Solufeed 2:1:4 and Solufeed Sodium Free TEC or Solufeed Coir TEC Combination

[Phil Govier]

Forgot to mention in above post that it looks like from the Tank and Dosing table above that I'm introducing 2ppm of PO4 as part of my dosing!!.......am I battling against myself as I'm trying to reduce the PO4 to 0.25ppm. Again, have I misunderstood from various sources that PO4 should be kept at/around 0.25ppm to avoid "significant" algae issues whilst maintaining a sufficient level for plant metabolism etc etc?

Phil

 

[dw1305]

Hi all,

Please ask any additional questions - I'm obviously missing something "obvious" or omitted to mention something of relevance

I don't think so, the problem is that plant growth issues can have a multitude of causes, which is why there is rarely a <"black and white answer"> in a "shades of grey" scenario. The sellers of <"magic bullets"> will try and tell you that their product <"is the answer">, whatever the problem.

it was only evident on the "new growth" of the stem plant leaves

Do you have a Bristlenose (Ancistrus spp.) or similar fish (Otocinclus, young Hypancistrus etc.)? It looks very much like "plec" grazing damage <"Problem with my Echinodorus">.

To my "surprise"/horror I found that the phosphate was showing at 5ppm and thought I had managed to identify the more likely cause. This was done on the 30th December 2024 with the following additional parameters Ammonia 0, Nitrite 0, Nitrates 10 and pH 6.8 (all API)

it looks like from the Tank and Dosing table above that I'm introducing 2ppm of PO4 as part of my dosing!!.......am I battling against myself as I'm trying to reduce the PO4 to 0.25ppm. Again, have I misunderstood from various sources that PO4 should be kept at/around 0.25ppm to avoid "significant" algae issues whilst maintaining a sufficient level for plant metabolism etc

Honestly, even if it is 5 ppm PO4---? <"It doesn't matter">. <"No plant available phosphate"> is a problem for plant growth, but "too much" isn't.

I purchased Seachem PhosOut and placed the 85ml (slightly over for my size tank I recognise) into a filter bag between two filter pads in the upper tray of the Eheim 350. Concentrations of PO4 gradually declined in subsequent days as I was testing all above parameters daily - the PO4 declined to 2ppm but then stayed steady at 1ppm the next day or so, so I renewed the SeaChem PhosGuard in the filter (Im trying to get to 0.25ppm).

Realistically for the PhosOut , <"all it is doing"> is separating you from your money. If you did remove all the PO4--- ions? Plant growth would cease.

It is also highly mobile within the plant, so that the plant can continually shuffle the PO4--- ions to new leaves, via its vascular tissue, and it takes a long time for deficiency symptoms to appear.
Algae don't have any vascular tissue, ions diffuse into each individual cell, so as soon as the phosphate ions go out of solution any algae stops growing. This means you have a window where the PhosGuard has "worked", before the plants begins to suffer with <"deficiency symptoms">.

Was my previous use of tap water in the mix affecting calcium levels as mentioned in dw1305's post above.

In terms of the hard tap water, the calcium (Ca) would only cause precipitates to form in the concentrated stock solution. @pumpypants was in Stockton on Tees, where I think the water will be hard.

I think <"Swansea has soft water?">

cheers Darrel

 

[Phil Govier]

Hi Darrel

Many thanks for the reply.

Yes, I have a couple of Otocinclus for many years now in this tank. Since I have been battling the algae issues and seen some improvements on the weekly maintenance ie the amount of glass cleaning I have to do I have been supplementing them with algae wafers....perhaps they either don't like them or I'm not putting enough in🙄..... I must admit that I hadn't even thought of the Otts causing the leaf damage - it sort of makes me happy that my "research" failed to identify the deficiency in nutrients that I thought was present because it appears there is none......

Yes, we have soft water here in Swansea - I think I may have uploaded my water quality report from Dwr Cymru some time ago when we last talked (as part of this thread before I was kindly provided with the mix from the Tank and Dosing Summary etc) and you didnt raise any queries with any levels reported.

I guess your view is to stop using the SeaChem PhosOut?

Do you have any views on my explanation of the Solufeed 2:1:4 mix and Sodium Free TEC all in one mix - should this be as before ie separate bottles/doses using the potassium sorbate/distilled water/white vinegar etc as opposed to the tap water or is the all in one dose not going to cause any problems - its in the back of my mind that someone mentioned some time ago that separate doses on alternate days would avoid some potential problems?

I have put off buying more plants until I got to the bottom of the BBA/algae issues - this was primarily as I wanted slow growing variants which would obviously be susceptible to the algae growth..... I think I will just get on with it and stop thinking (and reading) too much....what can possibly go wrong🙄

Thanks again for you ongoing willingness to assist
Phil