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small leaves??



Ok, so my algae is now under control!!!  All the BDA and slime and other
hair algaes are GONE!  Thanks to 4 SAEs and starting on the full line of
SeaChem products for fertilizers.  The plants are growing well now also, but
some have very very small leaves.  My Ludwigia is most noticable, as the
leaves the plants used to put out were near 3/4" to an inch even, the new
growth above that is only getting to be about 1/4" leaves at best!  
 
I did some research, but was not able to find much at all on it.  The only
thing I found was possibly an anerobic substrate could cause this.  Which
lead me to another question.  I thought the idea was not to vaccuum the
gravel, and not disturb the roots.  If I had a soil based substrate,
vaccuuming would be even worse.   
 
If this is the case, and the anarobic substrate is causing the small leaves,
how to I fix it?  As soon as I vaccuum the gravel, the methane gas will be
in the water column, and probably kill half of my fish, which I really don't
want!
 
My Camboba (sp) and Crypts don't seem to be bothered by whatever is causing
the small leaves.  A few other plants of which species I can't think of now
are showing the same signs of new growth being very very small leaf size and
looking almost whilted.  Dispite that they are still growing good (Ludwigia
had 3 new sets of leaves in a week) they are just all very very small
leaves.
 
pH  6.6
KH 3
 
According to this, CO2 is about 23ppm, which should be good. (especially for
DIY)
 
I add 1ml or iron daily, 1 cap of excel daily.
twice a week I add 1 cap of potassium, 3ml of flourish, 3ml of phosphorous,
3ml or nitrogen.
Kent Freshwater Trace elements added on water changes.  
 
I was lacking on water changes before, trying to get a bit better about it
now, and have started doing them weekly.
 
Thats the full line of Seachem products I think, should have all my
nutrients covered pretty well, and by the lack of algae and plant growth
seems right.  Just the stupid leaf size now on some of them.  Other plants
are still not growing fast at all, my anubias has not grown at all in the
last month, only put out a few roots.
 
Thanks in advance!
 
Mark


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