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RE:Anubias and Crashed tank



Bailin wrote:
>Oops, I also meant to ask what a good way to prune and propogate anubias 
>would be.  I'd like to cut away the pitted leaves once some new leaves have 
>come in, but am not sure how that would affect the plants.  Thanks again.
>
Use sharp scissors. They are not effected by pruning much and are very
tough. Even the "stumps"
with no leaves will produce new leaves. Prune at will or as needed.
For propagating them..... emersed growth in a greenhouse or emersed
terrarium. I have grown A. hastifolia inside as a houseplant even. Place the
plants in small pots with soil, a little peat and some sand for drainage and
about a inch to three inches of old tank water and spray with a fertilizer
once twice a week or so. You can use other tabs and jobes etc but the sprays
seem to work the best.  You'll see they do grow quite fast then. 1 to 2
watts of FL light is plenty for them. Submersed, many grow them attached to
things but I think they do much better in the gravel.
 
>I've been a lurker on this board for quite a while and have asked a couple 
>of questions in the past.  I recently tore down my 55 tank and redid the 
>substrate with about 2" of profile with osmocote mixed in the lower 1" and 
>2-3" of sand of 2-3mm diameter.  At the same time, I added 4-55W CF lamps 
>and a CO2 tank.  I have been feeding the plants with 2-4 mls of TMG every 
>four days.  This setup has been going for about 3 wks.  Most of my val 
>melted after replanting, the anubias leaves are turning a dark color and 
>getting pinholes, the sword plants have been doing well putting out a new 
>leaf every other day, while the bacopa is finally adding new leaves to the 
>tops of the stems.  I also added some ludwigia, rotola indica, sunset hygro 
>and hygro polysperma.  The vals are finally recovering while, but the rotola 
>and sunset hygro are growing kind of curled instead of straight.
>
>My question to the plant experts are do you know what deficiencies might be 
>causing the plants to grow all stunted.  I thought that the TMG provided all 
>of the necessary nutrients.  Here are some of the water parameters.
>
>Ammonia 0
>Nitrite 0
>pH 7.2
>Kh 2
>Gh 4
>Nitrates < 10ppm
>
>I have been mixing 75%RO to 25% tap water for water changes about every four 
>day.  I perused the Krib website and think that I may have water that is low 
>in calcium.  I believe this because I have been using baking soda as a 
>buffer and it really doesn't do a very good job in providing minerals needed 
>in the tank.  I've been looking for calcium carbonate as a buffer but can't 
>seem to locate on.
>
>Any ideas as to what my problem might be and ways to improve the growth 
>would be appreciated.  Sorry for the long winded post.

Not at long winded! You just ripped up your tank and re- did it. A major
change. You should expect some "crashing". Adding new intense lights
etc............
I'd suggest doing less of the RO water............maybe not using any.......
depending on your tap water. Get your GH and KH up to 6 and 4 or so. Plants
can handle it just fine. Mine's 6KH and 9GH. Just use the CO2 to drive the
ph in a good range for your KH. You may have some adjustment using your new
higher powered(?) lights too. A new balance to achieve by adding more energy
to your tank............
TMG is great( I and many others use it) but in SF we find that adding some
extra K+ in the form of K2SO4 or KNO3 can certainly help lots. We add KNO3
when the NO3 levels are low and add K2SO4 when they aren't low. Your holes
**COULD** be from a lack of K+. Adding more wouldn't hurt. Check archives
and KRIB on this topic.
Adding the fast growing plants is a wise move and some patience will do the
rest. Keep upon things and wait for the tank to get "plant cycled". This is
different than simply "cycled" and it takes somewhat longer to get back on
line after there's been a big disturbance like removing a large sword plant,
adding a new lighting set up, moving a tank, etc......................

There are chemical cycles beyond the common bacterial "fish only" cycles
most of us are familiar with, that help plants do well and grow great. How
many times have APD'ers seen a tank doing poorly even though all the test
indicate all is well and on line but always after a major change of some
sort? Many times I have "tortoured" tanks too see how far I could go.
Point is: be patient and keep up on maintenance. It will get back to normal.
Try using Equilibrium by SeaChem for adding Ca and Mg etc...or add that tap
water or more a percentage of it. You can use whatever source for Ca.
Holes are a sign of a mobile nutrient I believe. Ca is not one.
OK I was right! 
 http://www1.iastate.edu/~rkillorn/nutrie~1.htm
It's likely to be K or Mg that's causing problems but I'd say it's the NEW
tank needing to re-establish itself more than a nutrient problem. Patience
again.
FWIW, Regards, 
Tom Barr