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HC turning Brown

Asheesh

Seedling
Joined
15 Mar 2017
Messages
6
Location
India
hi team

hi team

My HC is turning Brown, In one week it changed from green to brown.

Parameters are almost same, just had a temperature spike last week.

has anyone faced this issue in past? any suggestions?
 

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Good Morning,

I thinks it´s best if you describe entire set up and detail routines.

Just by regarding no one can point a cause.

Best regards,
 
Size - 5X1.5X1.5 Feet
Light - LED - 150W Photo period is 8 hours per day
Substrate - ADA amazonia
Dozing - NPK - 5 ML daily
Excel - 5 ML daily
Iron - 5 ML once a week
10 to 20 % water change on Weekly bases
PH 7.5
Tem - 22 -24 * C
 
Assembling date?
Filter? What is in it?
That ADA Amazonia is new?
Are there more plants? Wich ones? How are them?
Excel is in substitution of pressurised CO2 is that it?
NPK with what target?

Light - LED - 150W Photo period is 8 hours per day
Is there any reference of this light brand?

We also need photos of the tank. At list some front pictures.
 
It is said that HC does extremely well with Excel (I have never had HC myself) and the recommended Excel dosage is 5ml daily or every other day for every 200L, your tank should have around 150L, so it shouldn't be the reason why it's melting...

When you say temperature spike, how high was it?
 
I had once this browning on some of my cuba which it was right after I filled some water that was warmer that it should be. The areas that were in direct contact with the warm water stream became brown, much like melting, but they did recover. Needless to say that I didn't make same mistake in water temperature again and never had same problem.
 
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Thanks for the reply guys, I only have HC carpet in my tank with some rocks.
NPK IS DIY solution
k2so4 - 29 g
kno3 - 33 g
kh2po4 - 3 g
mgso4 - 20g
500ML water

I also have pressurized CO2 setup which is running at 3 BPS, i am dozing Excel along with it

Lights are DIY, I am using OSRAM leds and they are very bright
Substrate is 4 months old

Temperature reached to 28*C
 
HC should be able to handle 28ºC, but I'm not sure if it would withstand a temperature swing like @Skiper mentioned.

So, if it was doing fine for a couple of months and then changed after the temperature swing (and if nothing else changed), I think that would be your answer.
 
k2so4 - 29 g
Why are you dosing this as well as all the other salts ?

There is a lot of K in you DIY ferts as well as a lot of NO3, any reason why ?

Also you need to dose NPK on alternate days to Fe (and maybe micro mix as well) as the Fe will very quickly react with the phosphate and precipitate out of solution as insoluble iron phosphate and become non available to the plants.

So I suspect lack of iron is your issue.
 
i am also thinking lack of Iron an issue, So i have already started dosing it on a day when i dont dose NPK

i found the NPK recipe from Internet can you suggest a better dosage plan?
 
I like to use this calculator:
http://aquarium-fertilizer.eu/index.php?stranky=estimative_index_kalkulator

It can be a bit hard to understand at first, but once you get it, it's great!

You also have this one:
http://www.theplantedtank.co.uk/calculator.htm

It's way simpler, but only gives you a single value at a time.

You should aim for a weekly dose similar to this (values may vary):
20.0ppm NO3
30.0ppm K
3.0ppm PO4
10.0ppm Mg
0.5ppm Fe

And you should consider what already exists in your tank. (i.e. my water already has a high level of NO3, so I don't dose that much)
 
Why are you dosing this as well as all the other salts ?

There is a lot of K in you DIY ferts as well as a lot of NO3, any reason why ?

Also you need to dose NPK on alternate days to Fe (and maybe micro mix as well) as the Fe will very quickly react with the phosphate and precipitate out of solution as insoluble iron phosphate and become non available to the plants.

So I suspect lack of iron is your issue.

Might be a stupid question - but does that mean that a "complete" liquid fertilizer such af Tropica specialized is making its own nutrients unavailable, since it contains both Iron and Phosphate?
 
Might be a stupid question - but does that mean that a "complete" liquid fertilizer such af Tropica specialized is making its own nutrients unavailable, since it contains both Iron and Phosphate?


I found the ascorbic acid is not really needed to prevent PO4 and Fe reaction. I use it just to lower the pH so that the Potassium Sorbate can do the job (mould prevention) effectively.

A good chelator can protect Fe by its own against PO4, I've tested it. And if it can't (and I've found one that can't, even with the help from ascorbic acid or huge amount of white vinegar), the fert is not worth using, either in form of all-in-one or alternate day dosing, IMO.

And you're dreaming if you think PO4 in the tank you dosed will be gone by the following day you dose micros.
 
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Might be a stupid question - but does that mean that a "complete" liquid fertilizer such af Tropica specialized is making its own nutrients unavailable, since it contains both Iron and Phosphate?
Perfectly valid question. They often use a more expensive version of chelated iron, usually FE DPTA or Fe EDPA , though there are others, as opposed to the cheaper Fe EDTA. These are more resistant to being unchelated and reacting to the phosphate.

They also (and if you mix your own) keep the solution acidic which also helps keeping Fe chelated as well as adding potassium sorbate to stop the whole lot going mouldy.
 
SO what do you guys suggest, adding more Iron will solve this issue?
Possibly adding more Fe along with checking you are dosing correct amounts of Mg. Mg is needed to enable Fe take up.

We are slightly guessing really of course, as we don't know the exact parameters of your tank and what the effects your DIY dosing is, as opposed to trialed and tested EI dosing levels.
 
And you're dreaming if you think PO4 in the tank you dosed will be gone by the following day you dose micros.

I wasn't dreaming but I didn't think that there'd still be enough phosphate to react with the Flourish and EDTA FE the next day but it's only happened once and I knew that was the reason for the slightly cloudy water.
 
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