New Fert Time and Confused... (Sulphur Levels?)

[dw1305]

Hi all,

You use RO water with a remineralizer that doesn't include sulphate

I think that is probably mainly a theoretical concern, every-one with a planted tank is going to add magnesium, and my guess is 99% of them will use magnesium sulphate in the form of "Epsom Salts" (MgSO4.7H2O).

On the bottle and on their website, TNC Complete makes no mention of sulphur.

My thought would be that they just don't list it, rather than it being absent, for the same reason.

Plants have a pretty small sulphur (S) requirement, so "some" is "enough". Diagnosing deficiency would be difficult, you would get yellowing of the old leaves and striping of the new leaves (and possibly purpling), so it might look like N, P, Mg or Fe deficiencies.

Magnesium chloride (MgCl2.6H2O) would be a cheap alternative (highly soluble) magnesium source, so could possibly be used in some liquid fertilisers.

cheers Darrel

 

[jaypeecee]

...every-one with a planted tank is going to add magnesium.

Hi @dw1305

I'm not sure that "every-one with a planted tank is going to add magnesium". A lot of newcomers to the hobby, for example, may not do this. And that's my point.

JPC

 

[dw1305]

Hi all,

"every-one with a planted tank is going to add magnesium". lot of newcomers to the hobby, for example, may not do this. And that's my point.

I think, in that case, that the lack of magnesium (Mg) will manifest as a problem long before lack of sulphur (S). My guess is that it would be difficult to pin down which element was lacking, because "Epsom Salts" would supply both options.

cheers Darrel

 

[jaypeecee]

My thought would be that they just don't list it, rather than it being absent...

Hi @dw1305

You may well be right but it's a simple matter for the manufacturer to list it. If Tropica and Seachem can do it, so can others. I think it's acceptable for manufacturers to exclude water from the list, though!

JPC

 

[Hufsa]

I think it's acceptable for manufacturers to exclude water from the list, though!

H2O 99.8% 😁

 

[ceg4048]

So I started looking at tweaking the recipe (and I can hear Clive saying this is asking for trouble already) but not sure where to start as I can't seem to get anywhere near the 10/10/1 levels; Mainly the K as getting that near 10 raises the NO3 and PO4 (and depending on salts SO2) levels way above these levels.

Well, the only reason you would get into trouble is if you continually obsess over these numbers and start doing crazy things in an effort to micromanage those numbers.
If this is a non-CO2 tank then things happen very slowly (unless there is too much light). That tank looks pretty good to me and it will never look like what you can achieve from a CO2 injected tank, so I really can't fathom why folks are worrying about sulfur deficiencies (which is unheard of) or obsessing over the nearest tenth of a ppm. As I said, this is how folks get into trouble, worrying about things that really don't matter. It's almost Monty Pythonesque...

"He's not the Messiah, he's a very naughty boy!"
"My name is Roger The Shrubber. I design and arrange shrubbery!"

Cheers,

 

[Mr.Shenanagins]

Well, the only reason you would get into trouble is if you continually obsess over these numbers and start doing crazy things in an effort to micromanage those numbers.
If this is a non-CO2 tank then things happen very slowly (unless there is too much light). That tank looks pretty good to me and it will never look like what you can achieve from a CO2 injected tank, so I really can't fathom why folks are worrying about sulfur deficiencies (which is unheard of) or obsessing over the nearest tenth of a ppm. As I said, this is how folks get into trouble, worrying about things that really don't matter. It's almost Monty Pythonesque...

"He's not the Messiah, he's a very naughty boy!"
"My name is Roger The Shrubber. I design and arrange shrubbery!"

Cheers,

Neeeeee!

 

[jameson_uk]

I really can't fathom why folks are worrying about sulfur deficiencies (which is unheard of) or obsessing over the nearest tenth of a ppm,

I was actually concerned the other way and worried about sulphur toxicity. IIRC I was upping the dose of SO2 by an order of magnitude. Turned out the levels out the tap were far higher than this anyway so was a bit of a mute point.

Since changing the makeup the tank is generally a bit more healthy and in particular the redroot floaters seem much happier. Hygrophila however still struggles a bit. It grows like a weed but lots of leaves get holes, and look quite unhealthy. I suspect this might be down to light though rather than ferts

 

[ceg4048]

I was actually concerned the other way and worried about sulphur toxicity. IIRC I was upping the dose of SO2 by an order of magnitude. Turned out the levels out the tap were far higher than this anyway so was a bit of a mute point.

OK, fair enough, and as evidenced by the tap water content, sulfur toxicity is also unheard of.

Since changing the makeup the tank is generally a bit more healthy and in particular the redroot floaters seem much happier. Hygrophila however still struggles a bit. It grows like a weed but lots of leaves get holes, and look quite unhealthy. I suspect this might be down to light though rather than ferts

No, this is down to the low CO2 levels typical in a non injected tank. The plants with holes either are less efficient CO2 gatherers, or are rapid CO2 users, or they are in an area with chronically lower concentration levels, or any combination of these. If not a result of predation, any structural fault in plants is only ever due to poor CO2. This is a mantra worthy of continual repetition.

Neeeeee!

"We are The Knights Who Say Nee!"

Cheers,

 

[sparkyweasel]

SO2

I hope you meant sulphate, SO4. Sulphur dioxide doesn't sound like a good idea. 🙂


We are now... no longer the Knights Who Say Nee.