe
0,05 Mn
0,02 Zn
0,02 B
0,006 Cu
0,0001 Mo
0,0001 Ni
Plus 0,2 Fe Gluconate dosed separately

Will be the same this week 😊

The tank got a big trim yesterday and I am removing several species of plants entirely
Getting the axe this week: Microsorum pteropus 'Narrow' & 'Petit', Anubias 'Petite' & "Aquaflora Pangolino", Sagittaria subulata
Getting handed over to plant friends or sold once BBA free: Bucephalandra 'Brownie Blue', No ID, "Brownie Ghost Aquaflora", 'Lamandau Purple', 'Deep Purple', 'Biblis'

Im trying to keep only the species I like the best, because my wishlist is long and full of terrors I like the Trident and Windelow better than Narrow, and Petit is only marginally Petit with CO2 injection apparently.
As for the Anubias, im planning to get some of that cute new Mini Coin from Tropica and having only that one. Was tempted to put Sagittaria in an emersed culture in case I changed my mind and wanted it back later, but no, it needs to go. The rest of the Buces are nice Buces its just that I have so many varieties and its getting crowded and confusing. Keeping my favorites is the way to go (room for new favorites now )

Only 41 species in the tank once some of the buce goes, ah feels so light and airy 🥰
Of course, with so much room for activities I have already set plans in motion to fill up the gaps
In fact I have been very very bad and ordered myself early christmas gifts for two years forward 😇 Dont ask how, I dont know either
9 new very shiny precious preciouses will arrive a bit later, some of them have been at the very top of my wishlist for a long time 🥰🥰🥰

 

[ElleDee]

So im dosing for the full tank volume of 250L instead of dosing for the water replaced. Not entirely made up my mind about this yet, might change in the future. I think my conclusion was that dosing for the water replaced makes more sense when there is already a fair excess in the water column. Or something like that, it was pretty late at night. Welcome input on this.

I think the big question is how consistent is the amount of water that you remove for a WC? If you always do the same amount every week, the your fertilizer input can be the same and things will stay consistent, though precisely how much you remove controls how much nutrients ultimately accumulate. If your WC percentage varies, then either the amount of fertilizer you add needs to vary as well or the concentration of nutrients in your tank is going to change. Rotala Butterfly has an accumulation calculator if you want to see a graph of how this works. I confess I didn't really understand it myself until I saw it visualized.

 

[Hufsa]

Really good point as usual @ElleDee 😃 Thanks for the input too, sometimes I ask a question / want input in my journal but no one says anything 😅
Yes, that makes a lot of sense.
Ideally I should only change 50% of the water every time, the problem is that im still doing routine treatments with praziquantel every two weeks, so every two weeks calls for a slightly larger water change to get rid of the medication. I guess technically I dont have to do more than 50% after medication, but the idea of having halfway levels of active substances in my tank just sits weirdly with me.

So either I need to settle for one % of water to change at all water changes no exceptions, or im going to have to dose per the new water added and raise my ppms slightly to get the same result that I am getting now.
Im going to let the idea just settle for a bit but I guess the latter is more practical?