Nutrition deficiency, but what?
I have recently discovered some problems with my plants again, I’m nor sure but after some searching on the Internet everything seems to point at Ca deficiency.
It’s only the new leaves that’s effected, but a lot of different types of plants are effected.
The pictures are quite bad but i hope the tendency is visible in them, a strange thing is that just next to a effected sprout there is a perfectly good sprout.
I have now added some Ca by CaSO4, so I will have for some weeks and see what happens.
June 30th, 2006 at %I:%M %p
Oj, har det rasat på bara en vecka (20/6 var allt bra)?
Du har möjligen inte fått i en massa Mg och för lite CO2?
July 1st, 2006 at %I:%M %p
Det är faktiskt inte så illa att det hänt totalt på en vecka jag har sett små tendenser tidigare men nu har det stunnat också, tidigare har tendensen funnits men det har växt bra ändå, så jag har ignorerat det.
Mg är jag ganska försiktig med motsvarande ~1.5ppm i kranen och 3ppm via MgSO4 och CO2 är så gott man kan med div mätmetoder spikad på 30ppm.
July 11th, 2006 at %I:%M %p
I have exactly the same problem but I will have to wait so any change.
My plants look exactly the same as in the pistures above.
Have you managed to solve the problem ? Please answer if you can…
July 12th, 2006 at %I:%M %p
I have not solved it yet, I’m trying to have additional Ca at the moment but that does not seem to help, one problem i think could make this harder to find is that according to my experience, when a plant has stunned it takes a long time for it to grow again.
I have focused on Ca because all information i have found points in the direction of Ca when the plant has deformed growth, but on the other hand, all people on APC seems to think that it is CO2.
If Ca does not help i will try to rice the co2 level, even though i am pretty sure it is enough (but you could never be totally sure).
July 16th, 2006 at %I:%M %p
I know what’s probably wrong – i had 12 ppm Mg and 24 ppm Ca (Ca was dosed from dolomite which was advertised as pure CaCO3 but in fact it was CaCO3 * MgCO3). I threw away dolomite and now i use only CaSO4, MgSO4, CaCl2 and NaHCO3 to reconstitute RO water (i use only RO)
After setting Mg to 5 and Ca to 25 plants became grow better. Now my umbrosum doesn’t have so many “burned” tips.
However, i also decreased K to only 6,3 ppm added to changed water. High K levels cause Ca blockage – i experienced it 3 times; when i had 27 ppm K all my plants looked like in the photos you’ve posted. Many people confuse “famous” NPK = 10:1:20. N is about 22% in NO3, P is about 33% in PO4. So, if we have for example NO3 = 10 we should have PO4 = 0,7 and K = 4,5 for NPK = 10:1:20 to be true. I use KNO3 only as a source of NO3 and K when changing water – i add 10 ppm NO3 and i also have 6,3 ppm K then. During the week, i dose NO3 from Ca(NO3)2 in order not to overfertilize K.
July 16th, 2006 at %I:%M %p
I also agree that one should wait at least 2 weeks to see any changes we’ve made. For example, alternatera reineckii needs as many as 3 weeks to recover from Ca deficiency which is aften caused by K excess. I know that one can have high K levels but only when Ca is high as well (about 50 ppm)
July 16th, 2006 at %I:%M %p
Thanks for your comments, I really appreciate it, I have now been dosing CaSO4 for some weeks but the summer/ vacation time has been to attractive which have made the aquarium look a bit like a jungle. As soon as my vacation is over i will look into your suggestions.