Suspect calcium deficiency and bba

[squall99e]

Beginners Info Sheet
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Tank Dimensions (LxWxH): 1200mm x 450mm x450mm
Tank Volume (litres or gallons): 200 Litres
Lighting Intensity(No of Watts) : 4 x 36watts arcadia freshwater
Type of Lighting (FL/PL/MH) : FL
No. of Hours your light is on : 11
CO2 Injection Rate (bps) : 2
Type of CO2 (DIY/Liquid/Tank) : tank
Method of Injection (e.g. Diffusor/Reactor): reactor
Substrate Used : Plant sand
How Thick is your base fert : 1cm
How thick is your gravel : 10cm to 15cm
Liquid Fertilizers Used : A taiwanese brand brought from ah pek at pasir ris
Frequency of fertilization : once in 2 days , also 5ml of seachem
potassium every 3days, seachem iron 1ml
every 4days(maybe too much)
Tank Temperature : 25 to 26 deg c
Type of Filter (overhead/internal/canister) : canister
Filter media used : ceramic rings and blue and white eheim media
How long has your tank been set up : 1.5 years
Other equipment : n.a.

Chemical Properties (Fill what you can)
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Carbonate Hardness (KH): 35.8ppm
Total Hardness (gH): 35.8ppm
pH : 6.5
NH4 (ppm): n.a
NO2 (ppm): n.a
NO3 (ppm): 20mg/l
PO4 (ppm): 0.1mg/l
Fe (ppm): 1.0mg/l high?

Bioload (Your Fish and Plants)
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40 cardinal
20 rummy noise
6 sae
4 otto
1 discus
some yamato and malayan

Christmas moss, aponogeton fenestralis, Blyxa japonica, blyxa aubertii, java fern, and some stem plants

Describe your problem :

Recently some of my blyxa aubertii leaves started melting, could it be calcium deficiency? I try adding seachem raise calcium to it and see if there is a improvement.

Secondly could the everstaying bba cause by the high Fe and low PO4.

Thanks

[vinz]

don't worry about the Fe yet. Fix the PO4 problem. Dose to 1ppm and see what happens. Watch the NO3 too, it may start falling once you start dosing PO4.

Which Seachem product are you using to raise Ca? Stop that for the moment and see how the plants react to PO4.

[squall99e]

It is for marine use call Reef Complete.
Was at pet mart yesterday, ask about the coral chip []
only available in big pack.
I look through the shelve and choose this.
Contain concentrated calcium and magnesium.(160,000mg/L)
ratio Ca:Mg:Sr 100:5:0.1

[vinz]

Errr... you might get issues with Ca:Mg ratio. The recommendations range from 2:1 to 4:1.

Seachem Equilibrium is a more suitable product for planted tank. But like I said earlier handle PO4 first. The typical Ca deficiency symptoms are distorted new leaves... if you're not seeing this now, don't worry about the Ca.

Come to think of it, if your plant growth is limited by PO4, then you won't be having Ca problems cause your plants are growing a lot anyway.

[squall99e]

Thanks vinz,
I am thinking of raising the po4 with Dr M kh2po4 or seachem phosphorus.
Any different between these two except the K content in kh2po4 and the price?

[vinz]

I don't know the chemical differences, but they should have the same effect on the tank.

[Plantbrain]

35ppm of KH = 2degrees and at a pH of 6.5 your CO2= 20ppm or so. I'd add a bit more and then gop after the PO4, Fleet enema or KH2PO4(available at some of the LFS there) will add enough.
I'd do a 50% water change first, then add this, bump the CO2 up a tad or keep the same pH and raise the KH(baking soda) to 50ppm or so. Personally I'd just do the large water changes and not monkey with the KH, and lower the pH with more CO2 gas.

K2SO4 is pretty cheap and can be used for K+ additions.
CaCl2 is a good additive for Ca and dolomite powder is a good slow dissolving material for both
Mg and Ca(Both for GH) and CO3(KH).
Mg SO4 can be used with CaCl2 for quick dissolving GH mix and the baking soda is good for the KH.

If you plan on having low GH/KH tank water, do frequent large weekly water changes to prevent things from becoming depleted.

Regards,
TomBarr

[squall99e]

I have dose to 0.7 - 0.8 mg/l with seachem phosphous and monitior.
Damm Expensive use around 20ml which the 250ml cost $13.[]
have to switch to kh2so4 when the present po4 is use up.

[squall99e]

WOWW!!!
I am amazed with what the add po4 has done, more bubbling happen even from the melting plants. Hopefully that is the main limiting nutrient i have been lacking all the while.
However I am unsure if 0.8mg/l of po4 is too high or not as to match my 20mg/l no3.

[PeterGwee]

Squall99e, your PO4 level should be enough for now..just make sure it does not go down below 0.2-0.3 as the nitrate uptake would start to slow down alot. Keep it from 0.5-2.0ppm if other nutrients are in good shape should help plant growth alot. []

[squall99e]

PeterGwee,
should the melted leaves be cut of for new growth (cells in the transparent leaf dead??) or the greeness be restore as the plant recover?
If my NO3 drop to say 10mg/l, should I reduce the PO4 as well?

[PeterGwee]

Thats dead tissue..just cut it away. If you keep the nutrients in good range, everything should work out fine. The range given for PO4 is where you should stick to...you might want a more narrow range of 0.5-1ppm though but it really does not matter if the other nutrients are available and in good range.

[juggler]

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On 6/15/2003 2:08:22 PM

I have dose to 0.7 - 0.8 mg/l with seachem phosphous and monitior.
Damm Expensive use around 20ml which the 250ml cost $13.[]
have to switch to kh2so4 when the present po4 is use up.


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Dr Mallick's KH2PO4 is only $5 for 400g (1 kg for $7.60). For my case I think that is enough to last a lifetime.

[squall99e]

Currently have to wait until 26th of June when Dr Mallick comes back from India as kh2po4 there is sold out. Heard he is attending his daughter wedding.[]

Does anyone here have success with Dr mallick Lush Gro-Aqua?
I am currently dosing the taiwanese liquid Fert Ferro.
Saw at Nature Aquarium same product which Chan wrote Iron (marker) on it.
The content never mention the elements inside. Hope its not pure iron only.

Perhaps TMG is a safer bet.$$[]

[lip]

Squall99e, for a cheaper fert, you can try Seachem Flourish. I think most who have used it have good results too.

Cheers!

[vinz]

I did a comparison recently between TMG and Flourish. For their respective recommended dosages Flourish is very, very low in most nutrients compared to TMG.

Personally, I'd overdose Flourish several times a week and break TMG's dose to several times a week. But of course this is subjective... depending on individual tank conditions, planting density and many other factors.

Now I know why I had high nitrates earlier when I was using Flourish and low Nitrates recently when I switched to TMG.

I'll do a comparison with LushGro later... if I remember.

[squall99e]

NO3 exist with Dr mallick Lush Gro-Aqua 7.179g/l.
Think i would be looking for a nitrate free liquid fert (JBL or TMG) as I have high bio-load.BBA starts after i switch from JBL to a cheaper taiwanese fert Ferro(May Consist nitrate)

Just did a 60% water change and stop dosing Ferro and see if the nitrate drop.

[Blue Whale]

I am using Seachem Flourish Nitrate $14 from C328. Its okay to me.

[bclee]

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On 6/16/2003 8:13:33 PM

NO3 exist with Dr mallick Lush Gro-Aqua 7.179g/l.
Think i would be looking for a nitrate free liquid fert (JBL or TMG) as I have high bio-load.BBA starts after i switch from JBL to a cheaper taiwanese fert Ferro(May Consist nitrate)

Just did a 60% water change and stop dosing Ferro and see if the nitrate drop.


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If you are looking for the cause of the BBA, you are looking at the wrong places. NO3 in the liquid fertilisers is not likely to cause BBA. Anyway, most fertilisers do not contain NO3. I do not think the taiwanese fertilisers has NO3 nor is it the cause for the BBA.

Anyway, your NO3 level is ok. Just keep up the PO4 addition. Do not do too many things at one time.

BC

[vinz]

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On 6/16/2003 8:13:33 PM

NO3 exist with Dr mallick Lush Gro-Aqua 7.179g/l.
Think i would be looking for a nitrate free liquid fert (JBL or TMG) as I have high bio-load.BBA starts after i switch from JBL to a cheaper taiwanese fert Ferro(May Consist nitrate)

Just did a 60% water change and stop dosing Ferro and see if the nitrate drop.


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Errr... the website lists nitrogen (not nitrate) at 7.179g/l. So the actual NO3 is higher (the website implies NO3 as the source of N). Per dose (10ml to 100l), LushGRO-Aqua raises N by 0.7179ppm.