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[APD] Re: Echinodorus issues



>Subject: [APD] Re: Nutrient problem in Echinodorus spp.
>My 125-gallon tank has developed a nutrient problem that strangely only
>seems to affect Echinodorus. My E. bleheri, E. parviflorus, and E. tenellus
>all have a problem where the older leaves develop chlorosis and then start
>to decay, finally leaving only a flimsy transparent gray skeleton of a leaf.
>What is really strange is that this problem doesn't affect slower-growing
>plants such as Anubias, Crypt. wendtii, or Bolbitis fern. Nor does it affect
>faster-growing plants such as Hygrophila polysperma, Limnophila
>sessiliflora, or Rotala rotundifolia.
>The substrate is play sand over topsoil. There is no added CO2. Lighting is
>100W NO fluorescent (4x F25T8 on electronic ballast). Temperature is 78F. pH
>is 8.0 (measured right before lights-on, since it increases throughout the
>day), GH is 12 degrees. PO4 is off the scale of my test kit, > 5ppm. The
>only fertilizer I add is KNO3.
>I first thought that NO3 shortage might be the problem, but I've been
>running at 40 ppm NO3 for a month now with no improvement in the symptoms.

Well, the gray transparent leaves seems to be an issue of NO3, not so sure I'd trust the kit.
PO4 will not cause this issue either.

You can make the "mud cubes"(soil + water + freezing them) and add these under the plants.

Realize that swords are very fast growers and will show signs if nutrient deficiency before many other plants.
They will not show signs of excess really. The nutrient levels can be quite high and they grow just fine.

This leads me to suspect a bad kit and the description sounds like low K/NO3.

Regards, 
Tom Barr


 
 
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