-
You are viewing the forum as a Guest, please login (you can use your Facebook, Twitter, Google or Microsoft account to login) or register using this link: Log in or Sign Up
Rotala Rotundifolia - Growth Issues
- Thread starter Konrad Michalski
- Start date
AndreiD
Member
Reattached the picture for a better view
Konrad Michalski
Member
Another 3 weeks gone and it looks like (at least for now) they eventually get to the shape I was expecting from them. They lost some colour but I'm not to bothered about that just yet. Only a poor photo taken with my phone but hopefully you can see the difference.
Not to get too excited, my rotala orange juice looks just like my rotundifolia a couple of months ago so will be working on that now.
Not to get too excited, my rotala orange juice looks just like my rotundifolia a couple of months ago so will be working on that now.
AndreiD
Member
Do you have any idea how much iron do you have in the tank ?
Konrad Michalski
Member
No idea. But if you think that you have iron deficiencies why won't you start dosing more for a week or two and see what happens?
AndreiD
Member
Konrad Michalski
Member
Maybe that's the answer to your last post then. If you're not interested what you have in your own tank transparent/pale leaves won't sort themselves out without correcting things 😉 If you want to sort the problem out just start making changes and it will go away quicker than you think.
AndreiD
Member
What was your problem ?
What a great thread. Found so much useful info here. I'm gonna have to revive it 😀
Darrel - I live in a very hard area. My Mg is low so the hardness must be coming from Ca? I've started adding Mg recently. Do you think this should help reduce calcium's negative effect on iron uptake?
Or do I really need to reduce the Ca level somehow? If yes, is there a way to do that?
Hi all,
We nearly always need to add magnesium in the UK, some of the American fertiliser recipes leave it out because their hard water usually contains Mg for <"geological reasons">.
The issue with iron Fe+++ is a bit different, again plants need relatively little of it, the problem comes because most iron compounds are insoluble, and in harder water any free iron ions almost immediately go out of solution as iron oxides, hydroxides and carbonates.
Because of these solubility issues we need to supply iron as a chelate, in harder water FeEDTA isn't very effective, so we need a chelator that is more stable at <"higher pH values">.
The <"Chempak Sequestered Iron"> from the link should do, or <"Solufeed"> etc.
cheers Darrel
That is right, most of the aquifers in the S UK are fairly pure limestones (CaCO3), like chalk.
We nearly always need to add magnesium in the UK, some of the American fertiliser recipes leave it out because their hard water usually contains Mg for <"geological reasons">.
Probably not, with the calcium (Ca++) and magnesium (Mg++) ions it is just a numbers game, adding more Mg++ ions to the tank water just increases the chance of a cell picking up a magnesium ion, rather than a calcium one. Plants don't need a huge amount of magnesium (it is the central atom in the chlorophyll molecule), they just need some.
The issue with iron Fe+++ is a bit different, again plants need relatively little of it, the problem comes because most iron compounds are insoluble, and in harder water any free iron ions almost immediately go out of solution as iron oxides, hydroxides and carbonates.
Because of these solubility issues we need to supply iron as a chelate, in harder water FeEDTA isn't very effective, so we need a chelator that is more stable at <"higher pH values">.
The <"Chempak Sequestered Iron"> from the link should do, or <"Solufeed"> etc.
cheers Darrel
Thanks Darrel. Really useful. A few more questions 
:
- Are those ferts in your links safe to use with fish in tank?
- What about Fe DTPA 7%? I've started dry dosing it from this week. Is it also relatively useless then in hard water?
- Also, will adding more of these more effectively chelated irons be more likely to resolve iron deficiency in very hard water, or will the high calcium still be interfering in its uptake?
many thanks
:- Are those ferts in your links safe to use with fish in tank?
- What about Fe DTPA 7%? I've started dry dosing it from this week. Is it also relatively useless then in hard water?
- Also, will adding more of these more effectively chelated irons be more likely to resolve iron deficiency in very hard water, or will the high calcium still be interfering in its uptake?
many thanks
Hi all,
The only real issues with horticultural fertilisers are the nitrogen sources, they usually use ammonium nitrate (NH4NO3 ~ 35%N), or urea (CO(NH2)2) ~46%N), both of which are toxic to fish.
A few plants, like Tonina etc. aren't probably going to enjoy life in hard water whatever happens, but most will be absolutely fine.
cheers Darrel
They should be.
The only real issues with horticultural fertilisers are the nitrogen sources, they usually use ammonium nitrate (NH4NO3 ~ 35%N), or urea (CO(NH2)2) ~46%N), both of which are toxic to fish.
No it should be fine, it is more efficient than EDTA at higher pH levels.
You don't need the chelator to supply a huge amount of available iron ions, you just need "some".
A few plants, like Tonina etc. aren't probably going to enjoy life in hard water whatever happens, but most will be absolutely fine.
cheers Darrel
Hey @Konrad Michalski did you ever get to the bottom of this with your Rotala? Anything work out?
Cheers
Cheers
Konrad reduced his Potassium dosing!
Interesting! Very interesting
