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Re: Problem Plant Tank To Paul Sears
> * To: Aquatic-Plants at actwin_com
> * Subject: Re: Problem Plant Tank
> * From: psears at NRCan_gc.ca (Paul Sears)
> * Date: Sat, 20 Jul 1996 17:22:39 -0400 (EDT)
> * In-Reply-To: <199607200739.DAA18641 at looney_actwin.com> from
> "Aquatic-Plants-Owner at ActWin_com" at Jul 20, 96 03:39:02 am
Hi Paul.
> I understand that this stuff is an ion exchange resin. Its life
> would depend heavily on how much calcium and magnesium was in the water,
> and how much water you changed. What I don't understand is why you had
> it in there. What was it there for? I'm assuming that it was a
> cation exchange resin. Do you know if that is correct?
I have used the Chemi Pure for a long time, and neglected to read the
label after all these years. Here is what I can tell you about it: It
removes CO2, copper, metal, ions, odors, all pollution, gases color, and
Phenol. I do not know what Phenol is. It is also an ammonia and nitrate
scavenger. An old Chemi Pure ad in FAMA 1988 states that it does not
remove trace elements and is the only filter medium that balances the
positive and negative charges with emphasis on the beneficial negative
ion.
It is suppose to keep the pH at 7.0. The reason I used it on this tank...
Because I am adding CO2 via the yeast/sugar method to water that already
has a very low buffering capacity. For those reasons I thought it would
be good for the tank. I do not understand why Chemi Pure which is
recommended for use in African Cichlid and saltwater tanks would take away
GH.
> > Per advice from the list I am not using the Chemi-Pure at
> > all now.
> I don't think the plants could have used this much calcium and
> magnesium! Did you measure the GH in the past? Were you even interested
> in the Ca++ and Mg++ content of the water then, and why are you now?
> We are usually much more interested in the HCO3- concentration, for
> buffering purposes.
I have measured the GH in this tank in the past. I did not measure it for
the plants sake because the one plant I did have in there was beautiful
and without problems. I can't remember the GH ever dropping from 3.5dh to
.5dh. I always remember the GH being at a steady 3.5. I read in some
books and was also told... Do not be concerned with GH and plants, be
concerned with the KH and plants. But, I have seen in the plant FAQ (I
think ) that clacium and magnesium is needed by plants. Calcium and
magnesium = the GH right?
> > It has been suggested to me that I add one drop of iodine per 12.5 gallons
> > of water to this tank everyday. Is iodine safe for plants and fish? What
> > will iodine do for the plants? I do not know what the liquid measurement
> > for one "drop" would be. Thank you for your help.
> Why would you want to do that? It would oxidise things, and
> get reduced to iodide in the process, neither of which might do much
> damage, but what is it _for_? As an interesting sidelight, iodide
> ions react with copper ions (Cu++) in solution, reducing them to
> insoluble Cu2I2. This might not be a problem at the very low
> concentrations we use, and if the copper were chelated, but I
> would not count on it.
I presented your questions about iodine to the person that told me to add
it to my tank. Here is what I was told: Iodine benefits all living
things as it does us. Yes plants do benefit from it too and grow better
and show nicer colors. It is exactly the iodide we are interested in.
Iodine does not remain in the water, but is chemically changed as you
state correctly yourself. I would not be concerned about the copper since
using copper in plant tanks would be totally counter productive anyway.
The use of some molybdenum will further enhance the look of your plants.
Well Paul, I guess that still really doesn't answer exactly why or what
benefit the iodine changing to iodide will do for plants. I tried. :)
> I think that so far you have been short on trace elements and
> perhaps potassium. That could also get caught in an ion exchange resin.
> I have said this before, but it bears repeating: If you put unknown
> things into your tank or filter, the effects are unpredictable!!! :)
I took some of the plants that surprisingly recovered from their poor
conditions in the light starved tank and reintroduced them to my problem
tank. So far things are looking better than they were. I have not been
changing the water in the problem tank, been adding the API Pond
fertilizer with the trace elements daily, and so far things are starting
to look better than they did. Do you know what peach leaf curl looks like
that can strike peach trees? After reintroducing the plants to this tank
a couple of the hygro poly leaves got what looks similiar to peach leaf
curl... Puckered up leaves. Thank you for the help you are giving me.
John
> Paul Sears Ottawa, Canada