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Too much or too little

Progen

Progen

Member
Joined
25 Dec 2016
Messages
394
Location
Malaysia
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So I'm on my second week of E.I. dosing and I've noticed lots of new leaves on the anubiases and Java ferns (although the ferns still have their brown tips) but the stemmed plants like my Blyxa Japonica and this crypt looking thing, which some said was crypt parva, have started developing transparent leaves.

Some posters elsewhere said short on the macros, some said too much and some said not to stinge on the micros.

I'm using dry salts for the macros and Seachem Flourish for the micros. Alternating each day as per the E.I. schedule. I dose on water change days too if I complete the change with lots of light time to go.

There's pressurised CO2 at a rate of about 1.5 - 2bps. Counter is green whether I use the reagent undiluted or with a bit of 4dkh water.

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So does anyone know where I've offended the planted tank gods and how to make good on my sins?

Light is courtesy of two reflectors outfitted with 2 T8s, 1T4 and 1 T5.
 
Light is on for about 9 hours a day.

I've also bought a bag of monopotassium phosphate after reading somewhere that it's one of the required salts but am not using it at the moment. Only KNO3 and KH2PO4. No MgSO4 though. Could that be the missing link?
 
You are not dosing EI if not adding Mg.

Why are you not dosing Mg ?
 
I think all the reading must have gotten me confused because I bought KH2PO4 instead, only to find out prior to mixing into solution, that it's not necessary.

Do you reckon it's a magnesium deficiency?
 
Progen said:
Do you reckon it's a magnesium deficiency?
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Possibly. It is the cheapest EI ingredient, it amazes me the number of people that roll their own dosing schemes and then run into issues.
 
Thanks, buddy. After doing some reading on magnesium deficiency, I think that's exactly what my plants are suffering from.

Too bad it's the festive season now so I'll have to wait a full week to be able to make an order from an out of state dealer.
 
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This was where the confusion all started and why I purchased KH2PO4.

From NilocG's site.
 
Progen said:
I think all the reading must have gotten me confused because I bought KH2PO4 instead, only to find out prior to mixing into solution, that it's not necessary.

Do you reckon it's a magnesium deficiency?
Click to expand...

KH2PO4 is necessary for EI, it is the only chemical that provides Phosphate. Some people intentionally omit phosphate. But it can't be called EI dosing if there is no phosphate.
The thing that may be unnecessary is K2SO4 if you're already dosing KNO3 and KH2PO4 because you already get enough K from the two.
 
That's the danger of reading from different tabs at the same time and with an order window open too. :dead:
 
What type of light are you using, and intensity?
One of the plants looks like aponogeton(the curly leaves)...can't remember its proper name but it looked like that in my tank when it didn't get enough light. The leaves should grow wider and even slightly pinkish when grown properly. Plants also can look generally yellowish and dying when given light below the compensation point. More co2 normally helps for injected co2 tanks or more light though algae may come with that too if other things are an issue as well.
 
I've always thought that they were some form of spiral crypt.

I'm currently using two T8s. One's a supposedly higher output one at 23 watts and 2300 lumens. The other is the standard 1600 lumens one at 18 watts.

Then I have a T5 too and a purplish (couldn't get red) T4. All standard household tubes.

They look ok when the water's clear. Enough light gets to substrate level (measured at 17") to get plants down there glowing.

I did experiment with a higher CO2 rate yesterday and many of the anubiases and Java ferns were pearling. Pretty sure it's not CO2 floating at the surface because I can see what's going out from the outflow of the reactor and it's definitely bubble free water.

Today's the first day of dosing with the usual macro plus MgSO4 so let's see how things go.
 
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