Re: Composition of plant micronutrient supplement

To: Aquatic-Plants at actwin_com
Subject: Re: Composition of plant micronutrient supplement
From: Kevin Conlin <kcconlin at zola_cae.ca>
Date: Mon, 16 Oct 1995 13:45:09 -0400
In-Reply-To: <199510140739.DAA22141 at looney_actwin.com>

On Saturday, 14 October 1995, Shiao Y. Wang wrote:

> Someone asked why certain manufacturers of plant nutrient mixes
> recommend refrigeration. My guess would be to inhibit the growth of
> chemotrophic bacteria that are able to use some of the chemicals as
> an energy source.  In addition, if the mix contains an organic
> buffer or an organic source of iron (such as ferric tartrate), these
> can serve as carbon sources to bacteria.

I found some white filaments growing in my Poor Man's Dupla Drops recently.
Under the microscope at 600x the filaments appeared to be fungal hyphae,
presumably feeding on the EDTA (I can't imagine what else they'd be
eating).  I added a little salt to the mix to try and discourage fungal
growth but the results have been inconclusive.
--
Kevin Conlin   kcconlin at cae_ca   "We're Canadians.  We HAVE to be polite"