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You did not dose N and P
What substrate are you using?
Hi Experts,
I started my 4x2x2 tank set-up in Dec 08. Plants were growing nicely until I changed the lighting schedule.
One or two months back, I attended a plant talk in which it was purported that a 5-4-5 lighting schedule is the 'best' for tropical plants, as it suits the natural tropical lighting conditions. I followed the recommendation and my nightmare started. Plants started dying (Please accept my apologies for the low quality pictures from my handphone):
1. Ludwigia inclinata 'Cuba' showing decay at the edges:
18042009(001).jpg
2. Bacopa monnieri dying at mid-step and leaves are dying:
18042009(002).jpg
3. Ludwigia ovalis has stopped growing and are dying:
18042009(004).jpg
4. There are holes seen on some of the lotus leaves:
18042009(006).jpg
I am now back to a 10 hrs continuous 4x54W T5HO lighting schedule but things didn't improve. I now have green water and BBA has started to grow.
I feed my fishes once a day.
Fertilisation schedule as follows:
Day 1: Water change + Seachem K
Day 2: Seachem Fluorish
Day 3: Seachem K
Day 4: Seachem Iron (1/2 the recommended dosage, else green water problem worsens)
day 5: Seachem K
Day 6: seachem Fluorish
Day 7: Nil
Appreciate if experts out there could guide me where I had gone wrong.
Thanks a million.
Last edited by nutz; 19th Apr 2009 at 00:08.
You did not dose N and P
What substrate are you using?
I am using inert lapis substrate, laid with JBL base fertiliser. The plants were growing well for 2 months, then ...
I had thought fish feed contains N and P? That is why I did not dose N & P.
i recommend that you use ADA aquasoil...proven performer. whatever plant i have flourish, it's amazing.
your continuous 10 hrs lighting is too much. reduce it with a break in between - as mentioned 5-4-5. (fyi mine's 4-7-5) attached a UV sterilizer and powerhead or wavemaker to improve flow.
Lastly reduce feeding to 2 or 3x weekly. As for BBA, treat water with recommended dosage of excel.
How thick is your JBL base fert under the lapis sand? Did you inject CO2? how many ppm?
It is quite obvious then.
For the first few months, your plants stays well by the supply of JBL base fertilizer. As time goes by, the supply of macro nutrients dwindled and your plants start to suffer malnutrition. All you ever dose is micro, Fe and potassium while not supplying 2 very important macro element : N and P. These are component of building block, a must have element in order to survive.
Your fish and fish food may supply macros, but at insufficient/limited amount (considering the type of plants you use).
Get a complete set of fertilizer. Be it macro and micro liquid fertilizer.
Using just plain gravel and base fertilizer, supplied with correct amount and type of liquid fertilizer is generally great for most plants.
Using ADA soil would be more forgiving but not compulsary since it contains quite some amount of sealed macros. Any lack of additional fertilizer would be better compensated and severity resulted from insufficient liquid fertilizer would be less obvious.
Limit your lighting at just enough and not excessive.
I opt for continual full burst mode : 2 x 54W for 2hrs, continued by 4 x 54W for 4 hours and finished off by 2 x 54W for 2hrs.
Pump up your CO2 supply to sufficient concentration.
Treat the green water by a series of frequent large water changes. You can also get UV filter and it would help even more (also in the long run).
you took the word out of my mouthAnyway, 2 months is kind of short, I'm expecting longer, so I wonder if he put thick enough base fert?
Even ADA soil, without supplement of liquid fert, probably will be depleted within 6 months.
Ya, maybe he can get the rest of seachem line (nitrogen and phosphate) or perhaps those complete set of wonder-gro macro and micro combo, along with the root tabs to replenish the lost substrate fertility.
Can get them at mizuworld.com
http://www.mizuworld.com/index.php?p...bestbuy=&apha=
CO2 is the biggest issue with respect to the amount of light intensity. Remember that a plants dry weight is 40-50% of carbon and nitrogen is only 1% or so. I'll focus on the CO2 if you are adding any or drop the light intensity but maintain good spread. Pruning is another part of general maintenance since as plants grow in, the flow drops substantially and available CO2 and nutrient drop along with it.
Regards,
Peter Gwee
Plant Physiology by Taiz and Zeiger
Shadow, Medicineman, PeterGwee,
The base fertilisaer ~1-2cm. I too had thought that it would last me longer than the 2-3 months. On hindsight, I suspect the culprit could be the size of the sand - it is ~5-8mm, much larger than the usual 2-3mm recommended range. This could have caused 'oxidation' of the fertiliser nutrients and caused it to shorten its useful life.
On CO2, it is supplied via CO2 tank with 3-4 bps and deliver through an internal reactor. Is that enough?
C02 is supplied when the lights are switched on.
Morgan01, it is surprising that you observed a 7hr siesta!
CO2 s a bit complex, bps does not tell how many ppm in the tank. You need something like drop checker to measure it. I inject 8bps on my 3ft tank, it is overdose. My drop checker show yellow.
Well, 5-8mm particle is no aquascaping sand.
Get those 1-2mm one and make sure that it is suitable (check for excessive calcium content by testing with acid).
Probably you will find fine lapis sand, or plain silica/quartz (those from stream/river is better).
Generally base fert such as JBL aquabsis could last several months. However, certain content are depleted faster than the other. JBL suggest to boost the supply with complete liquid ferts as soon as 3-4 weeks after setup.
Personally, I'd add in root tabs after the first 3 months, and this is especially beneficial on heavy root feeders.
Dear All,
Many thanks for your kind advice.
I just bought the N & P fertilisers. I will up the CO2 bps count (till I get something more scientific to measure the ppm a.k.a. save $$$) and also adjust the lighting schedule.
Last but not least ... pray ...
Cheers.
JBL aquabasis doesn't contain N and P does it? It's mainly a micronutrient base as far as I know. It would definitely last more than 2 months, probably more like 2 years.
What I did was to mix peat into my aquabasis. The peat adds sufficient N and P I think, and it provides an acidic environment in the substrate plus lower the ph of my water. Of course, I also supplement with EI dosing to extend the lifespan of the substrate
(edit: a quick check on the JBL website: "Does not contain the algae nutrients phosphate and nitrate." I think that's the source of the problems. N and P deficiencies starting to take their toll after 2 months)
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