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Observation
Hello all,
I just wanted to take a moment to offer an observation to the list. I
have a new 90 gal setup for a few months now. As this tank is very
different then the others I have maintained, I am in process of obtaining
the correct daily dosage of fertilizer, PMDD. This tank has more light,
laterite, and no UGF where the others were lower tech converted from fish
only. Anyway I was periodically measuring my Fe level watching for a rise
to .1ppm as I didn't want to over do it. I already had Hair algae and
didn't want to feed it more then it needed:) So one day I measured Fe and
There It Is! So I reduced the daily dose of PMDD in response to this
elevated level. The next time I measured my Fe was down but the nitrate
was up? Then a week or two later I noticed that some of the plants were
exhibiting nutrient deficiency symptoms. Nitrate are still up a bit,
20ppm, and the plants are getting worse. Then out of curiosity I called my
local water plant to check out possible Calcium deficiencies or Phosphate
excesses. While chatting with the plant manager he noticed that once a few
weeks earlier the systems Fe levels had jumped up to 0.5ppm. DAMN I
thought, so I didn't measure elevated iron levels from PMDD but from my
source water. So now my plants are deprived of nutrients due to the
lowered PMDD dosage levels. So bottom line is make sure that the measured
value you are seeing, especially sudden changes, are due to the tank and
not the source water your using. A related change I had observed was a
sudden increase in my GH and KH but for some reason I right away assumed my
tap water and a quick test confirmed that suspition. I do not know why I
didn't do the same thing when I saw the iron jump, maybe it is because I am
adding Iron and not bicarbs:)
Jeff Dietsch
We *might* get snow flurries in Philly this weekend, sorry George:)